There seem to be three broods of this species in most years: the first is on the wing in May, sometimes in April; the second in July or early August; and the third in early October. It is not a difficult species to rear from the egg, and as varieties appear to be most frequent in the third brood, the eggs should be obtained from females of the second brood. Dock and sorrel (_Rumex_) are the food-plants of the caterpillar, and these are most useful in a growing condition. The butterfly frequents all kinds of open situations, and is fond of basking upon flowers, more particularly those of the Compositæ, from which vantage ground it dashes with great alertness at any other small butterfly that may happen to fly that way. Whether these seeming attacks are really due to pugnacity, as has been stated by some writers, or are merely of a sportive character, is not altogether clear. As, however, the meeting of the two butterflies usually results, when both are Small Coppers, in a series of aërial evolutions by the pair, it would seem that there is a good deal of playfulness in the business. After the gambol is over, one butterfly may dart off with the other in hot pursuit, and then both move so rapidly that their course is difficult to follow. If the butterfly intercepted happens to be a Blue or a Small Heath, the Copper returns to the flower from which it started, and prepares for another raid when the opportunity offers. It occurs throughout the United Kingdom, but in Scotland it does not extend northwards beyond the Caledonian Canal. Abroad it is found throughout the Palæarctic Region, and is represented in North America by the form _hypophlæas_. The Long-tailed Blue (_Lampides boeticus_). The male is purplish-blue suffused with fuscous, especially on all margins except the inner one; there are two velvety black spots encircled with pale blue at the anal angle of the hind wings, and a slender black tail, tipped with white, appears to be a continuation of vein 2. The under side is grey-brown, with numerous white wavy lines and broader streaks; there is a whitish band on each wing before the outer margin, and black spots as above, but these are ringed with metallic blue. [Illustration: _Pl._ 102. =Short-tailed Blue.= _Eggs enlarged._ =Long-tailed Blue.= _Caterpillar and chrysalis (after Millière)._] [Illustration: _Pl._ 103. =Long-tailed Blue.= 1 _male_; 2, 3 _female_. =Short-tailed Blue.= 4, 6 _male_; 5, 7 _female_.]