154 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



There seem to be three broods of this species in most years : 

 the first is on the wing in May, sometimes in April ; the second 

 in July or early August ; and the third in early October. It is 

 not a difficult species to rear from the egg, and as varieties 

 appear to be most frequent in the third brood, the eggs should 

 be obtained from females of the second brood. Dock and sorrel 

 (Rumex) are the food-plants of the caterpillar, and these are 

 most useful in a growing condition. 



The butterfly frequents all kinds of open situations, and is 

 fond of basking upon flowers, more particularly those of the 

 Composite, from which vantage ground it dashes with great 

 alertness at any other small butterfly that may happen to fly 

 that way. Whether these seeming attacks are really due to 

 pugnacity, as has been stated by some writers, or are merely of 

 a sportive character, is not altogether clear. As, however, the 

 meeting of the two butterflies usually results, when both are 

 Small Coppers, in a series of aerial evolutions by the pair, it 

 would seem that there is a good deal of playfulness in the 

 business. After the gambol is over, one butterfly may dart off 

 with the other in hot pursuit, and then both move so rapidly 

 that their course is difficult to follow. If the butterfly inter- 

 cepted happens to be a Blue or a Small Heath, the Copper 

 returns to the flower from which it started, and prepares for 

 another raid when the opportunity offers. It occurs throughout 

 the United Kingdom, but in Scotland it does not extend north- 

 wards beyond the Caledonian Canal. 



Abroad it is found throughout the Palaearctic Region, and 

 is represented in North America by the form hypophlceas. 



The Long-tailed Blue (Lampides bcv tints). 



The male is purplish-blue suffused with fuscous, especially on 

 all margins except the inner one ; there are two velvety black 

 spots encircled with pale blue at the anal angle of the hind 



