appears in July and August, and is very frequently met with
throughout the country on heaths, commons, and downs, both on sandy and
chalky soils. In many places it is the commonest of the "Blues." It has
been found at Epping; Coombe Wood; Darenth Wood; Box Hill; Ripley, Surrey;
Brighton; Lewes; Deal; Lyndhurst; Blandford; Brandon, Suffolk; Holt,
Norfolk; Birkenhead; Bristol; Sarum, Wiltshire; Lyme Regis; Parley Heath,
Dorsetshire; Manchester; York; several places in Scotland.

* * * * *

THE BROWN ARGUS. (_Polyommatus Agestis._)

(Plate XIV. fig. 6.)

Though this butterfly and the next are classed among the "Blues," from
their possessing the same structure and habits, there is _no trace of blue_
in the colouring of _either sex_, as in all the preceding species of
_Polyommatus_.

In this species the colour of both sexes on the upper side is a _warm, dark
brown_, having on all the wings a border of dark orange spots. The female
hardly differs from the male, except in having this border broader, and
more extended on the front wing; where, {160} in the male, it is sometimes
very indistinct. The under side much resembles that of the female of
_Alexis_, the border of orange spots being even more distinct on the front
wing than on the hind one. It will be observed on referring to Plate XIV.
that on the under sides of all the butterflies there figured, there is an
irregular black spot situated near the front edge of the upper wing and
midway in its length--this is called the "_discoidal spot_." It will also
be observed that the common Blue (fig. 4) has, on the area of the wing,
between the discoidal spot and the root of the wing, two spots, which are
_absent in this species_. This forms a very ready mark of distinction,
though it requires a good many words to explain it.

The _caterpillar_, which feeds on _Erodium Cicutarium_, and perhaps on
_Helianthemum_ (Rock Cistus), is green, with pale spots on the back, and a
brownish line down the middle.

The _butterfly_ appears in May and June, and again in August, and is common
in very many localities in the south, being particularly abundant on the
downs of the south coast and the Isle of Wight.

* * * * *

{161}

THE ARTAXERXES BUTTERFLY. (_Polyommatus Artaxerxes._)

(Plate XIV. fig. 7.)

_Colouring_, same as in the last species (_Agestis_); but on the upper
surface, the orange border-spots are often hardly