URBICOLA COMMA. 187 



by the hindwings. It sits boldly on the top of a flower in fine weather, 

 but, in dull weather, hides well under the capitulum of some composite 

 flower, and is then well protected. At Courmayeur, it haunts the 

 thistles and scabious, and between Chamonix and Argentiere it specially 

 favours Hieracia flowers. During cloudy intervals, it sits closely on the 

 flowers with its wings drawn up over its back, and Spiller notes that, at 

 Chinnor, in the evening, when the sun is going below the horizon, 

 this species delights to rest itself upon the flowerheads of the scabious, 

 enjoying the warmth. Butler says that he has found several specimens, 

 about 10 a.m., drying their wings, and apparently just emerged, in the 

 Beading district. The imago is often infested with a brilliant scarlet 

 parasite, which fixes itself externally to the abdominal incisions, and 

 also to that between the thorax and abdomen, as well as the neck. 



Habitat. — In Britain, the species appears to be confined to chalk- 

 downs and limestone hills, and to be excessively local, abounding on 

 the open sides of the hills and downs in suitable places, or in rough 

 fields and -lanes in chalky localities, e.g., on the chalk downs in 

 the Cuxton district (Tutt), Wendover district (Spiller), on the 

 lower slopes of the downs at Shere near Dorking (Tremayne), 

 plentiful on a particular patch at Ranmore about 100 yds. square 

 (Oldaker), and on the chalk downs near Tring (Rothschild). On 

 the continent, it is, in some places, exceedingly abundant, swarming in 

 many places in the Alps of Central Europe, from the hot lowlying 

 valleys to the utmost bounds of the flower-meadows of the highest 

 alpine pastures, in fact, on the continent, it abounds at almost all 

 elevations on sloping flowery banks, being particularly abundant on the 

 flowery mountain pastures up to 6000ft. or 7000ft. elevation, reaching, 

 in fact, a greater altitude than almost any other butterfly found at low 

 elevations, being taken on the highest slopes with Erebia glacialis, 

 E. lappona, Colias phicomoiie, and Anthrocera exulans at Arolla, and 

 other similar localities. It abounds, too, sometimes, at the runnels by 

 the sides of mountain-paths, drinking thirstily with Polyommatus corydon, 

 P. astrarche, etc. Sometimes one finds it in lucerne meadows, and, 

 above Gresy-sur-Aix at the end of July, 1905, we saw T several specimens 

 challenging Auyiades sylvanus for a place at the clover blossoms, just 

 emerged, however, whilst A. sylvanus was nearly over. At Wiesbaden, 

 it haunts the open spaces in woods with A. sylvanus (Prideaux), and on 

 the turf-covered sandbanks of the Althenthal in Finmark, Staudinger 

 found it abundant, as well as on all the grassy flats of the low-lying 

 country. It has a marvellous distribution, and the different character 

 of its habitats can scarcely be imagined. From the sandy uplands of 

 Finmark, the wastes of northern Siberia, and the sub-arctic regions 

 of North America, to the mountains of the Sierra Nevada in Spain, 

 the hot plains of Sicily and Italy, the low foothills of Spezia, the 

 valleys of Corsica, through Asia Minor and Persia, up the Hima- 

 layas and mountains of central Asia to a height 12000 ft., along 

 the Rocky Mountains to California, and across the continent to 

 the Eastern States, will give habitats different enough if one 

 will but consider the possibilities for a moment. In Germany, it is 

 everywhere common in Thuringia in damp meadows, in the plains 

 and on the foothills of the Thunngian Wald (Krieghoff ), prefers damp 

 meadows in the plains and on the foothills of Silesia (Wocke), in meadows 

 where rushes grow in Carniola (Mann), same localities in Mecklenburg 



