242 
LYCAENIDAE 
there is a dusky discoidal mark in both fore and hind wings ; 
the fringes are brown and greyish-buff; the basal area of the 
wings is dusted with blue scales. ( Under Side.) The female 
is more ochreous in tint, otherwise it is similar to the male. 
Life of Imago. The life of this butterfly in a wild state 
would probably be about twenty-one days. I have had 
Continental specimens live in captivity for twenty days. 
Previous to 1908, when f published the life history of this 
species in The Entomologist, very little was known to Continental 
entomologists concerning it. Riihl’s descriptions of the larva 
and pupa (which have been copied by English authors) are 
mostly wrong and misleading. 
Aberration. Abroad, aberration is frequent. Specimens 
from different parts occur with a series of marginal red spots 
on the under side. Owing to the comparatively small number 
of British specimens, little can be known of its aberration 
in this country ; judging from those examined, it is chiefly 
confined to the development of the spots. 
Genus MACULINEA, Van Eecke, 1916 
THE LARGE BLUE 
Maculinea arion (Linn., 1758). 
(Plate XXII, facing page 257) 
This beautiful butterfly, as its name implies, is the largest of 
the British " Blues,” and has always been considered a rarity. 
As long ago as 1795, Lewin regarded it as a most uncommon 
British species, and in 1828 Stephens recorded it as a great rarity. 
Haunts and Distribution. Although in certain years, up 
to the seventies,” it formerly occurred commonly in its chief 
resorts, such as on the coast of Devon, Ashton and Barnwell 
Wold, Northamptonshire, and on the Cotswolds, Gloucester¬ 
shire, it then suddenly became much rarer, and during the 
next ten years was considered on the verge of extinction in 
Britain. But in July of 1891 Mr. E. A. Waterhouse quite 
unexpectedly discovered this butterfly on the north-west 
coast of Cornwall, where subsequently it proved to be abun- 
