57 



The butterfly is found from May to August, and inhabits meadows through- 

 out Europe except the extreme North, and its range extends into the 

 Western parts of Asia, as far as Persia. 



It has never been met with in Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man or the 

 Channel Islands, and in England is an almost, if not quite, extinct species. 



The first account we have of its occurrence in England, is in Ray's " His- 

 toria Insectorum " published in 1710, as follows. " Alse supinse ad exortum 

 coerulescunt; inferius e fusco albicant. Ocelli sex septemne in singulis alis. 

 A. P. Dale capta nobisque ostensa est." 



In 1795, Lewin in his "Insects of Great Britain " writes, " This is a very 

 rare butterfly with us, and therefore it will be readily supposed our know- 

 ledge of its natural history is very much confined. The caterpillar is un- 

 known. The last week in August, 1793, I took two or three of the 

 butterflies, flying in a pasture field at the bottom of a hill near Bath. They 

 were much wasted in colour and appeared to have been long on the wing ; 

 whence we may safely conclude, that they were first out from the chrysalides 

 about the middle of July." 



In 1803, Haworth in his "Lepidoptera Britannica" writes, "Habitat 

 Imago m. Mai. f. Jul. in Cretaceis, rarissima fere omnium nostratum 

 coeruleorum ; at nuper capta, et ad me missa, in comitatu Ebor, amicissimo 

 meo P. W. Watson, et etiam in Norfolcia amicissimo meo J. Burrell, M.A." 



In 1819, Samouelle in his " Entomologists' Useful Compendium" writes, 

 In Britain it is very local, but it is found near Sherborne in Dorset in great 

 abundance." 



In 1828, Stephens in his "Illustrations of British Entomology" writes, 

 " A scarce, or rather local species ; found in chalky districts in Norfolk, 

 Cambridge, Yorkshire, and Dorsetshire ; also near Brokenhurst and Avesbury, 

 Hants ; and on Windlesham Heath, Surrey, towards the end of May and of 

 J uly." To these localities, Curtis adds Leicestershire, and Coleshill, War- 

 wickshire, and it has also been met with in Lincolnshire, Worcestershire and 

 Monmouthshire. 



In Loudon's Magazine for 1833, the Kev. W. T. Bree writes, " Am was 

 at one time considered to be an insect of very great variety. In 1803, 

 Haworth spoke of it as the rarest, perhaps, of our British Blues. Since that 

 period, the species has turned up in a variety of situations. Though by no 

 means common, it appears to be widely distributed ; nor is it peculiar to 

 chalk districts ; but seems to delight in woody situations abounding in grass. 

 Probably it may be overlooked on the wing, and passed by for the Common 

 Blue." 



