LYOMNIDjE. 93 



Genus POLYOMMATUS. 



Polyommatus, Latreille, Sonnerat's BufFon, xiv. p. 116 (1805); Gen. Crust, et Ins. iv. p. 206 (1807). 



Forewing triangular ; costa slightly arched, exterior margin oblique and slightly 

 convex towards the apex, posterior margin straight ; costal vein extending to half 

 length of wing; first and second subcostal branches short, first emitted at nearly 

 one-half before end of the cell, second at one-fifth, third bifid and emitted close to 

 end of the cell, fourth at one-half from third and terminating at the apex, fifth from 

 end of the cell ; discocellulars nearly erect, of equal length, radial from their middle ; 

 ceU broad extending to a little beyond half length of wing ; upper median from end 

 of the cell, middle branch at one-fifth and lower at one-third before end of the cell ; 

 submedian nearly straight : hindwing bluntly oval ; furnished with a single slender 

 tail ; costal vein much arched from the base ; first subcostal branch curved, emitted 

 at one-fourth before end of the cell ; discocellulars very slender, upper slightly 

 concave, radial from their middle ; two upper median branches from end of cell, 

 lower branch at one-third before the end ; submedian straight, internal recurved, 

 short. Body stouter than in Lampides ; palpi porrect, long, slender, flattened, 

 fringed beneath ; legs slender; antennal club stout, grooved. 



Type, P. Bseticus. 



POLYOMMATUS B^TICUS. 



PapUio BcbHcus, Linnfeus, Syst. Nat. i. ii. p. 789 (1767); Fabricuis, Syst. Ent. pp. 522, 526. 

 Lyccena Bcetica, Horsfield, Catal. Lep. Mus. E. I. C p. 80. 

 Lampides Bceticus, Butler, Catal. Fabrician Lep. B. M. p. 165. 



Male. Upperside dull violet-blue, with a very narrow brown marginal band : 

 hindwing with two black anal spots and a marginal row of evanescent blackish spots. 

 Female brown, the lower basal and discal areas cobalt-blue ; two marginal rows of 

 whitish lunules, less distinct on forewing ; anal spots prominent. Cilia edged with 

 white ; tail black with white tip. Underside greyish-ochreous, brownish in female : 

 forewing with four transverse discoidal, two discal, and two marginal white-bordered 

 brown bands, the two discal bands broken below the middle and lower median veins, 

 the outer marginal band indistinct : hindwing with the basal area crossed by eight or 

 nine narrow white waved lines, a broad white discal band, and a narrow marginal 

 lunular line ; anal spots jet-black, and traversed externally by a lunule of steel-blue 

 or green metallic scales, and bordered inwardly by ochreous-red. 



Expanse 1^ to If inch. 



" Western and Central Provinces. In low country and up to 3000 feet. In 

 weedy and cultivated land, but not forest. Chiefly in the spring. Flight slow as 

 compared with many of the Lyc^nid^. Settles among bushes " {Hutchison). 



"Kandy. Y er j coTavaon" (Wade). 



