POLYOMMATUS ICARUS. 123 



£-7). — Two <? s with the wings partly white, from Portsdown (Pearce, Ent., 

 xxiii., p. 230). 



6. — .A large bleached blotch at the anal angle of the left forewing. Sex un- 

 noticed (Kemp, Proc. Sth. Loud. Ent. Soc, 1900, p. 78). 



i.— ? of very blue type. The outer half of the right fore- and hindwing 

 paliid and scaleless. Both these wings also crippled, the pallid areas showing 

 through on the underside. British Museum coll. 



k. — ? . Bight hindwing pallid, apparently almost scaleless ; the pallid area 

 extending over the whole wing from the outer marginal line, except the extreme 

 base of the wing. Deal, August, 1887. Tutt coll. 



\. — $ . The left forewing streaked with pale longitudinally, one streak 

 extending from the base to outer margin directly under the discoidal lunule, 

 another long one parallel to the inner margin ending widely at anal angle, several 

 shorter ones between these ; the pale area appears to be scaleless. The other three 

 wings normal. Deal, August, 1887. Tutt coll. 



ix. — 2 of the blue form; the forewings splashed with streaks of white (Garland, 

 Ent. Rec, viii., p. 249). 



v. — ? . Left forewing truncate from apex to middle of outer margin ; a pale 

 patch just above the anal angle making the orange lunule in the patch whitish. 

 Pfynwald, May 14th, 1903. Tutt coll. 



£.— $ without a trace of blue (the only one taken among a large number 

 plentifully supplied with blue scales) ; the hind-marginal markings on left forewing 

 pale ochreous, instead of orange as on the other three wings. Between Oxted and 

 Chipstead, June, 1909 (South, Proc. Sth. Lond. Ent. Soc, 1909-10, p. 106). 



o. — ? . With analogous pallid patches on the right fore- and hindwing, 

 occupying a large patch extending from outer margin to discoidal cell. The whole 

 of these areas upper- and underside bleached, and edges torn. The pallid areas 

 grey, with slight brownish tinge, marginal pattern present, but nearly colourless, 

 the marginal spots grey, the crescents pale buff, the chevrons grey. Hodgson 

 coll. (in litt.). 



ir. — 5 . With a bleached hindwing. Folkestone, June, 1902 (Browne, Proc. 

 South Lond. Ent. Soc, 1903, p. 73). 



p. — ? . Entirely pale golden-brown, of the colour of Coenonympha pamphilus, 

 Webb coll. (Barr., Brit. Lep., i., p. 79). 



Variation. — The variation of this species, as might be expected from 

 its wide range of distribution, and its tendency to many-broodedness, is 

 most interesting, yet, in Europe, the development of local races is not 

 very definite, nor is its seasonal variation really very marked, except 

 that the summer and autumn broods, in hot seasons, tend sometimes 

 locally to smaller size and a lack of brilliancy in colour. The Asiatic 

 local forms are rather more distinctive, and several races have been 

 named. Among the largest and most brilliantly coloured of the races 

 of this species, is our own western European form ( = var. clara), which 

 reaches its maximum of size and beauty in both sexes in Scandinavia, on 

 the west coast of Ireland, and in Scotland ; the underside spotting, how- 

 ever, in this race, tends, locally, to show a strong leaning to the obsolete 

 forms. Some authors, Zeller, Gillmer, etc., have suggested a wide-spread 

 general difference between the spring {yernalis) and summer (aestivalis) 

 broods, but, though this differentiation might fairly be made as between 

 the spring and summer broods of Mauretania and the hotter parts of 

 southern Europe, Syria, etc., it fails almost entirely in western France 

 and Great Britain, and in many other parts of the range of the species, 

 where the examples of both sexes are usually as large in the summer, 

 as in the spring, brood, equally bright in colour, and the 2 s as plenti- 

 fully and brilliantly covered with blue scales, yet, in exceptionally hot 

 seasons, and locally, a noticeable difference may be found, but not to 

 the extent sometimes suggested. Zeller, as noted above, was the first 

 lepidopterist to suggest {his, 1847, p. 154) separate vernalis and 

 aestivalis facies in the species, and, as his data were largely obtained 



