120 Beautiful Butterflies. 



LARGE BLUE. 



PLATE VIII. FIG. III. 



\APILIO, or Polyommatus Avion. The little 

 Blue Butterflies, of which there are as many as 

 nine different species in Britain, must have 

 been observed by most of my readers ; they all belong 

 to the genus Polyommatus, which word comes from the 

 Greek, and signifies many-eyed ; and they are so called 

 on account of the numerous ring-encircled spots resem- 

 bling eyes, which their wings, especially the under 

 sides, present. 



This species is considerably the largest of these pretty 

 flutterers, sometimes measuring as much as an inch and 

 a half or three quarters across the wings, which are of a 

 delicate lilac-shaded blue, having a border of black, as 

 if the fly had gone into mourning for a deceased friend 

 or relative, and just a narrow edging of white, which 

 beautifully relieves the otherwise sombre hue of the 

 whole. The under sides of the wings are a brownish- 

 grey, becoming more blue towards the base. As many 

 as fifty of the black spots, of different shapes and 

 sizes, may sometimes be counted on two wings only. 



