tiny white dots, each bearing a black bristle; there are six rows of
spines, which are of various shades of brown with yellowish bases and
shining black bristles; along the back there are two white streaks on
the fore part of each ring, and white warts emitting black bristles on
the hind part. The head is amber-coloured above, but black below, and is
covered with bristles like the body.
The chrysalis has the head, thorax, and wing-cases shining olive-brown;
the body chequered and speckled with olive-brown, ochreous, black, and
white. The spiracles are black and conspicuous, and the points on the
body are amber-coloured. The thorax and first two body rings have
brilliant burnished silver-gilt ornamentation.
The butterflies commenced to emerge on September 25, and between that
date and the 28th ten came out. Although he succeeded in rearing almost
all the caterpillars to the chrysalis, no less than eighty died in this
stage, and he states that "there is no doubt that the late autumn
English climate is quite unsuited for the existence of this species," as
well as for others that come to us from abroad.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 56.
1, 2, 3 _Pearl-bordered Fritillary vars._
4, 5 _Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary vars._
6, 7 _Heath Fritillary vars._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 57.
1, 2 _Silver-washed Fritillary vars._
3 _High Brown Fritillary var._]
Moses Harris, in 1775, gave this butterfly the name "Queen of Spain;" it
had been known to English entomologists from 1710 until then as the
"Lesser Silver-spotted Fritillary." Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire seems to
have been the only British locality in which it had been observed until
1795, when Lewin mentions a specimen taken in a Borough (London) garden
in August. All the Cambridge specimens had been captured in the month of
May. Stephens, writing in 1828 ("Ill. Brit. Ent. Haust.," i. 37), says--
"Previously to the year 1818, few cabinets possessed even a single
specimen; and from the very few known instances of its capture (six
only, according to Mr. Haworth), there is reason to believe that some of
the specimens at that time [1803] placed in collections were foreign;
but in the above remarkable year for the appearance of certain
papilionaceous insects, this species occurred simultaneously in several,
and very distant, parts, having been taken in August by Mr. Haworth at
Halvergate, in Norfolk; by Mr. Vigors in Battersea-fields; by myself at
Dover, and, during that and the following month, near Colchester;
Birchwood, Kent; and Hertford in plenty by others. At the latter place I
saw several specimens, but was not fortunate enough to secure any."
The butterfly has been taken, chiefly odd specimens, in many of the
eastern and southern counties, from Norfolk to Dover, and almost always
in the autumn. It has also occurred at Scarborough (1868), and at least
once in Ireland (1864).
The neighbourhood of Dover seems to have always been the most favoured
locality, and no less than twenty-five specimens were captured there in
1882. Several examples were also obtained at Dover in 1883, and a single
specimen in other parts of Kent in 1884 and 1885. The most recent
records are--Brighton, one example in 1892; Clifton, one in July, 1898;
Christchurch, one in August, 1899; Poole, one in 1901. There does not
seem to be any authentic record of the caterpillar having been observed
in Kent or any other British locality in which the butterfly has been
noted. This may possibly be due to its love of concealment.
There are two flights of the butterfly in the year, one in the spring
and the other in the autumn.
Females from the Continent may arrive on our east or south coasts in
May, and deposit eggs from which the autumn butterflies are developed.
Some of these might wander farther inland, but eggs would almost
certainly be laid on the spot. The fate of the caterpillars from
autumnal eggs would depend on the winter; if mild they, or at least some
of them, might manage to get through and attain the butterfly state
about May, but their doing so is rather doubtful.
The species is widely distributed and often common on the Continent, and
its range extends to Persia, Northern Asia, and North Africa. In Eastern
Asia it is represented by var. _isoea_.
The Pearl-bordered Fritillary (_Argynnis euphrosyne_).
Some authors consider the smaller Fritillaries to be generically
separable from the larger kinds, and place this and the next species in
the genus _Brenthis_, whilst the Queen of Spain is referred to the genus
_Issoria_, Hübner. Here, however, they are retained in _Argynnis_.
In colour and in the marking of the upper side the Pearl-bordered is
very like the High Brown, but, as will be seen from the figures, it is
much smaller in size, and the ornamentation on the under side is
different. There is one silvery spot at the base of the hind wings, a
larger one about the middle of the wings, and a row of spots on the
outer margin. The female is rather larger than the male, and darker at
the bases of the wings.
[Illustration: _Pl. 58._
=Queen of Spain Fritillary.=
_Caterpillar and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 59.
=Dark Green Fritillary.=
1, 4 _male_; 2, 3, 5 _female_.]
Variation on the upper side consists of more or less black suffusion on
the basal or general area of the wings, and an increase in the size of
the black spots, resulting in the formation of bands or patches; or the
black spots may be much reduced in size, and some of them entirely
absent. Some of the more striking kinds of aberration, both above and
below, are represented on Plate 56, Figs. 1-3, and Plate 65, Figs. 1-4.
The usual colour is sometimes replaced by buff, and this may be
yellowish or whitish in tint; occasionally white spots appear on the
wings. The life-history of this butterfly is depicted on Plate 60.
The egg, which is laid in May or June, is whitish-green at first, and
afterwards turns brownish. It is distinctly ribbed, and the top is
somewhat rounded and hollowed in the centre.
The full-grown caterpillar is black, and the numerous minute hairs with
which it is clothed give it a velvety appearance. There is a
greyish-edged black line down the middle of the back, and the spines on
each side of this are whitish or yellowish, with the tips and the
branches black; all the other spines are black. A greyish stripe runs
along the lower part of the sides, and this is traversed from the fourth
to the last ring by a blackish line. Head black, shining, downy, and
slightly notched on the crown. The natural food-plant is dog-violet
(_Viola canina_), but the caterpillar will also eat garden pansy, and
has been known to nibble a leaf of primrose. It retires for hibernation
when quite small, and recommences to feed in March.
The chrysalis is brownish, with the raised parts of the thorax and head
greyish; the body is paler brown, and the points thereon are blackish.
This butterfly seems to be fairly common in woods throughout England
and Wales, and it is often abundant in some of the more extensive
woodlands, especially in the southern counties. It used to be plentiful
in Northumberland and Durham, but has become scarcer in those counties,
and in some others in the north of England. It occurs in Scotland, and
is not uncommon in Sutherlandshire, but Kane does not include it in his
Irish catalogue.
Clearings in woods are generally the best places in which to find this
pretty little Fritillary; but it also seems to have a fondness for the
margins of brooks and rills, where these run through or by the sides of
woods. Usually it is on the wing in May or June, but sometimes, in early
seasons, it puts in an appearance at the end of April. To entomologists
of a bygone age it was known as the "April Fritillary," but this name
would hardly be a suitable one for it in the present day. Very rarely a
few specimens have been taken in August; and there is at least one
record of caterpillars that had ceased feeding in July, in the usual
way, and were apparently settled down for hibernation, suddenly arousing
from their slumbers, and completing their growth in August.
