Clifden Blue 



with a row of orange and black spots, often on a ground 

 of white. Sometimes, too, there is a discoidal black 

 spot edged with white ; but the females are very variable. 

 The under side (Plate XV., Fig. 5) has the charac- 

 teristic markings of the " blues," and, excepting that 

 the female is a little darker in ground colour, both 

 sexes are pretty much alike. 



The caterpillar is green, with a dark line on the 

 back, and a light yellow line on each side ; it feeds 

 on Trefoil and Clover. The perfect insect is common 

 everywhere from June till August. 



THE CLIFDEN BLUE, OR ADONIS BLUE (JLyc<en* 

 Bellargm\ Plate XIII., Fig. i. It will be sufficient to 

 point out the specific characters of each of these blues 

 without going into minute detail, which would be 

 wearisome, even if it were possible (which it is not) to 

 paint in words what Nature has painted so admirably 

 on the butterflies' wings. The male Adonis is a brilliant 

 azure blue ; fringe, deep and white, and divided into 

 sections by black lines. Female, brown to nearly black, 

 with a row of orange and black spots round the base 

 of the hind-wing and sometimes continued faintly 

 into the fore-wing ; it is browner on the under side 

 than the male. Both resemble the Common Blue very 

 much, but the spots are scarcely so numerous or so 

 bold. The wings, however, are generally more ample, 

 those of the males being more rounded. 



The caterpillar is green, with a darker line on the 

 back, and a yellow line on each side ; spotted with 

 orange on the back. This is a fairly common species 

 79 



