52 



This little stranger somewhat resembles the Common Blue on the upperside, 

 but may at once be recognized by the long, tail-like appendages to the hind- 

 wings. The underside is totally distinct from that of any of our native Blues, 

 being of a plain brown with numerous nearly straight white streaks, and two 

 spots of glittering metallic green, reminding one on a small scale, of the 

 " eye " of a peacock's feather. On the upperside the male is of a violet blue, 

 with two black spots at the anal angle of the hind- wings ; but the female is 

 blue only at the base of the fore-wings, and the inner margin of the hind- 

 wings, the prevailing colour being brown. 



The expansion of the wings varies from one inch and a line to an inch 

 and four lines. 



The caterpillar feeds on the common pea, and other of the Leguminosse in 

 June and July, but has not yet been detected in Britain. It is of a green 

 or of a reddish-brown colour, with a dark dorsal streak, and has a lateral line 

 and oblique streaks, of a paler shade than the ground colour. 



The chrysalis is attached by a belt of silk round the middle of its body to 

 the stem of its food plant. It is obese and rounded at both extremities ; the 

 colour is testaceous yellow or dull red, with brown dots and black spiracles. 



The butterfly is on the wing from August to October. It has long been 

 known as a Southern species, with a very wide range of distribution, abound- 

 ing everywhere in Europe south of the Alps, and all over Africa, Western 

 Asia and the East Indies. It is also found in the Mauritius and the Canary 

 Islands, and in the Island of St. Helena it is the commonest butterfly, being 

 especially fond of a rather high altitude. On the other hand it is scarcely 

 ever found north of the Alps, except in France ; though it occasionally 

 extends its range as far as the Channel Islands, where it appeared abundantly 

 in 1859, and has even been met with once or twice on the South coast of 

 England, and three times in Belgium. 



It was first taken in this country in the above mentioned year, 1859; one 

 specimen on the 4th August, near Christchurch, Hampshire, by Mr. Latour. 

 Another on the same day at Brighton, by Mr. McArthur, on the downs near 

 the sea, where a third specimen was taken the next day by the same collector. 

 The next specimen was taken at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, by Mr. 

 Snell, on the 23rd of August, 1878. 



In 1880, Mr. Durham writes to the " Entomologist "" On September 

 12th, while at Aldwich, near Bognor, Sussex, I went into the garden, shortly 

 after breakfast. I almost immediately saw a specimen of this rare butterfly 

 at rest on a geranium. Having obtained my net, I succeeded in taking it/' 



In 1882, a specimen was taken at Bournemouth by Miss Staples, on the 

 2nd October. 



