CELASTRINA ARGIOLUS. 471 



Bramble and ivy blossom, too, are also favourites of autumnal 

 imagines, apart from egg-laying possibilities, as we have already noted 

 (anted p. 468), e.g., Eowlinson observes that the species is much attracted 

 by bramble-blossom, of which it is very fond ; and Becher says that it 

 seems to have a special predilection for bramble in Spain, and Mathew 

 that it was very abundant in June, 1897, upon and among bramble- 

 blossom, at Canea and Suda Bay, etc. Watkins states that, on Septem- 

 ber 7th, 1900, he saw an imago on the flowers of verbena at Clevedon ; 

 Aigner-Abafi says that it is especially fond of Ribes aureumm spring, 

 and Sambucus ebidus in summer. Dale states (Ent. Mo. Mag., xlii., p. 

 42) that, in the first week of August, 1905, a $ was observed on board 

 the steamboat going from Ryde to Stokes Bay, flying up and down 

 the deck, and occasionally settling on the flowers that were on board. 

 The imago loves the sun, but, in dull weather, hides beneath a pro- 

 tecting leaf, and there remains immovable. Blaber, in 1888, found 

 the species common at Church Hatch, in Sussex, and, on a dull day, 

 May 28th, 1888, although not a specimen was on the wing, a fine 

 series was netted by beating the bushes with a stout stick, the sexes 

 appearing to be in about equal numbers. Whenever, however, a 

 gleam of sunshine occurred, they began immediately to fly largely 

 round the tops of the hollies, but settled again as soon as the sky 

 became clouded ; some examples were observed at rest on the under- 

 side of the leaves, and others among the grass under the bushes. 

 Sich says that, when sunning, both sexes move the lower wings, 

 whether at rest on a leaf or flower, moving them vertically up and 

 down like a lever works. The species is sometimes attracted to damp 

 spots, but apparently never in the numbers that are reported by 

 Edwards in West Virginia ; Davis has observed it at Stroud basking 

 in the sun on damp or oozy ground ; and Bell-Marley records 

 seeing five, settled on the ground, in Chiswick Lane, one of which 

 was drinking at a puddle. We have occasionally seen a specimen 

 at a damp spot in the French Riviera ; Bower observed one drink- 

 ing from a puddle in the road, at Sanderstead, and Barrett saw 

 one in May, 1900, settling on the damp ground in a garden at Peckham, 

 after the latter had been watered. In connection with this, Watkins once 

 reported that many specimens were attracted by an open drain at Pains- 

 wick, in July, 1870, sometimes alighting to sip the sewage, which they 

 seemed to prefer to the flowers in the adjoining fields. It is recorded 

 as often occurring in great numbers at the puddles in the villages of 

 Alten-Ahr and Neuen-Ahr (Maassen) ; it also resorts to the wet places 

 in the woods of Gera in Thuringia (Ent. Verein Gera), frequents wet 

 spots on the sandy roads of the heath at Sprottau (Pfitzner), loves to 

 rest on the wet places in the roads in Carinthia, where it may readily 

 be distinguished from a distance by the white colour of its underside 

 (Mann). Gosse, writing of this species, in America, says (Can. Nat., 

 p. 123) that "they are exceedingly playful, chasing each other through 

 the air, and, though often alighting on the ground, remaining 

 scarcely an instant before they are in flight again, flitting about over 

 one particular spot, which they seem reluctant to leave, but, notwith- 

 standing they are so restless, they are not difficult of approach and are 

 easily caught." Edwards says (Butts. Nth. Amer., i., p. 149, ii., p. 5) 

 that, " on the Kanawha river, this is the earliest butterfly of the 

 year, and, as soon as the stormy weather of March (usually about the 



