L Y C M N A dispar. 



The Large British Copper. 



Family Erycinidae. Sub-family Tbcclinae. Sw. Genus Polyommatus. 

 Generic Character. 



W inns (typically) obtuse, rounded : anterior having the external mar- 

 gin shorter than the posterior: posterior wings entire or nearly 

 so: destitute both of filiform caudal appendages, and of metallic 

 anal spots. Nob. 



Sub-Generic Character, 



Posterior wings obsoletely dentated, particularly at the anal angle: 

 club of the antennae short, spatulate; palpi hairy, the last joint 

 lengthened, acute, naked, obliquely vertical. Type. L. Phlaeas. 



Specific Character. 

 Wings coppery : the male with two discoid black dots on the 

 anterior, and one on the posterior wings: club of the an- 

 tennce elongated and fusiform. (Aberrant.) 



Papilio Uippothoe. Lewen's Pap. pi. 40. 



Pap. dispar. Haworth. l.ep. Brit. p. 40. Stevens. Brit. Ent 1 

 p. 82. PI. 3 



As considerable misconception appears to exist regarding 

 the type of the ten ui rostral or vermiform family of the 

 Diurnal Lepidoptera, we shall endeavour to illustrate this 

 subject. Our concluding number is accordingly devoted 

 to the genus Polyommatus of Latrielle, and its subordinate 

 types or sub-genera. These compose, what we have else- 

 where defined, a natural and perfect group; (North. Zool. 

 2,288) inasmuch as it has been tested by the analogies, and 

 conformed by the representations, which it bears to innu- 

 merable others, both in the Annuloseand vertebrated circles. 

 According to this analysis, both Lycaena and Polyommatus 

 strictly so termed, instead of being types cither of families 

 or sub-families, are of one and the same genus : which genus 

 moreover, is but the portion of the aberrant group of the 

 Theclinae. The typical forms of the genus Erycina, ex- 

 clusively confined to Tropical America, constitute, in fact 

 the pre-eminent perfection of the family in question. 



As Ly ciena represents the Nymphalidce, or sub-typical 

 family of the Diurnal Butterflys, so is it the sub-typical form 

 of the genus Polyommatus. Its geographic range is wide, 

 being extended to the temperate latitudes of both hemis- 

 pheres. The largest British species is that now figured, 

 from the identical specimens mentioned by Lcwin. 



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