SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



237 



C. caucasica Stgr. Cat. 1871, myrmidone var. 1 

 = C. olga Born. Hor. xxvii. p. 127. 



C. aurora Esp. var. decolor ata Stgr. Iris, x. 

 1897= var. henteana E.H. p. 731. 



C. diva Gr.-G-r. Hor. xxv. (1891), p. 449. " praec. 

 (aurorae) forma Darwiniana?" Stgr. Cat. 1901, 

 p. 19. 



I believe C. diva to be quite specifically distinct 

 from C. aurora. The veining of the border of f.w. 

 $ of C. diva and the deep shading of h.w. 5 seem 

 to be perfectly distinct from anything seen in 

 C. aurora. The colour of the disc. spt. h.w. in the 

 white form of $ is another distinctive character. 

 C. diva Gr.-Gr. seems to me to be a completely 

 distinct species. 



Family III. 

 LYCAENIDAE. 



We come now to the consideration of this ex- 

 tensive family, which embraces more than a fourth 

 part of the Palaearctic butterflies. They are small 

 butterflies, represented in Britain by the " Hair- 

 streaks," " Coppers," and ' Blues." 



The Palaearctic genera not represented in Britain 

 are so closely allied to these, that we shall have no 

 difficulty in recognising the species belonging to 

 them as their near allies. 



Zoological Characters. 



Larva. — Short and thick, having the middle 

 segments larger in diameter than those near the 

 extremities, thus having a '■ woodlouse " or onisci- 

 form shape. Head small and retractile. 



In some genera, such as Thecla and Zephyr us, 

 the larvae feed on the leaves of various forest trees. 

 In others, low-growing herbaceous plants are 

 selected, notably those of the order Leguminosae, 

 but also those of other orders. Sometimes the 

 seeds or pods, and occasionally the flowers of 

 plants, form the food of the larva. 



Pupa. — Short and thick, without angular pro- 

 jections or prominences of any kind ; attached by 

 the caudal end and by a central girth, as in the 

 last family. Sometimes free. 



Imago. — Small, or, at the most, medium-sized 

 butterflies. Anterior pair of legs equally developed 

 in both sexes. Palpi ftilly developed. F.w. not 

 elongate nor with angular projections. H.w. 

 mostly rounded and rarely dentate ; but in many 

 species with one or more slender thread-like 

 " tails." Outer margin never concave, but form- 

 ing a shallow groove to receive the abdomen. 

 Antennae straight, with the clubs elongated and 

 not curved. 



The members of this family are often very 

 brilliantly coloured, but there is a tendency to- 

 wards a much lower tone of coloration in the 

 females. This is especially seen in the genus 

 Lyeaena, where the males are often bright blue and 



the females brown. Metallic coloration is frequent. 

 We are familiar with this in the metallic red 

 and blue of our native representatives. Some 

 species exhibit a very beautiful metallic green. 

 The undersides are usually of a light colour, with 

 many small ocellated spots, some of these on the 

 h.w. are often marked with metallic centres. At 

 times the markings are disposed in narrow lines or 

 streaks, hence the English name "hair-streak." 



The British species of this family are comprised 

 in the genera Thecla, Callophrys, Zephyrus, Chryso- 

 phanus, Lyeaena, and Cyaniris; and amount to 

 only sixteen in number. Some of them are very 

 common and widely distributed ; as such we may 

 mention the " common copper," Chrysophanus 

 phlaeas, and Lyeaena Icarus, the " common blue." 

 Others are more local, but are also widely dis- 

 tributed and common where they occur. These 

 are Callophrys rubi, the "green hair-streak"; 

 Zephyrus q_uereus, the " purple hair-streak " ; 

 Lyeaena argus, the "silver-studded blue"; L. 

 astrarche, the "brown argus"; L. bellargus, the 

 " Clifton blue " ; L. eorydon, the " chalk-hill blue " 

 L. minima, the " small blue " ; Cyaniris argiolus, 

 the " azure blue " ; the last seems to be getting 

 much more abundant in Britain than it was for- 

 merly. 



Other species are local, such as Zephyrus betulae, 

 the " brown hair-streak " ; Thecla n. album, the 

 "white-letter hair-streak." but abundant where 

 they occur ; Theclaprimi, the " black hair-streak " ; 

 and Lyeaena arion, the "large blue," are ex- 

 cessively local ; occurring only in one or two 

 favoured spots in Britain ; Lyeaena semiargus, the 

 " mazarine blue," is rare ; but probably was once a 

 much commoner insect than it is to-day. Chryso- 

 phanus dis2>ar, the " large copper," once common in 

 the Fens, has been extinct since 1848. 



Lampides boetica and Lyeaena argiades are gene- 

 rally included in the list of British Butterflies, but 

 though specimens of the former have indeed been 

 occasionally taken, they must be looked upon as 

 immigrants that have not established a claim to 

 rank as natives. Possibly the latter is a disap- 

 pearing native species, though there is not much 

 evidence either way with regard to its position in 

 this country. 



{To be continued.') 



Mosquito Extermination. — The success of the 

 anti-mosquito campaign in Sierra Leone appears to 

 be phenomenal. The Governor, Sir Charles King 

 Harman, has written to Major Eoss, of the Liver- 

 pool School of Tropical Medicine, that out of 400 

 public servants only three were on the sick list 

 towards the end of October, and these were not 

 suffering from malarial disease. The Nursing 

 Home was empty. Dr. Taylor had done much in 

 draining and clearing up the town. The figures 

 quoted suggest that in Sierra Leone the sick rate 

 has fallen below 1 per cent. This state of things 

 seems almost too good to continue. 



