L Y C H N I S L Y M E X Y L O N I D JE. 



71 



the more or less imperfect structure of the fore legs 

 Of these insects, the small copper and the little blue 

 butterflies are amongst the most beautiful and the 

 most common of our English species. The rich 

 metallic copper of the former, and the intense silvery 

 blue of the second, cannot fail to have attracted the 

 attention of every observer of nature, and the very 

 beautiful manner in which the undersides of the wings 

 are pencilled with black spots surrounded by white 

 eyelets renders a more minute examination of these 

 insects equally pleasing. Some of the exotic species 

 are more dazzling in their hues. There are about 

 twenty -five British species, composing three genera, 

 Lyccena, Polyommatus, and Thecla ; known to col- 

 lectors by the equally generic names of the " coppers," 

 " blues," arid " hair streaks," and which are distin- 

 guished in addition to their colouring by the following 

 characters. 



LYC.'ENA, Fabricius (Coppers). Eyes naked, club of 

 antenna? not compressed. 



POLYOMMATUS, Latreille (Blues). Eyes generally 

 naked, club of antennae compressed. 



THECLA, Fabricius (Hair Streaks). Eyes hairy, 

 club of antennas not compressed. 



There are four British species of Lycccna, of which 

 the L. phlteas is the most abundant ; the upper 

 wings of a fiery-copper colour, with black spots, and 

 varying in expansion from an inch to an inch and a 

 halt'. It is found continually during the summer, 

 there being several broods in the course of the season. 

 The large copper, L. ditpar (so named from the 

 striking dissimilarity of the sexes), is found in the 

 fens of Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire. 



LYCHNIS (Linnaeus). A genus of annual, bien- 

 nial, and perennial herbs, some of them bearing beau- 

 tiful flowers, for which they are cultivated in the 

 flower garden. They belong to Dccandria, and to 

 the natural order CaryopliyUeae. They are all hardy 

 except one, L. grandijfora, which is a native of China, 

 and kept in the greenhouse or in a frame during win- 

 ter. The cuckoo flower, L. foscuculi, of moist mea- 

 dows, and the cockle, L. git/iago, of corn fields, are 

 two well known English plants. 



LICIUM (Linnaeus). Evergreen shrubs, and 

 climbers, found in various parts of the world, both 

 tropical and extra-tropical. The flowers are pentan- 

 drious, and the trenus belongs to Solanece. Those 

 species which are natives of the south of Africa, are 

 called the box thorn, and are almost hardy enough to 

 stand in our well sheltered shrubberies, or against 

 a wall. They thrive in loam and moor-earth, and are 

 propagated by cuttings in the same kind of soil. 



LYCOPE'RSICUM (Tournefort) is a South 

 American genus, belonging to Solaneae. It is the 

 love-apple of our gardens, and an annual raised from 

 seeds in a frame, nursed in pots, and planted out 

 against walls or pales in the summer, to yield fruit, of 

 which fine sauces are made. 



LYCOPSIS (Linnaeus). A genus of annual 

 herbs, natives of Europe, and belonging to the natural 

 order Boraginece. In English lists, the L. arvensis is 

 called wild bugloss, and was formerly known by the 

 name of Anchusa, or Nonea arvensis. 



LYCOPUS (Linnaeus). A genus of aquatic 

 weeds found in Europe .; they belong to Labiata;, and 

 in English books the plant bears the name of water- 

 horehound. 



LYCOSA (Latreille). A genus of Araclmida, be- 

 longing to the division C'itigradcs, and distinguished 



by the position of the eyes, which form an oblong 

 square, the posterior not being raised on foot-stalks ; 

 the first pair of legs is longer than the second, but 

 shorter than the fourth. These spiders are mostly 

 found on the ground, w here they run with the greatest 

 agility, residing in burrows which' they have formed, 

 and the sides of which they line with silk. Some 

 take up their abodes in crevices of walls, making 

 silken tubes, which they conceal on the outside with 

 bits of earth or sand. In these retreats they pass the 

 winter, and undergo their monltings. They form 

 their eggs into a mass covered with silk, and which 

 they carry about with them, attaching it to the under- 

 side of their bodies, guarding it most sedulously, 

 and exhibiting the greatest concern when it is taken 

 from them. The young ones when hatched still hold 

 themselves upon the body of the parent until they 

 are of sufficient size to take care of themselves. The 

 type of the genus is the common Lycosa saccata, 

 the Tarantula also belongs to it. See TARANTULA. 



LYCUS (Fabricius). A genus of coleopterous 

 insects, belonging to the family Lampyridce, but dis- 

 tinguished at once by the rostrated structure of the 

 head. The species are very numerous, of singular 

 form, and moderate size, being chiefly inhabitants of 

 tropical climates. The very rare British species, 

 Lycus sanguineus, is of the sub-genus Dictyopiera 

 (Latreille), having the head very slightly rostrated. 

 The species are found upon trees or flowers, and ate 

 generally of a red or yellow colour. 



LYDA (Fabricius"; PAMPHILIUS, Latreille). A 

 curious genus of saw flies (jTenthredinidci), distin- 

 guished by the multiarticulate structure of the an- 

 tennae (in which respect it approaches the Siricida;}, 

 and by the broad depressed body and flat head. The 

 species are of a moderately large size, handsomely 

 coloured, and very rare in this country. The lame 

 live in society under a silken tent upon various trees, 

 especially the apple and pear ; they are destitute in 

 this state of the false or prolegs by which the larvae of 

 the sawflies are so well distinguished. The writer 

 has observed a species which in this state forms 

 its habitation in a spiral manner, like some of the 

 caddice flies observed and figured by Reaumur. 



LYG^EUS (Fabricius). A genus of hemipterous 

 insects belonging to the family Coccidoe, having the 

 antennas four-jointed, slightly thickened at the tips, 

 the ocelli are distinct, the head narrower than the 

 prothorax, which is trapeziform. This is a handsome 

 genus of field-bugs, the majority being gaily coloured 

 and exotic. The L. hyoscyami is one of the hand- 

 somest insects of the family, of a scarlet colour with 

 black spots, and is found upon plants. 



LYME GRASS is the Elymus arenarius of Eng- 

 lish botany ; a genus comprising many species found 

 all over Europe, some of them useful as pasture 

 plants. 



LYMEXYLONID^ (Nob.; XYLOTROGI, La- 

 treille). A very remarkable family of coleopterous 

 insects, belonging to the section Pentamera and sub- 

 section Serricornes, having the head not posteriorly 

 lodged in the prothoracic cavity, the body long, nar- 

 row, and depressed, the maxillary palpi in the males 

 having the second joint dilated and branched, forming 

 a complete brush, the antennae short, the tarsi entire, 

 the four posterior long and slender. These insects 

 are found in old trees; their motions are extremely 

 active. In the exotic genus Alraclocerus the elytra 

 are extremely minute. The llylcc<tus dermestoidat 