Abroad, the species is distributed throughout Europe, except the extreme
south, and extends into Armenia, Northern Asia Minor, the Altai, and
Amurland. It is stated to be double-brooded on the Continent.
The Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (_Argynnis selene_).
This butterfly differs from the last one referred to in having a rather
deeper colour on the upper side, and heavier black markings on the outer
margin of the hind wings. The female is slightly more orange in tint,
and has a series of pale spots on the outer margin of each wing. On the
under side the red markings are browner in tint, and there are more
silvery spots on the hind wings. Variation in colour and marking is
similar to that mentioned under the Pearl-bordered. On Plate 66 a white
spotted female and a specimen with the hind wings clouded with black are
represented. These are rather uncommon aberrations. The life-history of
this species is figured on Plate 62.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 60.
=Pearl-bordered Fritillary.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; partly grown caterpillar; chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 61.
=Dark Green Fritillary vars.=
1, 2, 4, 5 _male_; 3 _female_.]
The egg is at first greenish, then yellowish, and afterwards greyish,
and then becoming blackish towards the hollowed top. The ribs seem to be
eighteen or twenty in number; laid in June or July on plants of
dog-violet. On emerging from the egg the young caterpillar devours most
of the shell. It is then of a pale olive colour with brownish warts,
from each of which there is a pale and rather long jointed bristle; the
head is black. The full-grown caterpillar is smoky pink and
velvety-looking. There is a brownish line along the middle of the back.
The spines are "ochreous in colour, tinged with pink, and beset with
fine pointed black bristles." The upper ones are rather stouter than the
others, and the pair on the first ring, the only spines on this ring,
are rather more than twice the length of the others, and are directed
forward over the head, thus giving the appearance of a pair of horns;
the second and third rings have each four spines, which are rather finer
than those on the rest of the body, which are arranged in six rows. A
pale pinkish stripe runs along the lower part of the body; just above
the feet. Head black and notched on the crown (Buckler). The chrysalis
is brown on the thorax and the body; the wing-cases are more ochreous
and marked with black near the edge. There is a black V-mark on the
thorax, with a silvery spot on each side, one silvery spot on each side
of the head, and other metallic spots on the body near the thorax
(Buckler).
On the Continent there are two broods of the butterfly, and specimens
are occasionally seen in August in this country; one of these late
examples, taken by Mr. Barker in 1881, is shown on the plate (Fig. 6).
Sometimes one or two caterpillars of a brood in confinement will feed up
and attain the perfect state in August instead of settling down with
their companions for hibernation.
The butterfly in June and July frequents similar places to those
favoured by the Pearl-bordered, and its distribution in Britain is
somewhat similar, although it is a more local species. It seems,
however, to be commoner in Scotland than the Pearl-bordered, and has
been recorded at least once from Ireland.
Its range abroad extends farther east, as it is found in Corea.
The Heath Fritillary (_Melitæa athalia_).
The ground colour of this butterfly, sometimes called the
"Pearl-bordered Likeness" or "May Fritillary," is brownish-orange, and
the markings are black or blackish; the bases of the wings are clouded
with blackish, and the fringes are white checkered with black.
The ground colour varies in tint, and may be pale tawny or deep reddish.
The black markings are subject to modification in two directions; in one
leading up to almost complete disappearance from the central area, and
in the other they are much intensified and greatly obscure the ground
colour. Sometimes the whole of the wings, with the exception of a series
of orange spots on the outer area, are blackish. This form is known as
var. _navarina_. The left-hand figure at the bottom of Plate 68 shows an
aberration approaching this form, whilst the right-hand figure comes
close to var. _corythalia_. Specimens with all the wings thinly marked
with black, as in the fore wing of the variety last referred to, would
be referable to var. _obsoleta_.
According to Barrett, specimens from Essex have the ground colour on
the under side of the hind wing much yellower than are the same parts in
specimens from Sussex. I have not noticed this, but some Essex examples
that I have seen were much darker and more heavily marked with black on
the upper side, and especially on the hind wings, than any that I have
seen from other parts of England, except, perhaps, a few individuals
from North Devonshire. These Essex specimens reminded me very much of
_M. dictynna_, a Continental species, with which, it appears, the Heath
Fritillary was confounded by some of the old authors.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 62.
=Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar (after Buckler),
and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 63.
=Queen of Spain Fritillary.=
1, 2 _male_; 3, 4 _female_.]
There is a good deal of variation on the under side, but chiefly of a
minor character, and most often unconnected with variation on the upper
side. The following are more important varieties.
Var. _tessellata_, the Straw May Fritillary of Petiver, and figured by
him in 1717 and by Stephens in 1827, has the under side of the hind
wings entirely straw-coloured with black veins. There are three large
squarish yellow spots on the basal area, outlined in black; a yellow
central band, margined and traversed by black lines. On the outer margin
there is a series of yellow crescents, outlined in black.
Var. _eos_ of Haworth (the Dark Underwing Fritillary) is the _pyronia_
of Hübner and Stephens, and a modification of var. _corythalia_, Hübn.
On the under side the fore wings are fulvous, and have two black spots
in the discal cell, and a black band, intersected by the veins, on the
central area. On the hind wings the basal third is fulvous with eight
black spots; the central area is whitish intersected by the black veins.
On the yellow-tinged whitish outer area there is a series of
black-margined orange crescents; a row of black lunules precedes a thin
black line on the outer margin.
The egg is upright, ribbed, and pale whitish-green in colour. As the
caterpillar matures the shell becomes greyish. The eggs were laid in a
cluster on a leaf of cow-wheat (_Melampyrum pratense_) as shown in the
figure, but failed to hatch.
The full-grown caterpillar is black on the back, becoming olive tinged
on the sides and olive-brown underneath; the divisions between the rings
are olive. The whole of the upper surface, except a line along the
middle of the back, is dotted with white, and there are eleven
white-tipped orange or yellowish spines on each ring, except the last
two and the three nearest the head; the first and the last each have
four spines, the third has eight, and the second and the eleventh have
each ten spines. The head is black marked with white, and is clothed
with short, stiff, black hair or bristles (Buckler). The chrysalis is
pale whitish-ochreous, the markings on the wing-cases are black, and
those on the other parts are orange and black.
Cow-wheat appears to be the chief food of the caterpillar, but it will
also eat, and has been found on, foxglove (_Digitalis purpurea_) and
woodsage (_Teucrium scorodonia_). Plantain is also said to be a
food-plant, but Buckler says that his caterpillars would not eat this.
