106 
LYCJENIDM. 
h. ^gidion, Meissner, Natnr. Anz. Allg. Scliw. Ges. (1818). 
This is a Boreal and Alpine form, which differs from the type in 
being smaller, and having the wings deep violet in the male. 
Habitat. — Alpine valleys in Switzerland ; also Scandinavia 
and Lapland. 
c. Hypochiona, Rbr. Cat. S. Andal. p. 35. Larger than the 
type ; the ground colour of the under side is very light, being 
nearly white. 
Habitat. — Andalusia and Greece. (? Asia Minor, StcmcUnger). 
9. L. Optilete, Enoch. Btr. i. p. 76, T. V. 5, 6 (1781); Esper. 
79, 4, 5 (1782); Fab.^Mant. 74; Hiib. 310-2; Err. 
451, 2, 3, 656. 
Expands 0-90 to 1-13 in. The male has all the wings of rich 
dark purplish blue, unspotted, with a narrow brown border along the 
entire length of the hind margins. The female is brown, generally 
dark blue or purple towards the base ; the hind wings have two or 
three orange spots towards the anal angle. Under side : — 
Brownish grey ; fore wings with a crescentic discoidal spot, a 
central row of six, and a double hind-margiiial row without any 
orange ; the basal spots are absent. Hind wings slightly blue at 
the base, with three basal spots, an elongated discoidal, and an 
irregular central row ; the hind margin has a double row of black 
spots, three or four pairs enclosing each a spot of bright orange, 
two or three of the external row nearest the anal angle having a 
spot of shiny blue or silver. PI. XXIII., 3. 
Times of Appearance. — June and July. 
Habitat. — Europe and Siberia, inhabiting peaty or boggy 
places and mountain-sides. Its range in Europe is limited to 
Germany, Scandinavia, Piussia, and the Alps of Switzerland. It 
does not occur in Western or North-Western Europe. 
Larva.— According to Freyer, pale green, with short reddish 
hairs, the spiracles marked with white, and the head dark brown 
or blackish. Its food-plant is Vaccinmm oxyococcus, on which it 
feeds in Septembei- and October, and again in the spring after 
hybernation. 
