172 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



between the middle of May and the middle of June, thus 

 occupying about nine months in passing through the various 

 stages from egg to perfect insect. From^ggs laid in May and 

 June the butterflies appear in August and September. Although 

 it is found in similar kinds of situations to those affected by the 

 last species, and sometimes on the same grounds, it is more 

 local, and almost confined to the counties of Kent, Surrey, and 

 Sussex. It is, however, rather common at Ventnor and in some 

 other parts of the Isle of Wight, and is found near Winchester. 

 Barrett states that it is abundant at Corfe Castle, Dorset, and 

 gives as localities for the butterfly Wotton-under-Edge, and 

 near Bristol, near Torquay, Sidmouth, and Seaton. Its range 

 abroad extends through Central and Southern Europe, to 

 Armenia, Northern Asia Minor, and Western Kurdistan. It is 

 also found in North- West Africa, where the males are greenish- 

 blue with conspicuous black spots on the outer margins of the 

 hind wings; this is the var . punctifera. 



The Holly Blue (Cyaniris argiolus). 



About the beginning of the eighteenth century this butterfly 

 (Plate 113) was known as the "Blue Speckt," but Harris, in 

 1775, changed the name to the "Azure Blue." The male is a 

 pretty lilac-tinged blue, with a narrow black edging on the outer 

 margin of the fore wings, often only in evidence towards the 

 tip, and a narrow black line on the outer margin of the hind 

 wings. The white fringes of the fore wings are distinctly 

 marked with black at the ends of the veins. The female is of 

 the same shade of blue, or sometimes much paler (var. clara, 

 Tutt), with a broad blackish border on the outer margin of the 

 fore wings extending along the front margin to about the 

 middle ; this border varies in width and seems to be wider in 

 summer specimens than in those of the earlier flight ; the discal 

 mark on the fore wings is black, but this is sometimes very 



