A FEW ODD NOTES ON LYCtENIDS, ETC. 247 



A Few Odd Notes on Lycaenids, etc. 



By J. W. H. HARBISON, B.Sc, F.E.S. 



On July 14th I was out after Polyommatus astrarche, but, as it 

 became dull, I spent the remainder of the day in examining the 

 numberless P. icarus, which were resting on the grass and rush heads, 

 for aberrations. I only took two or three worthy of mention. The 

 first was a male specimen of ab. icarinus, Scrib. This is the first 

 specimen of this form I have taken ; it is now in the possession of 

 Mr. G. B. Walsh of Hull. Not far from this specimen I got a dwarf 

 form, also a male, expanding only 22mm. This contrasted greatly 

 with some giant P. astrarche I had taken earlier in the day with a wing 

 expanse of 35mm. Several of the female examples I took, in addition 

 to the inner half of the fringes above being grey, possessed a dark 

 brown or almost black line, on the underside running parallel to the 

 margin and bisecting the fringes. I looked in vain for male examples 

 of this form. Just as I was leaving, I got a remarkable form of the 

 female ; it was quite symmetrically marked. The forewings beneath 

 possessed the discal scar, but the two basal ocelli, or rather their 

 remains, were moved up to the scar, and, together with the black 

 centre of the scar, and the remains of the subterminal row of ocelli, 

 which were also moved up to the scar, formed a small black T. The 

 hindwings only possessed a confused mark in the centre ; I take this 

 to be a rather unusual form of ab. persica. As the insect was a female, 

 I resolved to try for ova, and I was successful ; I allowed it to lay about 

 two dozen, and then killed and set it. 



It is rather curious how brightly coloured the female blues on the 

 coast are, compared with the dingy brown specimens found inland. 



As I noted before, Capido minima reappeared in its inland localities 

 in Durham and Northumberland last year in some abundance after 

 being unobserved for several years. This year, a close search for the 

 insect and also for ova, which were readily found last year, ended in 

 absolute failure, although the butterfly was observed sparingly in a 

 new locality near South Shields. 



Polyommatus astrarche and its aberrations were very abundant this 

 year in all its known haunts. I should think its numbers were about 

 six times that of a normal year. This is the more extraordinary, as a 

 friend and myself went for larvfe at the end of April, and, except for a 

 single larva I obtained, and gave to my brother for a correspondent, 

 not one was visible. In an ordinary season, between two and three 

 dozen larvaB has been the usual take. What was still more remarkable, 

 was the absence of any indication of the larvfe feeding. My friend, 

 Mr. Johnson, of Gateshead, before becoming aware of our non-success, 

 also made a search, and also with a total catch of one. The other 

 friends of mine, who were with him, took none. I fancy the larvje fed 

 up very early in the spring, or took advantage of the open winter, and 

 fed up then. Or, perhaps, with the hereditary tendency to double- 

 broodedness, the larvfe fed up last year in the warm autumn we had, 

 and remained as pupae all the time. A slight confirmation of one or 

 other of these surmises, I see in the fact that, in spite of the cold .June, 

 the insect was out about ten days earlier this year than in 1904. 



I have rather a curious incident to relate regarding Rumicia phlaeas. 

 During the Christmas holidays I had occasion to send a consignment 