The caterpillars are rather shy in their habits, and, except when the
sun is shining brightly, require to be carefully looked for among their
food-plant and the dead leaves, etc., around. They hatch from the egg in
July, feed for a few weeks, and then hibernate in companies under a web.
In April and May they become active again, feed up quickly, and appear
as butterflies in June and early July.
The species is, unfortunately, becoming scarcer in England than it used
to be. It seems quite to have disappeared from some of the districts in
which it was formerly common. No doubt in one or two of its old and
well-known localities the butterflies, and perhaps the caterpillars
also, have been too freely taken, and its natural enemies have probably
completed the business. Clearings in woods or heathy borders of woods
are the kind of places this species appear to prefer. Its headquarters
in any given locality seems to be changed from time to time, so that the
exact spot where it will occur next year cannot be predicted from this
year's observations.
The butterfly seems to be unknown in Scotland, and has only been
recorded from Killarney in Ireland. In England it is to be found in the
counties of Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Devonshire.
Its geographical distribution extends through Europe into Asia Minor,
East Siberia, and Northern Amurland. In Corea and Japan it is
represented by a larger form known as var. _niphona_.
The Glanville Fritillary (_Melitæa cinxia_).
This butterfly is bright brownish-orange with black markings, as shown
on Plate 71. The under side of the hind wings and the tips of the fore
wings are very pale yellowish; the former with two black-margined
brownish-orange bands, and lines of black dots; the tip of the fore wing
is also dotted and marked with black. The female is slightly paler, and
the markings are often blurred.
There is variation in the black markings on the upper side. Sometimes
these are enlarged, but more often they are much reduced, and the
central one may be completely absent from all the wings. Connected with
the suppression of the middle black line above there is usually
aberration on the under side of the hind wings also, where the central
area is clear of black dots, and the basal area is fulvous, edged and
marked with black. Two very remarkable aberrations are represented on
Plate 65, Figs. 7, 8.
The eggs, which are yellowish-white, and sometimes tinged with green,
are laid in a cluster on the under side of the tip of a leaf of the
narrow-leafed plantain (_Plantago lanceolata_). The caterpillars hatch
in July and August, and hibernate in companies under a web. The mature
caterpillar is black with white dots, and black bristles arising from
greenish warts. The red head, which is notched on the crown, and the red
fore legs distinguish this at once from the caterpillars of the Heath,
or the Marsh Fritillary. It feeds in early spring on plantain, but seems
to prefer _Plantago maritima_ to _P. lanceolata_ when both are present.
The chrysalis is brownish in colour, and is ornamented with orange on
the thorax, and with orange points and black marks on the body. It may
be found in April and early May suspended from the lower parts of the
stems of the plantain or other plants around. Newman states that he
found "dozens of the chrysalids in company," but I have only
occasionally met with them, and always singly.
Quite early in the eighteenth century this butterfly had only been
observed in England in Lincolnshire, where, according to Ray, it was
common, and in a wood at Dulwich. Petiver, who mentioned the last-named
locality, calls it the "Dullidge Fritillary." Wilkes in 1773 wrote of it
as the "Plantain Fritillary," although he gives clover and grass, as
well as plantain, as the food of the caterpillar. Moses Harris in the
Aurelian (1779) calls the butterfly the "Glanville Fritillary," and
states that it was named after Lady Glanville, who was interested in
butterflies, and whose will was disputed on that ground. This fact will
serve to show that entomology as a pursuit was not much in vogue at that
time, and that those who collected butterflies, etc., were apt to be
regarded by their friends as being--well, just a "wee bit daft."
Both Wilkes and Harris, it may be remarked, seem to have been acquainted
with the caterpillar of this species as well as with that of the Marsh
Fritillary, and there seems little reason, therefore, to suspect that
they confused the two species. The localities given by the earlier
authors appear, however, to suggest that the butterfly they wrote about
may have been the Marsh Fritillary; but there is no direct evidence of
this.
Stephens in 1827 ("Illustrations of British Entomology," Haustellata,
vol. i. p. 34) wrote--
"This is a very local species, and is found in meadows by the sides of
woods; in Wilkes' time it was not uncommon in Tottenham wood; recently
the places where it has been chiefly observed have been near Ryde and
the Sandrock Hotel, Isle of Wight; in the latter place in plenty: also
at Birchwood, and near Dartford and Dover, and in a wood near Bedford. I
believe that it has been found in Yorkshire."
[Illustration: _Pl._ 64.
=Pearl-bordered Fritillary.=
1, 2, 3 _male_; 4, 5, 6 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 65.
1, 2, 3, 4 _Pearl-bordered Fritillary vars._
5, 6 _Marsh Fritillary vars._
7, 8 _Glanville Fritillary vars._]
There is no doubt that between 1858 and 1863 the butterfly was more
or less common on parts of the Kentish coast between Folkestone and
Sandgate, but it seems to be equally certain that the species has long
been absent from that part of England as well as from other localities
that have been mentioned, except the Isle of Wight, where it is still to
be found. It flies in May and June, and seems to have a preference for
the rougher parts of the undercliff; but I have seen butterflies and
caterpillars too on the higher slopes of St. Boniface. Whenever the
caterpillars are met with, it will be well to remember that only the
full-grown ones should be taken, as the smaller ones do not thrive very
well in confinement. A little self-denial in this matter will bring its
own reward in the shape of fine specimens for the cabinet, and the
pleasant reflection that the useless sacrifice of a number of
caterpillars has been avoided.
The butterfly is widely spread and generally common on the Continent,
and in the Channel Islands it is plentiful in Alderney and Guernsey. Its
range extends into Asia Minor, Central Asia, and Siberia.
The Marsh Fritillary (_Melitæa aurinia_).
This species, of which several forms are represented on Plate 73, is
subject to considerable variation in depth of colour, and also in size
and intensity of the markings, in all localities. The varieties here
referred to are more or less characteristic of the countries in which
they occur. To mention all the forms, or even those to which varietal
names have been given, would occupy more space than is available for the
purpose.
Reddish-orange or bright tawny, veins black, breaking up the yellow or
yellowish transverse bands; there are three or four transverse black
lines, the first and second, counting from the base of the wing, not
always distinct; basal area more or less suffused with black. On the
under side the fore wings are fulvous, with faint traces of the
upper-side markings; the hind wings are rather redder, especially on the
outer half, and have yellowish markings, comprising some spots towards
the base of the wings, a band beyond the middle, a series of black
centred spots, and crescents on the outer margin. The above applies more
particularly to the form of the butterfly occurring in England and
Wales.
The Irish form known as _præclara_ has the transverse band
straw-coloured, the red colour is more vivid, and the black veins and
cross-lines heavier; the area nearest the base of the wings is often
blacker.
