80 



above and below, covered with raised white reticulation, all except the top. 

 Buckler. 



The caterpillar is of a bright yellow green, with black head and legs, a 

 blackish brown dorsal line edged with white, and yellowish green oblique 

 marks on the back and sides. It feeds on Ornithopm perpmillus, and prob- 

 ably on some of the lesser trefoils, as P. agon occurs in Portland, whereas 

 the QrnltJiopm perpusillus is not known there. 



The chrysalis is less than half-an-inch in length,, and of a dull green colour 

 with a brown dorsal line, the wing cases being rather long in proportion. 



The butterfly emerges from the chrysalis state at the end of June or July, 

 and continues on the wing for about two months. In 1877, 1 met with it 

 as late as the 17th September. The eggs do not hatch till spring, the dates 

 being from the end of February to about the end of March. The caterpillars 

 feed but slowly, changing their skin for the last time from llth to 15th June, 

 and turning into chrysalids by the 24th, remaining in that state about three 

 weeks. The chrysalides are generally slightly attached, after the usual man- 

 ner of the genus, viz. by a button at the tail and a belt of silk round the 

 middle, to a stem of the food-plant, at the very bottom and partly in the 

 earth : sometimes they are attached to large stones. 



It appears to be generally distributed throughout Central and Southern 

 Europe and Asia Minor, frequenting heaths and stony pastures. In England 

 it is widely but not generally distributed ; but is scarce in Scotland, not be- 

 ing found north of Perthshire ; and it also occurs at Wicklow, in Ireland. 



It was figured in 1717, .by James Petiver,in his " Papilionum Britannise," 

 under the name Papiunculus plumbeus parvus, Small Lead Argus." Moses 

 Harris, in his " Aurelian's Pocket Companion," published in 1775, records 

 it as haunting commons. Lewin, in 1795, writes " This pretty little butter- 

 fly is very common. It is out on the wing the second week in June, and 

 flies mostly in low reedy meadows/' 



Family ERYCINIDJE. 



The only notable distinction between this and the last family is in the per- 

 fect insect, the males of which, in the Erycinidse have only four perfect legs, 

 while the females have six. Both sexes of the Lycsenidae have six perfect legs. 



The Erycinidse are most numerous in Tropical America, but several are 

 found both in Asia and Africa, but only one in Europe, which occurs also in 

 Britain. They are of small size, and extremely varied in their forms. Thus 



