As comparatively very few persons have ever seen this splendid creature on the wing, the following communication from one who _has_, quoted from the _Intelligencer_, will be of interest to those who have not read it in that periodical. It is from the pen of Mr. E. C. F. Jenkins, of Sleaford, Lincolnshire. He writes: "I proceed to give you some account of my own acquaintance with that most beautiful insect, which, some thirty years ago, was so abundant in the unreclaimed fens about Whittlesea Mere, that I never expected to hear of its utter extermination. Its brilliant appearance on the wing in the sunshine I shall never forget, and to watch it sitting on {149} the flower of the _Eupatorium cannabinum_ and show the under sides of its wings, was something ever to be remembered. I once took sixteen in about half an hour on one particular spot, where the above-mentioned plant was very plentiful; but unless the sun was very bright they were very difficult to find. In those days the larva was unknown, and I attribute the disappearance of the butterfly to the discovery of the larva, to the unceasing attacks of collectors, and to the burning of the surface-growth of the fens, which is done in dry weather when they are to be reclaimed." The two sexes of this butterfly differ very remarkably in the appearance of the upper surface. This, in the _male_, is of an effulgent coppery colour, narrowly bordered with black, and having a black mark in the centre of each wing. The _female_ is larger, has a redder tinge, with a row of black spots on the front wings, and the hind wings nearly covered with black, excepting a band of coppery red near the margin, extending also more or less distinctly along the courses of the veins. Underneath, both sexes are nearly alike, the hind wing of a general _light blue tint_, with a red band near the margin, and spotted with black. The _caterpillar_ is green, darker on the back, and paler at the sides, it feeds on the water dock. The _butterfly_ used to be found in July and August, being formerly especially abundant about Yaxley and Whittlesea Mere, and has been taken also at Benacre, Suffolk; and Bardolph Fen, Norfolk. {150} Various reports of its capture, during the last two or three years, have been published; but they all seem to require confirmation. This butterfly is now generally considered to be a _large_ local variety of the continental one called _Hippothoë_, with which it closely agrees in its markings. * * * * * THE BLUES. (Genus _Polyommatus_.)