270 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



By J. E. Robson ; with figures from life by 

 S. L. Mosley. 



(Assisted by Contributors to the Y.N.) 



Family IV. LYCyENID^E. 



This is an extensive group of small butter- 

 flies, often of extreme beauty. The " cop- 

 pers," "blues," and "hair streaks," of our 

 British fauna, being representative of the 

 principal genera. The larvae, as already 

 said, are onisciform or woodlouse shaped, 

 the legs being concealed under the project- 

 ing sides, and the head is generally very 

 small. The pupa is short and stout, attached 

 by the tail and also with a band of silk 

 across the middle. It is divided into about 

 40 genera, which include fully 1,200 species, 

 nearly twice the number known 30 years 

 ago. In very many of the species, the sexes 

 differ considerably in colour and markings, 

 as will be seen in the description of most of 

 those occuring in this country. Only three 

 genera occur in Britian, which may be 

 readily distinguished as follows : — 



I. Upper side bright coppery red. 



Genus I. — Lycena. 



II. Upper side blue, often brown in female. 

 Underside with black spots, generally 

 in a white ring. 



Genus II. — Polyommatus. 



III. Underside with an irregular pale line 

 across the centre portion of the wing. 

 Hind wing generally with a short tail. 



Genus III. — Thecla. 



Genus. I. LYC^NA, Fabr. 



" Lycena, F., Lycce'na, a she-wolf. 

 Sodoffsky proposes Lycia a surname of 

 Diana." — A.L. 



Changes are always undesirable, and as 

 the generic name used above is not that in 

 general use, it seems necessary to give some 

 explanation. The genus has had more names 

 used by British authors than there are 



British species. Stephens and Curtis use 

 the name Isycceni, which is also adopted in 

 Kirby's Synonymic catalogue (1871). In 

 Doubleday's Synonymic list (1850;, and 

 Newman's British Butterflies, it is called 

 Polymmatus, Latr. In Westwood's Gen. 

 D.L. (1852), Stainton's Manual, and in 

 Kirby's Manual of European Butterflies, it 

 is called Chrysophanus, which is also used by 

 Dr. Staudinger in his Synonymic catalogue 

 (Dresden, 1871.) When authorities differ, 

 who shall decide ? It v/as necessary to make 

 a choice, and I select Lycana for the follow- 

 ing reasons : Latreille's genus Polyommatus 

 (1805) includes both the "Blues" and the 

 " Coppers," and the " Blues " are the typ- 

 ical section of the genus. Hubner's name 

 of Chrysophanus was not used till 1816, 

 while the Fabrician name Lyccena (1807), is 

 not only the earliest name of the genus as it 

 now stands, but it is the earliest used by a 

 British author, and is adopted by Kirby in 

 his most recent work. The name Polyom- 

 matus is thus left for " the Blues," for which 

 it is most appropriate, meaning " many 

 eyed." 



" Lycena is a genus of about fifty species, 

 of which nearly a dozen are European, and 

 several others inhabit the countries border- 

 on Europe. About the same number occur 

 in America, principally in the Northern por- 

 tion of that continent, only one being re- 

 corded from South America (L. Atahtcalpa, 

 Wall., from Chili). The others are scat- 

 tered over Asia and Africa, and one each 

 are recorded from Australia and New 

 Zealand. Only two species have been dis- 

 covered in the British Islands, of which one 

 alas, has become quite extinct, not having 

 been taken for 30 years, it can now only be 

 obtained when old collections are broken 

 up. 



(Note. — The above should have preceded 

 the account of the species C. Dispar and 

 Phlaas, in our last number, but was acciden- 

 tally misplaced.) 



