56 



it then became common for several seasons, but has been comparatively 

 scarce during the past three or four years." 



Although Argiolus is double-brooded in the South of England, it appears 

 to be only single-brooded in the North, as in his " Lepidoptera of North- 

 umberland and Durham" Mr. "Wailes only records it as occurring in the 

 spring of the year; and the Kev. W. T. Bree writing to "London's Maga- 

 zine for 1836, states, that he took a specimen on the 28th of August, in his 

 garden at Allesley, near Coventry, in Warwickshire, and that, although the 

 species is for the most part only single-brooded in his part of the country, it 

 it does nevertheless, occasionally, though rarely, produce a second brood 

 during the same season. 



POLYOMMATUS AOIS. 

 Mazarine Blue. 



Acis, W. V. A'cis a young Prince of Sicily, who was in love with the 

 beautiful Galathea, and in despair threw himself into the river, which from 

 that time has borne his name. This species appears to have had the name of 

 Semiargus given to it in " Des Naturforscher " a Zoological Miscellany, 

 published at Halle, in 1775. The name of Acis was given in the Vienna 

 Catalogue, published in 1776. 



Lewin, however, in 1795, called it Cimon, giving Linnaeus as an authority 

 for the name. 



The male is of a dull dark blue, with very narrow blackish-brown hind 

 margin to the wings. 



The female is of a dark brown, with a bluish tinge at the base of the wings. 

 The under-side of both sexes are similar, being of a pale greyish-drab, tinged 

 at the base with greenish-blue, and with black spots in white rings. 



The width across the wings varies from one inch to one inch and a half. 



Five named varieties occur on the mountains of Asia Minor, Mount Par- 

 nassus and other Greek mountains. One of them, Befoi, has red spots on 

 the underside, and another, Antiochena, a form of the female, has a reddish 

 band on the upperside of all the wings. 



When flying, Acis much resembles Alexis, but is darker in colour, of 

 slower flight, and flies more heavily, and at Glanvilles Wootton was formerly 

 the most common. 



The caterpillar has never been discovered in England. It is covered with 

 fine yellowish-green hair, and has stripes of a darker shade on the back and 

 sides ; the head and feet being of a dark brown. It feeds on Anthyllis vulner- 

 aria in August and September. (Kirby.) 



