66 



POLYOMMATUS ADONIS. 

 Clifden Blue. 



Adonis, W.V. Ado'nis, a young shepherd beloved by Yenus. Virg. 

 Aln. x. 18. 



The name of Adonis was bestowed in the Yienna Catalogue, published in 

 1776, and the name of Bellargus, in Der Naturforscher, published in 1775. 



The former name was adopted by Fabricius, who attempted to combine in 

 some degree Natural and Civil History, by attaching the names of personages 

 illustrious in their day, to the butterflies ; thus following the example of the 

 illustrious Linnaeus. The only exception Linnseus appears to have made to 

 this rule was in naming a few species after the plants on which their cater- 

 pillars feed. 



Linnaeus is recorded as having said, " If Pabricius comes to me with a cer- 

 tain insect, and Zoega with a certain moss, then I pull off my hat and say, 

 ' Be you my teachers/ " Unfortunately, some entomologists of the present 

 day, following the harsh and stern rule of priority to too great an extent, dis- 

 card the beautiful name of Adonis for that of Bellargus. Linnaeus laid down 

 a rule in his " Critica et Philosophia," that no adjective should be admitted 

 as a generic name. On this ground he expunged several names of other 

 authors. In a letter to Haller, written on June 8th, 1737, Linnaeus says, 

 " Those who come after us, in the free republic of Botany, will never sub- 

 scribe to authorites sanctioned only by antiquity, why, therefore, should we 

 retain barbarous or mule names, or names distinguished only by their tails? 

 If specific names require alteration, why may not false generic ones likewise 

 be changed ? " 



The species varies in the expansion of its wings from an inch and a line to 

 an inch and a half. 



The male has the upper surface of the wings of a lovely clear bright blue, 

 with a slender black line round the hind margins. The female is brown, 

 sprinkled with scales of the male colour, and has a row of fulvous spots, 

 brighter than those on Cory don, round the hind margin, most distinct on the 

 hind-wings. Both sexes have white fringes, through which the wing rays 

 form dark lines. The underside is of a brownish gray or slate colour, with 

 distinct black spots in white rings ; these spots are smaller than those on 

 Cory don. A row of these spots round the hind margins has an orange lunule 

 to each on the side nearest the base, forming a wavy orange line. The female 

 is slightly smaller than the female of Corydon. 



