AGRIADES CORIDON. 



89 



separated next morning. The £ in this species, as in others, appears 

 to have no choice whatever in the matter. If disturbed when paired, 

 the $ takes to flight and carries the $ , as is the case apparently with 

 all Lycaenids. The only actual records of cross-pairing that we can 

 trace, are (1) by Sabine, who states (Proc. Sth. Lond. Ent. Soc, 1886, 

 p. 61) that he once took a $ A. thetis in cop. with a ? A. coridon, 

 (2) by Bankes, who reports (in litt.) that on August 4th, 1892, he 

 found a $ A. coridon in cop. with a £ Coenonympha pamphilus, which 

 separated just as he was netting them, and after two or three short 

 flights had been made. When a $ is fluttering along, or up and 

 down a flowery bank, and one is standing above and looking down on 

 the insect, the blue of the upperside rarely disappears even for a 

 moment, in spite of the twinkling appearance that suggests that the 

 grey underside of the w T ings is being regularly thrust up as flight 

 continues. One also observes the remarkable way in which the costa 

 of the forewings is apparently thrust back during flight, giving the 

 insect sometimes a rather dwarfed appearance. Viewed sideways, 

 however, one sees the wings thrown up so as to show the undersides 

 alternately with the upperside in the horizontal forward movement. 

 This seemingly inquiring mode of flight is entirely different from the 

 sudden dart which the insect takes when suddenly disturbed, and 

 which carries it at once to a considerable distance, and it is also 

 different from the long sweeping movement in forward curves that 

 one observes when the $ is flying hurriedly but has not been rudely 

 disturbed. When the weather is bright, both sexes love to sit in the 

 sun, but they do not sit indolently with the wings outspread to any- 

 thing like the same extent that A. thetis does. They will sit and feed 

 and move their hindwings alternately in the manner of the other 

 species, or find a damp spot, where they will sit for hours, but they 

 are more restless otherwise than their congeners, although one some- 

 times sees them sunning, when, with wings expanded horizontally, 

 and hindwings pulled back, perched generally on the summit of a tall 

 flower or head of grass, they swing themselves round at the apex, so 

 that the wings are fully exposed to the sun, they form a beautiful 

 picture ; this is particularly the case in the afternoon, but, when the 

 weather is hazy, and the sunlight somewhat diffused, the $ s appear 

 to attempt to get all the warmth possible from the sun, resting on 

 grass-culms, etc., with their wings expanded, so that such rays of the 

 sun as are available may fall directly on them ; they are, however, 

 much more sluggish than in the full sun, the forewings drawn partly 

 back and not opened in the alert way they usually are when the sun 

 is hot. On such a day (September 15th, 1907), the 2 s were observed 

 at Cuxton feeding on the thyme flowers, but they were very shy, 

 bundling off rapidly for ten or twelve yards when disturbed, and 

 usually falling on a patch of bare earth, where they remained well 

 hidden, the ground colour of the underside of the specimens found on 

 the chalk-downs here being generally plentifully mixed with white. 

 In bright sunny weather, one observes that the ? A. coridon flies very 

 differently from the $ . At Preda we often noticed her on the flowers 

 like the $ , but, when on business intent, she flutters slowly through 

 the herbage with short jerky movements, keeping low down, and often 

 stopping and inspecting the plants as she passes them ; when thus 

 engaged she walks over the leaves of the foodplant and other herbage 



