LYCAENIDAE 
stating: " Yesterday, October ist, I 
captured a female of this species, in a 
slightly-damaged condition, in the gar¬ 
den of a house in Walton-on-Naze at a 
flower of Antirrhinum.” 
In The Times of July 13th, 1934, 
the Rev. G. E. Knapp-Fisher records 
the capture of a Long-tailed Blue in 
good condition “ Found on a window 
in house (Salwarpe Rectory) nr. 
Droitwich, Worcs., on July 8, 1934, 
at noon. The weather at the time 
being hot with brilliant sunshine.” 
Haunts and Distribution. This butter¬ 
fly is a native of the sub-tropical and tropical regions of the 
Old World and has an enormously wide distribution. It occurs 
in southern Europe, Africa, Asia, China, Japan, Australia, 
and has been recorded from the Sandwich Islands. 
In Europe it is only endemic in the Mediterranean region, 
whence it migrates every year to Central Europe, where the 
cold winter weather annually exterminates it, as it is unable 
to pass any of its life cycle in a cold climate ; therefore it is 
incapable of establishing itself in the British Islands. 
Gardens and cultivated land, especially fields of Peas and 
Vetches, are its chief haunts abroad, while those observed 
in this country have mostly been in the neighbourhood of 
gardens. On the Riviera, in places where it is abundant, it 
often causes much damage to the crops of the Common Pea, 
which comprises one of the chief food plants of the larvae. 
Another common food plant is the Bladder Senna ( Colutea 
arborcscens) and also the Spanish Broom [Spartium junceum). 
I have found the young larvae readily feed on the flower buds 
of the Common Broom, also on the tender shoots of Furze, 
seed pods of Beans and various kinds of Peas. 
Flight. The flight of this butterfly is rather rapid and 
perhaps resembles that of the Common Blue more closely 
than that of any other species. It is quite likely that C. 
boeticus has from time to time escaped detection in this country 
from its general resemblance to Polyommatus teams ; in 
fact, three of those taken were not recognised as C. boeticus 
200 
Portion of the side of 
the egg of the Long-tailed 
Blue (highly magnified). 
