I70 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



/^ / The Adonis Blue (Lyccena bellarQiis). 



{Lyccena bellargus). 



The butterfly on Plate no i s the Clifden Blue of Moses 

 Harris (1775), so named because it was said to have been first 

 observed at Clifden in Bucks. The male is of a beautiful bright 

 blue colour, but as in the same sex of the previous two species, 

 it is not quite constant in tint. In some specimens we find a 

 distinct mauve shade, and in others, but more rarely, the blue 

 colour is tinged with greenish (Plate 118, Fig. 11): the veins 

 become distinctly black on the outer margins, and appear to run 

 through the white fringes on all the wings. Often there are 

 black dots on the outer margin of the hind wings. The female 

 is dark brown, sometimes slaty-black, with orange spots or 

 crescents on the outer margins ; these are often only faintly in 

 evidence on the fore wings, and sometimes this is the case on 

 the hind wings also ; there is a black discal spot on the fore 

 wings, and the fringes of all the wings are white chequered with 

 black. The bases of the wings are powdered with blue, but 

 this is more noticeable on the hind wings. On the under side 

 the fore wings of the male are greyish, and the hind wings 

 greyish-brown ; all the wings of the female are brownish, with 

 a faint grey tinge in some specimens ; the ornamentation is 

 very similar to that of the Common Blue. The two figures on 

 Plate no, showing specimens with the wings closed, represent 

 typical male and female, and the other figures of under sides on 

 this plate exhibit minor aberrations from typical lines ; examples 

 of the more extreme variations will be found on Plate 118, 

 where also are figured some uncommon aberrations in the colour 

 of the male on the upper side. 



There is often a tendency in the female to assume the colour 

 of the male, and this is usually seen on the hind wings, .but 

 occasionally on the fore wings also. In the extreme form of this 

 phase of variation, var. ceronus, the whole of the upper surface, 