In a form occurring in Scotland, and known as var. _scotica_, the black
is still more intense, and the straw-coloured markings are dull in
colour.
The egg is pale brownish and very glossy. It appears smooth towards the
rounded base, but is ribbed from just before the middle to the top. The
eggs are laid in batches on leaves of scabious, chiefly the Devil's bit
(_Scabiosa succisa_).
The full-grown caterpillar is black, with a number of tiny whitish
dots, each bearing a short black hair; short black spines are arranged
in nine rows from ring four, the first ring is only hairy, the second
and third have each two spines. The head is black, with a groove down
the front and short hairs on the sides. The true legs are black, and the
false legs and the under parts of the body are dull rust-coloured. The
caterpillars hatch from the egg in June or July, and towards the end of
August they construct silken webs, in which they establish themselves
for hibernation. Early in March they recommence feeding, and under the
influence of much sunshine feed up quickly. Besides wild scabious, they
will eat honeysuckle and the garden kinds of _Scabiosa_. The chrysalis
is pale buff, with orange points on the body; the wing-cases are marked
with black and orange. The chrysalids are suspended from a silken web,
which is attached to a leaf or drawn-together leaves. The early stages
are figured on Plate 70.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 66.
=Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary.=
1, 3, 4 _male_; 6 _do. (second brood)_; 7 _do. var._; 2, 5 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 67.
=Heath Fritillary.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar (after Buckler),
and chrysalis._]
Kane (_Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland_), referring to this
species, remarks: "This butterfly has been known to increase so
prodigiously that whole fields and roads became blackened by the moving
myriads of larvæ. An instance of this was observed by the Rev. S.L.
Brakey, near Ennis, Co. Clare, where he drove out to see a reported
'shower of worms,' and found as above described, the larvæ being so
multitudinous in some fields that the black layer of insects seemed to
roll in corrugations as the migrating hosts swarmed over each other in
search of food. The imagines that resulted from the starved survivors
were extremely small and faded in colour."
These caterpillars are destroyed in great numbers by Hymenopterous
parasites, chiefly _Apanteles_, and it is almost certain that a large
percentage of those collected will prove to have been stung.
The butterfly is on the wing in May and June, and seems to affect damp
meadows, marshy ground on the sides of hills, and such kind of places.
It does not necessarily occur wherever its food-plant is abundant, but
scabious is always found to be present in the haunts of the butterfly;
so if we know that the insect occurs in a particular district we should
probably get a clue to its exact whereabouts by noting the likely places
in that district where the food-plant flourishes.
Although it has seemingly disappeared from various English localities
where it was formerly common, the butterfly may be found in many parts
of the British Islands, but it is local and does not occur northwards
much beyond the Caledonian Canal.
Abroad it spreads over Europe to Northern Africa, and its range extends
eastward through Asia to Amurland and Corea.
* * * * *
The fine butterfly next in order is regarded as a member of the Danainæ
by most authors. Although its generic position seems to be established,
its proper place in the classification of butterflies is still unfixed;
and even the question of its trivial or specific name is not finally
settled. According to Kirby, this butterfly is _Anosia menippe_, Hübner,
and not the true _Papilio plexippus_ of Linnæus, nor the _P. archippus_
of Cramer. American authors, however, consider it to be the Linnean
_plexippus_, and give _menippe_ Hb. as a synonym. The species is here
retained in Danainæ, but Holland places it in Euploeinæ and Skinner in
the Family Lymnadidæ.
The Milkweed Butterfly (_Anosia plexippus_).
The butterfly figured on Plate 120 is brownish-orange, with black veins
and margins on all the wings. White spots are arranged in double rows on
the black outer margin of each wing, and there are seven other rather
larger white spots on the black apical patch of the fore wings. The male
has a patch of black scales, covering the scent pouch, close to vein 2
on the hind wings.
The egg is long, oval in shape, with over twenty low upright ridges and
many cross-lines; is of a pale green colour; and is laid singly on the
food-plant of the caterpillar (various kinds of milkweed, especially the
commonest kind, _Asclepias cornuti_), and usually upon the under surface
of the upturned apical leaves near the middle. The egg state lasts only
about four days (Scudder). The caterpillar has the head smooth and
rounded, yellow, conspicuously banded with black. Body cylindrical,
tapering a little in front, naked, but with two pairs of long and very
slender black thread-like filaments, one pair, the longer, on the second
thoracic, the other on the eighth abdominal segment. The body is white,
with numerous slender black and yellow, and especially black, transverse
stripes, repeated with considerable regularity on each of the segments,
so that there are nowhere any broad patches of colour (Scudder).
[Illustration: _Pl._ 68.
=Heath Fritillary.=
1, 2, 3 _male_; 4, 5, 6 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 69.
=Glanville Fritillary.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
The chrysalis is stout and not elongated, largest in the middle of the
abdomen; where it is transversely ridged; elsewhere it is smooth and
rounded, with no striking prominences, but with little conical
projections at most of the elevated points, like those which half
encircle the body at the abdominal ridge, all of a golden colour except
the latter, which are situated in a tri-coloured band, black in front,
nacreous in the middle, and gilt behind (Scudder).
According to Dr. Holland, "the butterfly is considered to be
polygoneutic, that is to say, many broods are produced annually; and it
is believed by writers, that with the advent of cold weather these
butterflies migrate to the South [in America], the chrysalids and
caterpillars which may be undeveloped at the time of the frosts are
destroyed, and that when these insects reappear, as they do every summer
in North America, they represent a wave of immigration coming northward
from the warmer regions of the Gulf States. It is not believed that any
of them hibernate in any stage of their existence. This insect sometimes
appears in great swarms on the eastern and southern coasts of New Jersey
in late autumn. The swarms pressing southward are arrested by the
ocean." Within quite recent years it seems to have effected a settlement
in Australia, "and has thence spread northward and westward, until in
its migrations it has reached Java and Sumatra, and long ago took
possession of the Philippines. Moving eastward on the lines of travel,
it has established a more or less precarious foothold for itself in
Southern England.... It is well established at the Cape Verde Islands,
and in a short time we may expect to hear of it as having taken
possession of the continent of Africa, in which the family of plants
upon which the caterpillars feed is well represented."
