S-1141001_COMPLETO.pdf

COMMON BLUE.
145
the markings on the upper, and hence has acquired many an
"alias," as shewn by its synonyms and supposed distinctions.
Some individuals exhibit the double appearance of the male
and the female.
Others have the sides not correspondingly alike.
Some differ in form from the rest, the tips of the wings in
the females being rounded, or acute.
Some females have the upper wings nearly as blue as in the
male, with a black spot, while in others they are nearly entirely
blackish brown.
One v r ariety, of a very small size, described as a separate
species by the mame of 'Polyommatus labienus,' had "the
upper side of the wings of a very pale lilac blue, and the
spots on the under side very small and pale, the inferior spot
at the base of the fore wings obsolete, only five spots in the
curved row beyond the middle of the discoidal cell, and the
fulvous lunules almost obsolete, the two basal spots on the costa
of the hind wings large and black."
Another, a large female, the 'Polyommatus thestylis' of
Jermyn, in which the blue of the upper surface of the wings
was more than ordinarily extended, had the front wings with
a large blackish spot, obscurely engirdled with white, the
hind wings with a similar spot near the margin, and the number
of eyes in all the wings varying considerably.
Another variety is the 'Polyommatus lacon,' also of Miss
Jermyn, "in which the disc of the wings beneath is only marked
with a triangular spot; the hind margin of the anterior with a
few indistinct dusky marks, and of the posterior ones with a
fulvous band, terminated internally with a series of black
wedge-shaped spots, and externally with black dots on a white
ground."
Another had "the two spots towards the base of the fore
wino-s on the under side obsolete, and the upper side of the
wings of the female more strongly saturated with blue."
Some males have the wings very transparent, and of a more
than ordinary silvery hue, and some females "very blue, with
very distinct red lunules."