HANDBOOK OF BUTTERFLIES. 75 



on the under side of the wings, and there is a delicate projection 

 from the middle of the hind wings, which is called a tail. They 

 are all rather scarce, except two species. The Purple Hairstreak 

 (Zephyrus Quercus), is dull blue in the male, and brown, with a 

 bright purple blotch at the base of the fore wings, in the female. 



Green Hairstreak {Thecla Rubi). 



It expands nearly an inch and a half, and is found in oak woods 

 in July. The Green Hairstreak (Theda Rubi), on the contrary, 

 is common in bushy places in spring. It is rather smaller than 

 the Purple Hairstreak, and is brown above and green below, 

 and there is no tail on the hind wings. 



The Small Copper Butterfly (Lycana Phlceas] measures rather 



Small Copper (Lycana Phleeas). 



more than an inch across the fore wings, which are coppery red, 

 with black spots ; the hind wings are blackish, with a coppery 

 red border. The species of Polyommatus are seldom much 

 larger, and are either blue or brown in both sexes, or the males 

 are blue and the females brown. Most of the species are com- 

 mon where they are found ; but the Common Blue (P. Icarus) 

 is the only one which, like the Small Copper, is abundant every- 

 where. It expands about an inch and a quarter. The male is 

 blue, with whitish fringes to the wings, and the female is brown, 

 more or less suffused with blue, with reddish spots towards the 

 borders of the wings. 