So far as is shown by the published records, the actual number of
specimens of the Milkweed, or, as it is sometimes called, Monarch
butterfly, seen or caught in England between 1876, in which year it was
first observed in this country, and the present time, does not much
exceed thirty, and about one-third of these were obtained in September,
1885. In 1876 single specimens were captured at Neath, S. Wales;
Hayward's Heath and Keymer, Sussex; and Poole, Dorset. In 1896 single
specimens were reported as seen at Lymington, Hants, in May; Newlands
Corner, Surrey, in July; and the Lizard, Cornwall, in September. The
years in which the butterfly has been noticed in Britain are 1876, 1881,
1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1890, and 1896. It was first observed on the
Continent in 1877, when, according to Barrett, a specimen was taken in
La Vendée, France. In 1886, when half a dozen were recorded from
England, single specimens were obtained in Guernsey, and at Oporto and
Gibraltar. "More recently," Barrett states, "Mr. H.W. Vivian found it, I
believe not uncommonly, in the Canaries, and very kindly brought me a
specimen."
There seems to be no question that the species is migratory in its
habits, but exactly how it reaches this country is not definitely known.
Neither is it known whether the species, having arrived, is able to
reproduce its kind here. From the fact of its recurrence in England for
four years in succession, the possibility of its breeding in this
country might be assumed. One objection to any such inference, however,
is that it is a many-brooded species, but, with the exception of two
records in 1896, all British specimens were captured or seen in August,
September, or October, and none seem to have been observed in the
earlier months of those years in which the autumnal butterflies were
obtained.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 70.
=Marsh Fritillary.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar (after Buckler)
and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 71.
=Glanville Fritillary.=
1, 2, 4 _male_; 3, 5, 6, 7 _female_.]
The Milkweeds (_Asclepias_) are not indigenous plants, but, as
pointed out by the late Mr. J. Jenner Weir, _A. purpurescens_ and _A.
tuberosa_ are hardy in this country. He endeavoured to ascertain whether
these plants, or either of them, were grown in any of the gardens in the
Cornish locality where four fresh specimens were captured in September,
1885. I do not find that the desired information was furnished. Recently
I have ascertained that _A. cornuti_, which grows to a height of four
feet, is used as a border plant in some parts of England. It is commonly
known as Swallow-wort, and is esteemed for its fragrant pale purple
flowers.
* * * * *
We now come to the Satyrinæ, which, as regards the number of species
belonging to it, is a very large sub-family. In Great Britain, however,
there are but eleven species, and although some of these are rather
local, none are really scarce, and most are common.
The Marbled White (_Melanargia galatea_).
Older English names for the butterfly figured on Plate 75 are "Our
Half-mourner" (Petiver, 1717), "The Marmoris" (Wilkes), and "The
Marmoress" (Harris). The ground colour is white or creamy white, and the
markings are black. On the under side the markings are similar in design
to those on the upper side, but much fainter: the eye spots, which are
not always in evidence above, are well defined below, and especially so
on the hind wings. The female is generally whiter and larger than the
male, and has the basal half of the costa, or front margin of the fore
wing ochreous brown, and the markings on the under side of the hind
wings are tinged with the same colour.
Variation consists chiefly of increase or decrease in the size of the
black markings. At least one specimen is known in which all the wings
are uniform smoky black. This is in the collection of Mr. A.B. Farn, and
was captured near Rochester, Kent, in 1871. Between this extreme and
specimens with the black markings of typical proportions there are
various modifications; but striking aberrations are rare in this
country. Sometimes there is entire or partial absence of black pigment.
A remarkable example of this kind of aberration, taken on the cliffs
between Dover and Walmer some years ago, is described as of a clear
milky-white colour, and has not, either on the upper or under side of
the wings, the smallest speck of black. The ground colour is sometimes
decidedly yellow, and very occasionally brownish.
The life-history of this butterfly is figured on Plate 74.
The egg is whitish, opaque, with a dark speck on the apex; base
flattened and slightly hollowed; finely reticulated, but without
distinct striations or anything resembling ribs. The eggs are laid in
July, and are not attached to anything.
The caterpillar when full grown, is whity-brown in colour with brownish
lines. The head is brown, tinged with pink, and the tail-like points on
the last ring are pink. The head, as well as the body, is clothed with
short hair.
The chrysalis is also whity-brown with a pinkish tinge, browner
speckling on the wing cases, and the body is marked down the back with
yellow.
Hellins says, "It hibernates when very small, becomes full fed in June,
and changes to a pupa without suspending itself in any way, or making a
cocoon; I think it would hide itself, as my examples did; I found they
had got among the thick moss with which I had furnished the bottom of
their cage, and apparently made little hollows for themselves by turning
round."
Cock's-foot grass (_Dactylis glomerata_) and cat's-tail grass (_Phleum
pratense_) are given as food-plants, but the caterpillars in confinement
seem to eat any kind of grass that is supplied.
The butterfly is found in most of the Midland counties and in nearly
all of the Southern ones, but is especially common on the chalk downs of
the South-west. It does not occur in Ireland or Scotland, and seems to
be absent from the Northern counties of England except Yorkshire. In the
last-named county it was supposed to be extinct, but during the past ten
years it has been observed at Sledmere, and near Scarborough and
Helmsley. It is also reported to be not uncommon in three localities not
far from York.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 72.
=Milkweed Butterfly.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis
(after Smith)._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 73.
=Marsh Fritillary.=
1, 3, 5, 9, 10 _male_; 2, 4, 6, 7, 11 _female_.
1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9 _English_; 8 _Welsh_; 3, 5, 10, 11 _Irish_.]
The butterflies usually affect broken ground, rough fields, grassy
slopes near woods, or even sunny banks on the edges of cornfields.
Occasionally an odd specimen or two may be met with here and there, but
as a rule they seem to keep pretty much together, so that when one comes
upon a colony of these butterflies, the selection of a series on the
spot is quite an easy matter, and can be effected without destroying a
single specimen over and above the required number.
Abroad, this species is abundant in Central and Southern Europe, and its
range extends to Northern Asia Minor and Armenia.
The Small Mountain Ringlet (_Erebia epiphron_).
The typical form of this butterfly, _epiphron_, Knock, has the tawny
bands unbroken on the fore wings, and almost so on the hind wings; the
black dots on the hind wings of the female are often pupilled with
white, and more rarely this is so in the male also. It has been stated
that specimens occur in Perthshire which exhibit these characters. All
the British examples of the Small Mountain Ringlet that I have seen are
referable to the form known as _cassiope_, Fab. (Plate 77). The tawny,
or orange, bands are rarely so entire on the fore wings as in
_epiphron_, and are generally rather narrower; and that on the hind wing
is broken up into three or four rings. The black dots are usually
smaller and without white pupils. The female is somewhat larger and the
bands or rings paler.
Variation in the markings is extensive. The bands on the fore wings
become less and less complete, until they are reduced to a series of
mere rings around the black dots. The black dots decrease in size and in
number until they, together with the tawny marking, entirely disappear,
and a plain blackish-brown insect only remains. This extreme form has
been named _obsoleta_, Tutt. The earliest rings to vanish seem to be the
third on the fore wings and the first on the hind wings. Similar
modifications occur on the under side also, but there may be aberration
on the upper side of a specimen, and not, or at least not in the same
way, on the under side.
