Brown Argus 



absent. The under side (Plate XV., Fig. 4) is banded 

 with orange and black-spotted, the black spots being 

 ringed with white. The silver studs are on the outer 

 margin of the orange band, principally on the hind- 

 wings. This is a fairly abundant species all over 

 England on dry soils, and has been met with in Scot- 

 land. The caterpillar is green, sometimes brown, with a 

 darker line along the back and white lines on the sides. 

 It feeds on Clover, Vetch, Broom, and other leguminous 

 plants. The butterfly is out in July and August. 



THE BROWN ARGUS (Lycana Astrarche\ Plate XII., 

 Fig. 1 1. Here is a "blue" in which both sexes are brown, 

 a rather unusual thing. In every other particular, how- 

 ever, it bears the family hall-mark. The upper surface 

 is dark brown, bordered with bright orange spots. Tlie 

 under side (Plate XV., Fig. 6) is banded with orange 

 and spotted with black dots ringed with white. For 

 the Scotch variety, Artaxerxes, these spots are solid 

 <vhite, and there is in addition a white discoidal spot 

 on the upper side of the fore-wing. This variety 

 is local in Scotland, but fairly numerous where found, 

 generally near the sea, and plentiful all along the 

 Ayrshire coast in June and July. It is said to feed 

 on Helianthemum, but has probably many other food- 

 plants, such as the Hemlock Stork's-bill (Erodium 

 cicutarium\ which is common where it flies. 



The caterpillar is green, with a darker line along the 

 back, and a pale line on each side; head black and 

 shining. There are many intermediate forms between 

 Artaxerxes and the type. 



77 



