BRITISH BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



green berries later on, the larva feeds. The egg is bluish- 

 green or whitish. The life-cycle is not completed until 

 Summer is well under weigh. The larva is prominently 

 segmented, the polished yellowish-green body bearing 

 pale lines, two ridges of humps, and a profusion of 

 small white hairs. The ochreous-brown pupa bears 

 various markings. The pale blue of the male imago is 

 relieved with narrow margins of black, and then an 

 outer edge of white. The female has black patches 

 at the extremity of the forewings, and spots adorn the 

 outer margins of the hind pair. The under surface is 

 very pale Cambridge blue, with minute spots of black. 

 This species is double-brooded, and the second batch 

 of eggs are laid in early Autumn on the flower heads of 

 ivy. The pupas remain as such through the Winter, 

 and from these in early Spring the brood emerges which 

 resorts to holly. 



Small Blue. — {Zizera minima.) At once distinguished 

 by its size, the Little Blue, as it is also called, restricts its 

 haunts to wind-sheltered dells, hollows in the chalk or 

 limestone hills, and similar retreats. It is the only 

 British representative of its genus, and the last of the 

 LyccenidcE with which we are here concerned. Kidney- 

 vetch is the favourite food-plant, and upon a flower- 

 bud of this chalk-loving wildhng the pale greenish egg is 

 laid in June. The brown-coloured larva has a polished 

 black head, and is dark-Hned down the centre of the back. 

 The pupa is not possessed of much attraction, being of a 

 dull pale hue, with rows of small black spots. The larva 

 remains as such from June to almost the same month the 



succeeding year. The male imago is dark brown to 

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