The egg, when first laid, is yellow, changing afterwards to fawn colour
with darker markings, especially towards the top. It is laid in July on
blades of grass. The larva hatches in about sixteen days.
The young caterpillar, before hibernation in October, is greenish, with
darker green and yellow lines. Head brownish. Feeds in July and after
hibernation on various grasses, among which _Poa annua_, _Festuca
ovina_, _Aira præcox_, and _A. cæspitosa_ have been specified as eaten
by caterpillars in confinement. A distinct preference, however, has been
shown for mat grass (_Nardus stricta_), and it has been suggested that
this may be the natural food. The full-grown caterpillar appears to be
undescribed.
The chrysalis is described by Buckler as being "little more than
three-eighths of an inch in length, rather thick in proportion, being
less dumpy in form than _hyperanthus_, but more so than _blandina_. The
colour of the back of the thorax and wing cases is a light green, rather
glaucous; the abdomen a pale drab or dirty whitish; a dark brown dorsal
streak is conspicuous on the thorax, and there is the faintest possible
indication of its being continued as a stripe along the abdomen. The
eye-, trunk-, antenna-, and leg-cases are margined with dark brown, and
the wing nervures are indicated by the same colours."
[Illustration: _Pl._ 74.
=Marbled White.=
_Eggs enlarged, caterpillar and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 75.
=Marbled White.=
1, 2, 4 _male_; 3, 5, 6 _female_.]
As is indicated by its English name, this interesting little
butterfly only frequents high ground, and is rarely found below about
1500 feet. All its English localities are in the lake district of
Cumberland and Westmoreland. It seems to like boggy ground, and in such
places on Gable Hill, Red Skrees, and at Langdale Pikes, among others,
it is not uncommon. Previous to 1809 the species was unknown to occur in
Britain, but in June of that year specimens were captured by Mr. T.
Stothard on the mountains at Ambleside. Haworth, in 1812, referred to
these specimens as from Scotland, but the butterfly was not taken in
that country until 1844, when it was discovered by Mr. R. Weaver in
Perthshire. It is now known to occur, sometimes in abundance, on Ben
Nevis and other adjacent hills, also in suitable spots and the proper
elevation around Lochs Rannoch and Vennachar, as well as in the Tay
district and Argyleshire.
In Ireland it was taken by Mr. E. Birchall, in June, 1854, in a grassy
hollow about halfway up the Westport side of Croagh Patrick. About five
years ago Mr. W.F. de Vismes Kane met with the butterfly on Nephin,
Mayo, and he mentioned a specimen believed to have been taken on the
hilly slopes on the eastern shores of Lake Gill, Sligo.
Abroad the species is found in mountainous parts of South Germany,
Switzerland, France, North and Central Italy. The typical form,
_epiphron_, is more especially obtained in the Hartz and Alsatian
Mountains, Silesia, Hungary, and Bulgaria.
The Scotch Argus (_Erebia æthiops_ = _blandina_).
The butterfly figured on Plate 77 is deep velvety brown, appearing
almost black in very fresh male specimens. There is a broad fulvous band
on the outer area, but not reaching either the costa or the inner
margin; it is contracted about the middle, the upper part encloses two
white pupilled black spots, and the lower part has one such spot. The
hind wings have a narrow fulvous band, usually enclosing three white
pupilled black spots. The under side is more distinctly brown and not
velvety, band of fore wings similar to above; the hind wings have a
greyish band beyond the middle, with three small white pupilled black
spots on its outer edge; the basal area is often greyish also. The
female is generally less dark and velvety, the bands are rather wider,
more orange in colour, and the white pupils of the spots are more
conspicuous; on the under side the alternate dark and pale bands are
more striking, and sometimes the grey colour is replaced by ochreous,
which seems to constitute the aberration named _ochracea_, Tutt. The
spots on the fore wings, upper side, are often increased to four by the
addition of a small one between those previously mentioned. More rarely
there is an extra spot above the upper pair, and still less frequently,
and in the female sex, an additional pair is found below the usual lower
spot, thus making six in all. On the other hand, the only spots in
evidence may be the pair in the upper part of the band. The spots on the
hind wings range in number from two to five, but occasionally all are
absent. The fulvous bands on the fore wings may be reduced to rings
around the upper and lower spots respectively, and altogether wanting on
the hind wings. Such an aberration would be referable to _obsoleta_,
Tutt, which is considered to be very rare. There are many other
modifications, but these mentioned will serve to show the variable
character of this local butterfly.
The egg is ochreous white, or bone colour, finely freckled with pale
brown or pinkish-brown; it has a number of ribs, and is also
reticulated.
The caterpillar in its last skin is pale drab, the warts pale
whitish-brown, emitting short tapering bristles; dorsal stripe
blackish-brown, enclosed by two paler drab lines; subdorsal stripe paler
drab, becoming narrow towards the anal point, edged above with a
greenish-brown thread, and below with blackish or brownish dashes, that
almost form a continuous line; below this come two thin pale lines,
above the lower of which are the circular black spiracles; the under
parts and the legs are of a somewhat warmer tint of the ground colour of
the back. It changed on June 22nd to a pupa, unattached, but placed in
an upright position amongst the grass near the ground.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 76.
=Small Mountain Ringlet.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; young caterpillar._
=Scotch Argus.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 77.
=Small Mountain Ringlet.=
1, 4 _male_; 3 _female (English)_; 2, 5, 6, 7 _male (Scotch)_.
=Scotch Argus.=
8, 11 _male (Scotch)_; 9 _do. (English)_; 10, 12 _female (Scotch)_.]
The chrysalis has the body ochreous, with a darker stripe down the back,
and other lines; the eye covers are black, and the thorax, antennæ
cases, and wing covers are dingy, dark purplish-brown.
The above descriptions of caterpillar and chrysalis are adapted from
Buckler, whose figures of these stages are also reproduced on the plate.
_Aira præcox_, _A. cæspitosa_, and _Poa_ are the grasses that seem to be
the food of the caterpillar.
Mr. Haggart, of Galashiels, who had exceptional opportunities for
observing the habits of this butterfly in its natural home, gives a most
interesting account of it in the _Entomologist_ for November, 1895. He
writes--
"The haunt of this species is, almost without exception, the margin of a
plantation or wood where the different species of _Poa_ grow abundantly,
and always situated in such a position as to receive the first rays of
the rising sun. This last-mentioned fact is so plainly evident, that the
least observant cannot fail to notice it. The insect is truly sun
loving, and no collector need go in search of it with any thought of
success if the day be dull.
