208 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



groups even at a considerable distance. Special clumps of long grass 

 are frequently selected day after day ; still more frequently, probably 

 on account of its greater rigidity in windy weather, the insects choose 

 a thickly-grown heap of Centaur ea nigra, clumps of which may often 

 be found literally crowded with specimens at rest on all parts of the 

 plant ; we have counted as many as 100 examples of Pohjouimatus 

 icarus, and a score of Rumicia phlaeas, and as many Aricia astrarche, 

 in the space of about three yards square, on a large clump of marram - 

 grass near the sea between Deal and Sandwich ; and 50 P. icarus, and 

 as many of Agriades thetis, in a single small hollow overgrown with 

 Centaurea nigra and C. scabiosa, on the chalk-downs above Folkestone. 

 It is also to be found on the open Leas at Horsley, towards evening, 

 in numbers, on the tall grass-stems and other coigns of vantage, with 

 Aricia astrarche and CoenonympJta pamphilus, more than two dozen 

 examples of these species being observed on the dead flower-spikes of a 

 single burdock plant. Prideaux notes that on a small clump of Gentaurea 

 nigra, on August 8th, 1905, at Keigate, he counted 26 specimens 

 of Polyommatus icarus, Aricia astrarche and Agriades coridon, in order 

 of abundance, whilst on Reigate Hill, on August 2nd, 1903, a selected 

 grass-tussock yielded 33 specimens of the same three species. Small- 

 man states that, near Eastbourne, clumps of the dead flowerheads of 

 Serratula tinctoria are frequently chosen, whilst Bird notes it as 

 choosing grassheads on which to sleep with Rumicia pldacas, at 

 Tintern ; Harrison, on grass, rush and plantain heads at Birtley, and 

 West, on the tall stiff stems of broom at Brockley. Adkin notes 

 (Proc. Sth. Land. Ent. Soc, 1894, p. 116) that, at Eastbourne, 

 P. icarus usually selects the masses of dry grass-stems on 

 which to rest, and is sometimes a difficult object to detect seated 

 upon them as they wave to and fro in a gentle breeze, but, in some 

 years they are in such abundance, e.g., 1899, that, if one walked 

 through the long grass in the little hollows under the downs after the 

 sun had sunk below the hills, P. icarus and A. coridon sometimes rose 

 in a cloud that quite bewildered one (op. cit., 1899, p. 46), a statement 

 agreeing almost word for word with Oberthur's description (Etudes, 

 xx., p. 22) of the species on the sea-coast between St. Malo and 

 Cancale, when one walks through the thick clumps of Carex on which 

 the butterflies are resting there, and when they fly off to seek a fresh 

 asylum. Just under the sloping downs at Upnor and also near Cuxton 

 and Ranscombe, this butterfly, with Melanargia galathea, used often to 

 select the outer edges of a cornfield on which to rest, the ripening 

 stems forming, no doubt, an excellent resting-position. The slow, 

 sleepy flight of this species when thus disturbed is very noticeable, and 

 the difficulty of making the insect move at all after dark, makes 

 Studd's observation (Ent. Rec, xii., p. 26) of the species once being 

 taken at light at Oxton, near Exeter, the more remarkable. 



Habitats. — The habitats of this common species are often described 

 as " everywhere, " yet, in spite of its wide distribution — in gardens, 

 meadows, fields, on commons, moorland, heaths, marshes, coast sand- 

 hills, roadside wastes, and high mountain valleys, there are many 

 places where the species is absent and others where it is extremely 

 local, and, in eastern Asia, where there seems no reason for its dis- 

 continuance, it is either exceedingly rare or absent altogether ; nor is it 

 found in Japan or in the Nearctic region like others of our common 



