210 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



flat areas, carpeted with Lotus, dwarf Ononis, Bieracia, etc., provide 

 a home for thousands of this species ; we have seen it in hundreds 

 resting at sunset on the marram culms on the sandhills stretching 

 between Deal and Sandwich, and within a dozen feet of the water at 

 high tide. It occurs similarly on the downs of Essex and Suffolk, 

 and Woodforde found it swarming on the sandhills near Abersoch, in 

 June, 1900; whilst Fletcher found it in a similar habitat at Tetuan, 

 in Morocco, among the coarse grass. As a far different habitat, we 

 may notice that it occurs all over the Lizard promontory, although 

 usually much less common than Plebeiits arg us (aeyon), whilst Daws 

 observed that it swarmed, in 1898, in the Penzance district.- Another 

 strange locality where the species is abundant is in Chippenham Fen, 

 the paths through which, being made up of gault, chalk, etc., carry an 

 exceedingly rich chalk flora, on which Polyommatus icarus, Rumicia 

 phlaeas, Pyrausta purpuralis, and many other unexpected species 

 flourish exceedingly ; Wilkinson also notes that the species abounds on 

 the site of the old West Cumberland Ironworks, near Workington, 

 the old tip-heaps being carpeted with Ononis, Lotus, Silcne, etc. ; 

 Arkle records it as occurring with Plebeiits arg us {a eg on) in Delamere 

 Forest, he also found it on the borders of a Northumbrian moor, 

 near Bellingham, on a piece of rough ground covered with knapweed, 

 scabious, galium, St. John's wort, harebell, yarrow, and thistles, all 

 in full bloom, flying with Pieris ncrpi and P. rap'ae. In Scotland, it 

 occurs on the slopes of the mountains of the Western Highlands as 

 well as on the " tiphon" moors; it is more particularly abundant, 

 however, as a coast species, being common on the Aberdeen and Fife 

 coasts with Aricia artaxerxes, Coenonympha pamphilus, etc.; whilst 

 Dalglish says that, at the end of July, 1899, it was exceedingly 

 abundant in South Ayrshire, in moist hollows, as w T ell as on parched 

 and dry hillsides, flying out from among the rushes literally in dozens 

 when disturbed. Salwey found it on the moorlands at the foot of 

 Ben Tigh ; Kose, in the Eannoch district, in the meadows past the 

 Altmore Falls, where it used to collect on the rushes at dusk to sleep. 

 Kirkaldy found it on some grassy cliffs, on both sides of the Leath 

 Allt, a stream running into the sea on the east coast of Skye, between 

 Staffin and Portree. In Ireland, it is almost as abundant on the 

 cliffs at Howth as on the sandhills of Sligo, where it swarms on the 

 coast, within wash of the waves of the Atlantic; whilst Fletcher 

 noticed it abundant, in cornfields, on the shores of Lough Swilly. 

 Oberthiir observes (Etudes, xx., p. 22) that, in France, this species 

 inhabits the mountains and plains, and is particularly abundant by the 

 seaside; the sandy dunes, overgrown with Carices, notably between 

 (Jancale and St. Malo, produce such a large number of P. icarus, 

 that, on some summer evenings if one disturbs the insects when at 

 rest on the Carer stems, such numbers arise that they look like a 

 little blue cloud seeking another asylum. Just outside Paris, on the 

 way to Bagneux, the species is abundant in the sainfoin fields, and at 

 Rennes it is still a garden insect. In Guernsey, it occurs on the slopes 

 of "The Gouffre," covered, in spring, with dog-daisies, and bristling 

 with gorse, with Rumicia phlaeas, Callophrys ruhi, Pararge mega&ra, etc. 

 In the Bouches-du-Hhone, Siepi says it is common throughout, in 

 woods, on hills and in meadows, indeed it occurs almost everywhere, 

 even in the gardens of the towns. Typical of the localities in Savoy 