"It is most interesting to observe the extreme sensibility of the insect
to shine and shade. A very good day to illustrate this is one when heavy
clouds at intervals obscure the sun; the moment it disappears so also
does the butterfly, and no sooner does it shine forth again than, as if
by magic, scores of the insect are on the wing.
"The under side of the insect bears a marked resemblance to that of a
dead leaf, and I have often watched the males being deceived by withered
leaves lying among the moss. They would flutter down quite close to the
leaf, immediately rise with a disappointed air and fly a little further,
only to be deceived again and again.
"The ova are deposited amongst the _Poa_ grass, and hatch in September.
Towards the end of October the larvæ go down and hibernate throughout
the winter and spring, coming up to feed again in May; they are
generally full-fed about the end of June; and the insect appears in July
or August. The larvæ are nocturnal feeders, coming up to feed on the
grass just about dusk. The method of procuring the larvæ is by no means
enviable, even to the most ardent entomologist, as in the uncertain
light it necessitates crawling on one's hands and knees amongst the
grass, and there is always the risk of grasping those little brown slugs
in mistake, which resemble the larvæ very much in shape and colour. No
artificial light can be used, as the larvæ immediately drop down amongst
the grass if this is done. The only alternative, therefore, is to use
one's eyes to the best advantage until the darkness makes that
impossible.
"They are not difficult to rear in confinement if the larvæ are kept
properly supplied with food."
This butterfly, which as a British species was discovered in the Isle of
Arran in 1804, only occurs in the north of England and in Scotland. Its
localities in the latter country are Glen Tilt and other valleys in the
Perthshire highlands, Strathglass in Inverness, Altyre woods at Forres;
Selkirk, Roxburgh, and various parts of Argyleshire; around the Lowther
Hills, Dumfrieshire; also in Arran and the Isle of Skye. In most of the
places it is plentiful. In England it occurs in the counties of Durham,
Westmoreland, Cumberland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire. It is common in
Castle Eden Dene, Durham; at Grassington, in Yorkshire; at Witherslack
and Arnside, in Westmoreland; and at Grange and Silverdale, in
Lancashire.
Abroad, it is distributed through Central and Southern Europe, and its
range extends into Northern Asia Minor, Kurdistan, and Armenia; the
Altai and South Siberia.
It may be noted here that _E. ligea_ was supposed to have been taken in
Arran at the same time as _E. blandina_, that is in 1804. If this were
so, it would seem that the captor must have exterminated the species,
for, although the island has often been closely explored, no one has
been able to detect the "Arran Brown" again.
The Grayling (_Satyrus semele_).
On the upper side, this butterfly (Plate 78) is brown, more or less
suffused with black, and this is especially noticeable on the outer area
of the wings in the male, where it obscures the ochreous or
rust-coloured bands, which in the female are almost free from the
suffusion. The fore wings have two black spots, the upper one generally,
and the lower often, pupilled with white. On the hind wings the bands
are clear of blackish suffusion to a greater or lesser extent, and there
is one black spot towards the anal angle which may be pupilled with
white. Apart from its larger size and brighter bands, the female may be
distinguished from the male by the absence of the blackish brand on the
disc of the fore wings. On the under side, the fore wings are ochreous,
tinged with orange on the basal half or two-thirds; hind wings are
greyish, with darker markings, and an irregular white or whitish band
beyond the middle.
Variation is largely confined to the under side of the hind wings, and
these wings, as well as the costal edge and the tips of the fore wings,
are coloured and marked, in various localities that the butterfly
affects, so that the insects may be protected from their enemies when
resting.
On the upper side of the fore wings an additional spot is sometimes
present below one or other of the usual ones. The bands of the wings are
pale ochreous in some examples, and rust-coloured in others; but it is
not unusual for a specimen with ochreous bands on the fore wings to have
rust-coloured bands on the hind wings, or ochreous bands with
rust-coloured patches on the outer portion; these patches are most
frequently triangular in shape, and placed between the veins. Gynandrous
specimens also occur, but very rarely.
The egg is of a dull creamy tint, ribbed, and with a slight depression
on the top. The eggs were laid early in August, on blades and stems of a
kind of grass; also on the leno covering, and the sides of the glass jar
in which the female butterfly was enclosed.
The caterpillar when full grown "is drab, delicately mottled, with
longitudinal stripes broadest along the middle segments, viz. a dorsal
stripe of olive-brown, very dark at the beginning of each segment, with
a thin edging of brownish-white. Along the subdorsal region are three
stripes, of which the first is composed of a double narrow line of
yellowish-brown, the second wider of the mottled ground colour, edged
with paler above and with white below; the third of similar width is of
a dark grey-brown, edged above with black. The spiracular stripe is
broader and of nearly equal width, pale ochreous-brown, edged with
brownish-white both above and below; the spiracles are black. The head
is brown, and the principal stripes of the body are delicately marked
with darker brown" (Buckler).
The chrysalis is described as "obtuse, rounded, tumid, and smooth, the
abdominal rings scarcely visible, and wholly of a deep red mahogany
colour." It was "in a hollow space a quarter of an inch below the
surface, the particles of sand and earth very slightly cohering
together, and close to the roots of the grass, yet free from them." The
figures of caterpillar and chrysalis are drawn from those in Buckler's
"Larvæ of British Butterflies."
[Illustration: _Pl._ 78.
=Grayling Butterfly.=
_Males_, 1, 3 _(Chalk)_, 2 _(Heath); females_, 4 _(Heath)_; 5, 6
_(Chalk)_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 79.
=Grayling Butterfly.=
_Egg enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis (both after Buckler)._]
The caterpillars hatch in August, hibernate when quite small, and feed
up in the spring and early summer. They live upon grasses, such as
_Triticum repens_, _Aira cæspitosa_, and _A. præcox_.
The butterfly delights in sitting rather than flying about cliffs and
sand-hills, heaths and downs, stony hillsides, dry fields, and even open
woodlands. It is fond of sunning itself on rocks, and by some of the old
Aurelians it was called the "Rock Underwing," no doubt in reference to
the pattern and colour of the under side. It was also known as the
"Tunbridge Grayling" some two hundred years ago, when it was said to be
"very rare about London." It has long since been ascertained to occur in
almost every county in England and Wales, as far north as
Sutherlandshire in Scotland, and is widely distributed in Ireland.
On the chalk downs and cliffs the butterfly has the under side of its
hind wings so admirably agreeing in colour and marking with the soil,
etc., that although one may watch it settle a few yards ahead, it is not
to be seen when one reaches the spot. Whilst we are intent on the search
the insect starts up, flies a short distance, and there repeats the
disappearing butterfly trick. The same remarks apply to those Graylings
that affect peaty or sandy heaths, etc. When the butterfly alights on
the ground--and it rarely gets on the wing unless disturbed--it
immediately closes its wings, and then allows them to fall more or less
on one side, so that the whole of one hind wing is presented to view. It
is said to have a fancy for the resinous sap that oozes from pine trees,
and has also been observed to visit the trunks that have been "sugared."
