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Genus POLYOMMATUS. 
Distinguished from the two preceding genera 
by having the wings entire, without any tail-like ap- 
pendages, and without any distinct teeth near the 
anal angle. The antennae are rather short, and ter- 
minate in an abrupt compressed club, ending in a 
narrow point rising from one side. The palpi pro- 
ject a little beyond the head, are nearly parallel, and 
have the basal and terminal joints almost of equal 
length, the latter acute, and somewhat naked, or co- 
vered with scales only, the others being clothed 
with scales and hairs. The tarsi terminate in 
simple claws. This genus includes all the small blue 
butterflies, which are seen in such numbers during 
the summer months in pastures and grassy glades. 
They are adorned on the surface with the most de- 
licate and varied shades of blue and azure, and be- 
neath with a multitude of eye-like spots. It is this 
latter circumstance that has suggested the generic 
name, it being formed from the Greek words woAv;, 
many, and infixTn, eyes. In most of them the sexes 
are dissimilar in colour; but in P. aslus, agestis, 
and Artaxerxes, the sexual differences are not so 
strongly marked. The larvae of several of the species 
are not known, but most of those with which we are 
acquainted feed on grasses and herbaceous plants, on 
which also they undergo their metamorphoses. 
