reminds one of the soft silvery appearance of moonlight, whilst Adonis recalls the intense blue of the sky on a hot summer's day."
Caterpillar like that of Corydon.
The butterfly is double-brooded, appearing first in May and again in August. It is found on the same soils and in most of the localities with the last, but is, I believe, more confined to the south.
THE COMMON BLUE. (Polyommatus Alexis.)
([Plate XIV]. fig. 4, Male; 4 a, Female.)
Colouring:—Upper side, male, lilac blue. Female, purplish blue about the centre, brown towards the margins, but the proportions of blue and brown are very variable—sometimes all the wings have a border of orange-red spots, sometimes these are absent from one or both pairs of wings.
Fringe in both sexes white, uninterrupted by dark bars.
Under side, male, marked as in fig. 4, and hardly to be distinguished from under side of male Adonis, except by the ground colour, which is paler and greyer than in Adonis. Female, same pattern as male, but coloured with warmer tints—more like male Adonis.