American Notes CALIFORNIA

Smaller than a silver dollar and azure as a summer sky, the elusive Palos Verdes blue butterfly was not even discovered until 1977. Three years later the rare subspecies, found only on the Palos Verdes peninsula south of Los Angeles, was placed on the Federal Government's list of endangered species. Then in 1983 the city of Rancho Palos Verdes opened a new playing field in a park where locoweed had provided a habitat for the extraordinary insect. That was the last anyone saw of the blue butterfly.

But the tiny creature lives on in court. The U.S. Attorney's office has charged Rancho Palos Verdes with criminal violation of the 1973 endangered- species law; the city could face up to $20,000 in fines. Mayor Mel Hughes believes the feds are just looking for a scapegoat to blame for the butterfly's disappearance. Says Hughes: "We just happened to be there holding the smoking park."