308 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



although, on being boxed, it at once settled down to sleep. This 

 species, when really at rest, stands with its forew T ings drawn well into the 

 hindwings, as in P. icarus, the three upper spots of the submedian row on 

 the underside of the forewings standing in continued series with the 

 corresponding row of the hindwings, the discoidal spot of the forewing 

 just showing above, and forming part of a second series, including the 

 two spots towards the middle of the costa of the hindwing. The 

 antennae are thrown out well in front at the distance of fully a 

 right angle from each other. When asleep, the forewings are much 

 more withdrawn, and the extreme apical point alone is shown of the 

 forewing. The <? is quite a regular visitor to the moist places by the 

 roadsides in the Alps. We saw it frequently on a piece of waste 

 ground between St. Michel-de-Maurienne and Valloire, through which 

 the zigzags wind, drinking at the runlets that trickle here, there, 

 and everywhere, where Hirsutina damon is in countless myriads, 

 Agriades coridon and Aricia astrarche are nearly as common, whilst 

 Polyommatus icarus (like Cyaniris semiargus) occurs freely without 

 being abundant. At the runnels on the path near the Weissenstein Inn, 

 in August, 1907, it occurred with numbers of Agriades coridon, 

 Plebeius argyrognomon, Polyommatus eros, P. icarus, and Latiorina 

 orbitulns. It also occurred at the running water by the road- 

 sides, at Glans and Spinabad, in the Landwasser Valley, as well as far 

 up the Dischmathal, in the latter locality with Yacciniina optilete, 

 Albulina pheretes, Plebeius argyrognomon, and Polyommatus icarus, and 

 where these were almost the only species of blues. Moss observed it 

 at puddles on the roads at Zermatt, in July, 1902, and Rowland- 

 Brown notes it as abundant in June, 1899, near Digne, where the 

 stream comes running down the historic little valley, above the Baths, 

 into the Eaux-Chaudes, breaking the bed of the latter into little 

 islands of rich black mud, with an abundance of $ Polyommatus 

 escheri, and herds of Polyommatus icarus, Agriades bellargus, Cupido 

 sebrus, and C. minima. Lowe notes the same habit, the species gather- 

 ing at the patches of moisture in the Val Anzasea, with other species 

 of blues. The habit is evidently general, for the species is reported as 

 occurring in numbers at moist places in the roads at Salzburg (Richter), 

 in Carinthia (Hofner), and in Moravia (Schneider), whilst Holtz saw 

 it near Gozna, at 1000m. elevation, sitting commonly with other 

 Lycamids at puddles in the road. Dadd records both sexes (the $ s 

 worn, the $ s fresh) at patches of damp earth in the Oythal, in June, 

 1905, accompanied by Cupido minimus which was in boundless pro- 

 fusion; we can confirm this record, for we noted a $ drinking greedily 

 at a puddle, nearLavin, in the Lower Engadine, August 9th, 1908, as 

 well as many $ s at a spring just above Lavin, the same day. 



Habitats. — Distributed, as this species is, from the hot plateaux of 

 Spain and Asia Minor, and the mountain slopes of Sicily, Greece, and 

 Syria, to well inside the Arctic Circle, or even the shores of the Polar Sea, 

 and from the extreme western shores of France and Portugal, to the 

 shores of the Pacific Ocean, its habitats are sure to be varied and 

 extreme. That it can brave the greatest winter cold is certain, for it 

 lives under evidently sedentary conditions, in the high Alps of central 

 Europe up to 7000ft. or 8000ft. elevation. We have taken it on the 

 Airolo side of the St. Gothard Pass, between the pinewoods and the 

 summit, the species occurring quite naturally, and not at all un- 

 commonly on the exposed slopes, where the vegetation is distinctly 



