S-1141001_COMPLETO.pdf

144 COMMON BLUE.
deprives it of much of its beauty; and unless captured soon
after its birth, Ave find the margins of its wings torn and jagged,
the elegant blue rubbed from the wings."
The caterpillar is found the end of April, and in July.
It is said to feed on the Avild strawberry, (Frag aria vesca,)
and different kinds of grasses.
The Common Blue averages in the expanse of its wings from
a little over an inch to an inch and a quarter. The fore Avings
are of a fine lilac blue, margined on the outer edge with a
thin black line; the fringe white. A similar description applies
to the hind wings.
Underneath, the front wings are of an ash-colour; towards the
base is one ocellated spot, and beneath it a black line, then
another spot, then a transverse row of six others, and then two
rows of smaller and fainter ones; the lower ones of each row
with some pale orange marks betAveen them; these are succeeded
by a narrow black thin line at the edge of the white fringe.
The hind wings are irrorated about the base with silvery blue,
and are spotted very much in the same way as the fore wings,
but there is a bidentine spot below the centre, and the orange
spots outside this are large, continuous, and distinct, following
the margin of the wing. The body is clothed with long downy
hair, of a bluish white colour.
In the female the blue of the fore wings is almost wholly
obscured with blackish brown, which latter colour forms a
distinct border at the outer edge, Avithin it being a row of
orange spots more or less distinct in different specimens: the
fringe is white. The hind wings are similarly marked, except
that the black edge is supplanted by a narrow black line,
within Avhich is a blue line, with a row of black spots continuous
with the orange ones.
Underneath, the markings resemble those in the male, but
they are brighter and more distinct.
The caterpillar is of a bright green colour, with a dark line
along the back, adjoining which are rows of yellow spots.
This species is much subject to variety, both in the number
and size of the eyes on the under surface of the wings, and