POLYOMMATUS ICARUS. 125 



(2) Four had the orange lunules on all wings well-developed. 



(3) The greater number of those inspected were brown, with the basal area of 

 each very blue or sprinkled with blue scales. 



(4) One without a trace of blue (see supra). 



(5) Grey-blue 2 ; forewings with four orange lunules inwardly edged with 

 black (the first of the series very small) ; above the orange lunules, the inter- 

 nervular spaces clouded with greyish-white ; the outer marginal area limited by a 

 greyish-white line ; similarly, the outer marginal area of the hindwing limited 

 by a greyish-white serrated line, on which are four orange lunules as on forewings, 

 and a series of black dots, the latter almost entirely encircled with greyish-white. 



(6) Almost black ; the basal half of all the wings thickly sprinkled with deep 

 blue scales ; a few outer marginal orange lunules ; the black marginal spots are 

 large and encircled with blue, except those under the orange lunules. 



(7) Similar, but the blue colour on forewing continued along nervules, so that 

 the blackish ground colour is cut up into black patches. 



(8) Almost entirely blue, but with blackish cuneiform patches between nervules 

 on hindwings ; on forewings the black edges of the rather obscure orange marks 

 slightly produced inwards, and, therefore, wedge-like in shape. 



Eeuss describes {Ent. liec, xxi. 5 p. 211) a ? , taken at Munden, in 

 Herts, in May, 1909, light blue, costa whitish, the blackish marginal 

 lunules edged with bluish-white, instead of orange ; the hindwings 

 with the marginal lunules scarcely edged with orange except the one 

 at the anal angle, which is more strongly marked. He further notes 

 (op. cit., p. 236) another 2 , violet-blue in colour, with large black 

 spots on the margin of the hindwing, but only a cloudy trace of the 

 usual red and black markings, the forewings with a rusty shade edging 

 the black margin, but no red spots; taken also at Munden, in 

 September, 1909. Dalglish observes that, in July, 1894, on the coast 

 slopes at Stonehaven, the 2 s were very variable, one almost as blue 

 as the £ s, the discal spot on the anterior wing surrounded with white, 

 three of the cellules at the tip of the wing having dashes of white, 

 whilst others, on the other hand, are almost as dark as Aricia var. 

 artaxerxes, with only a very slight suffusion on them. T. B. Fletcher 

 notes (in litt.) that, at Eame Head, in Cornwall, in early June, 1901, 

 the 2 s were very blue. Mathew compares (in litt.) the Irish and 

 English specimens, and states that, in 1886, at Berehaven, Co. Cork, he 

 obtained some remarkably handsome forms of the ? s of this species, 

 considerably larger than Devon and Essex examples, with nearly 

 the whole of the wings suffused with blue, the orange marginal spots 

 very large and bright, forming a conspicuous band. Near Harwich, 

 in August, 1904, he adds, a 2 was captured very brightly suffused 

 with lilac-blue, with whitish apical blotches on the forewings, and a 

 conspicuous marginal series of round black spots, slightly bordered 

 above with orange on the hindwings, whilst, in August, 1905, another 

 2 was taken with the disc of the forewings shot with blue, the 

 costa and hindmargin broadly sooty-black, and with the faintest 

 perceptible indication of orange markings showing through, the 

 discoidal spot very large and black; the hindwings broadly soofcy-black 

 on costa and the upper half of hindmargin, the disc blue, dusted with 

 black atoms; the marginal spots small, black, edged above with orange. 

 A 2 from Charlbury, Oxfordshire, he says, is of a bright lilac-blue, 

 with broad black margin to forewings, and three black blotches 

 towards the inner angle, the hindwings lilac-blue, with four or five 

 black marginal spots, but with no trace of orange, and another, some- 

 what similar, taken at St. Osyth, only with faint traces of orange 

 above the black hindmarginal spots on hindwings. Tyrer mentions 



