26 o 
LYCAENIDAE 
at the base of the cell, and three blackish sub-marginal 
markings ; the outer marginal border of the fore wing and 
the whole of the hind wing is light drab, with a sub-marginal 
series of red crescents and very small black dots distributed 
over the surface, similar in pattern to those of Iycacna dispar. 
Life of Imago. This active little butterfly lives for about 
eighteen or twenty days. I have observed the same marked 
specimen, which frequented a certain spot for about two 
weeks and which, when first seen, was somewhat worn, 
apparently having been on the wing for four or five days. 
Aberration. The Small Copper is liable to much aberration. 
The ground colour varies from silvery-white (ab. alba) to 
copper suffused with black ; between these extremes every 
gradation of colour exists. Ab. alba is a rare form also known 
as ab. schmidtii ; a light brassy type, ab. intermedia, is rather 
less rare ; the suffused type, ab. sujfusa, is more frequent. 
A rather plentiful form having a series of bright blue spots on 
the hind wing is ab. coentleopunctata. Another type of 
aberration occasionally occurs without any trace of the red 
band on the hind wing ; this is ab. obsoleta. Other specimens 
have the red band replaced by a few rays of red only, ab. 
radiata. Occasionally the spots on the fore wings are 
elongated and form a broad band crossing the middle of the 
wing, while in the opposite extreme the markings are more 
or less absent, but very rarely are they altogether missing. 
Genus LYCAENA, Fabricius , 1807 
THE LARGE COPPER 
Lycaena dispar (Haworth, 1802). 
(Plate III, facing page 36) 
This beautiful butterfly, now extinct, was formerly a common 
inhabitant of the fen country. The last authentic occurrence 
of this insect was the capture of five specimens in Holm Fen, 
Huntingdonshire, either in 1847 or 1848. Since then a few 
examples have been recorded as captured in other counties 
