68 



The chrysalis is obese, with some very small hairs scattered over it. The 

 colour is at first greenish on the wing-cases, greenish-brown on the rest of 

 the body, afterwards it is ochreous all over. 



The butterfly appears on the wing in May or the beginning of June. The 

 egg is doubtless laid that month, and the caterpillar should be found feeding 

 ,on Hippocrepis comosa (the Tufted Horseshoe Vetch), in June and July. 



In August the second brood appears, the caterpillars from which, hyber- 

 nating when small, feed up the following spring, and enter the chrysalis state 

 in April or the beginning of May. 



It is very common in many parts of Europe, North Africa, and Asia 

 Minor. In North- Eastern and North- Western Europe it is much more local 

 than in the South, being especially attached to the chalk and limestone. 



It is unknown as an inhabitant of Scotland, Ireland, or the Isle of Man, 

 and in England is a more southern species than Corydon, not occuring north 

 of Gloucestershire and Buckinghamshire. 



The first account I can find of its occurrence in England is in the " Aure- 

 lian's Pocket Companion," by Moses Harris, published in 1775, as being 

 found on commons near Clifden. 



Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, "This most beauti- 

 ful species of butterfly was first observed and caught at Clifden, in Bucking- 

 hamshire, and for that reason lias always retained the name of Clifden Blue; 

 however, it is pretty common in various parts of England, and is to be 

 taken on chalky pastures. The flies are on the wing the middle of June ; 

 and as they do not fly from the place where they are bred, and frequently 

 settle on the ground, they may be easily taken." 



Haworth, in this "Lepidoptera Britannica," 1803, writes, "Adonis, being 

 by far the most lovely of the British Blues, is much sought after by our 

 inferior collectors, who make annual and distant pedestrian excursions, for 

 the sole purpose of obtaining its charming males to decorate their pictures 

 with ; a picture, consisting of numerous and beautiful lepidoptera, ornament- 

 ally and regularly disposed, being the ultimate object of the assiduous people 

 in the science of Entomology. These pictures are of various shapes and 

 sizes : I have even seen some which have contained 500 specimens." 



Some of the Spitalfield collectors, after toiling at their weaving machines 

 all the week, used to start at 10 o'clock on Saturday night, in order to arrive 

 at Darenth and Birch Woods by daybreak, so as to collect the twilight-flying 

 moths. Daniel Bryder, one of the most industrious of these collectors, and 

 who was employed by Mr. Wilkin to collect for him in the New Forest, was 

 the first of the Spitalfield collectors who attempted to arrange his insects 