Abroad, it is found commonly throughout the temperate parts of Europe,
North Africa, and Northern and Western Asia.
The Speckled Wood (_Pararge egeria_).
Quite early in the eighteenth century Petiver met with the butterfly
shown on Plate 80 at Enfield, so he figured it as the "Enfield Eye" in
that curious old book entitled "Papiliorium Britanniæ Icones." Later on,
Wilkes named the butterfly the "Wood Argus," thus indicating its
favourite haunts, as well as a prominent character in its ornamentation.
Harris changed the name to the "Speckled Wood Butterfly," which seems
even more suitable.
The general colour is blackish-brown, and the spots are yellowish. The
fore wings have one white-pupilled black eye spot towards their tips,
and the hind wings have three such eye spots on the outer area. The male
has a long oblique patch of blackish scales on the middle of the fore
wings, which is, perhaps, more easily detected if the insect is held up
to the light. The female is usually slightly larger than the male, the
wings rather rounder, and the yellowish spots, are, as a rule,
distinctly larger. The typical or southern form of this butterfly has
the spots of a tawny colour, but it does not occur in Britain. Our form,
in all its modifications, belongs to _egerides_, Staudinger.
Occasionally, in the south of England, specimens are found in which the
spots are tinged with fulvous; others have almost white spots. The spots
are sometimes much reduced in size in the male, or greatly enlarged in
the female.
The egg is pale greenish, finely reticulated; as the caterpillar matures
within, the shell becomes less glossy than at first, and the upper part
is blackish.
The caterpillar has a green head, which is larger than the first ring
of the body (1st thoracic), covered with short fine whitish hairs, with
which are mixed a few dark hairs. The body is rather brighter green,
with darker lines, edged with yellowish, along the back and sides; the
skin is transversely wrinkled, the rings being subdivided, and the whole
of the body is clothed with fine whitish hair and a few dark hairs
arising from warts; the anal points are whitish and also hairy. It feeds
on various grasses, among which are _Triticum repens_ and _Dactylis
glomerata_.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 80.
=Speckled Wood.=
_Spring Brood:_ 1, 2 _male_; 3, 5 _female_.
_Summer brood:_ 4, 6 _male_; 7 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 81.
=Speckled Wood.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
The chrysalis is pale green, tinged with yellowish or whitish; the edges
of the wing covers are brown, and there are whitish dots on the body.
According to Hellins the colour varies, and green chrysalids may be
covered all over with very fine smoky freckles. Barrett states that they
are occasionally brownish with darker brown lines. Suspended by the
cremaster from a silken pad.
From eggs laid in early May butterflies were reared at the end of June;
and from eggs laid at the end of June butterflies resulted during middle
August. Early July eggs produced perfect insects in early September, and
from caterpillars fed up in October butterflies were obtained in
November. These observations were not all made in the same year.
Barrett writes, "In the south of Surrey in 1862, the first emergence
took place in April in abundance, these specimens became worn and
disappeared, and a second emergence took place at the end of May, a
third at the end of July, and a fourth in September; the next year the
first emergence was in the third week in March, and again four broods
were observed, but this is not the case every year, three emergences
being probably the rule."
Mr. Joy has recorded that of caterpillars, resulting from a pairing
induced in captivity, in August, eighty per cent. hibernated as pupæ,
twenty per cent. as half-fed caterpillars. Butterflies from the winter
pupæ emerged in May, but the caterpillars that had gone through the
winter in that state did not produce butterflies until June. Possibly
something of this sort occurs in the open, and we may suppose that the
early and late spring butterflies are not separate broods, but early and
late emergences of one brood. Butterflies seen on the wing in November
may be a few individuals that, owing to favourable weather, have emerged
from chrysalids which under ordinary conditions would have remained as
such during the winter.
Shady lanes, rides in woods, as well as the borders of the same, are its
favourite haunts. It is not a sun-loving butterfly, but is generally
found to frequent places where the sun's rays are more or less
intercepted by a leafy screen. It seems to be more abundant in wet
seasons than in dry ones. It is generally distributed throughout England
and Wales, but more plentiful in southern and western counties than in
the eastern and northern. In Ireland, Kane says, it is "everywhere
abundant and double brooded." It is local in Scotland, and rare north of
the Caledonian Canal.
Abroad our form of the butterfly _egerides_ is found commonly in Central
and Northern Europe, except in the extreme north, and in Northern Asia
Minor and Armenia. The typical form, _egeria_ proper, occurs in
South-Western Europe, North Africa, and Syria.
The Wall Butterfly (_Pararge megæra_).
The butterfly now under consideration is figured on Plate 82. It is
bright fulvous in colour, with blackish-brown veins, margins, and
transverse lines. There is one white pupilled black spot on the fore
wings, and four of such spots on the outer area of the hind wings; the
fourth, which is generally blind, is placed at the end of the series
near the anal angle. The male has a very conspicuous sexual brand on the
central area. The under side of the fore wings is paler than above, but
the markings are similar, except that the brand is absent and the
margins are greyer; the hind wings on the under side are greyish marked
with brown and traversed by dark lines; there is a row of six eyed spots
on the outer area; that nearest the anal angle is double. The female has
more ample wings, and as the brand is absent on the fore wings in this
sex, the central black transverse lines are more distinct.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 82.
=Wall Butterfly.=
1, 2, 5 _male_; 3, 4, 6 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 83.
=Wall Butterfly.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: FIG. 26.
The Wall Butterfly just emerged from the Chrysalis, and with wings
distended.]
Variation is chiefly in the size of the eyed spots; sometimes the
apical one of the fore wings has a smaller one attached to its lower
margin, or in the interspace (_i.e._ between the veins) above it or
below it; or both extra spots, which are usually without white pupils,
may be present. Very rarely the apical spot may be almost absent on one
fore wing, but well defined on the other. The central transverse lines
on the fore wings of the female are sometimes broad, and very
occasionally the space between the lines is blackish; blackish-banded
male specimens are also found in some localities, such as the slopes of
Dartmoor, Devon, as mentioned by Barrett.
The ground colour varies in tint, darker or lighter than normal, but
specimens of a bright golden yellow-brown, straw colour, or whitish are
known to occur, although such extreme aberrations are exceptional.
The egg is pale green when first laid, and in shape it is almost
spherical, but rather higher than broad; it is finely ribbed and
reticulated, but unless examined through a lens it appears to be quite
smooth.
The caterpillar when full grown is whitish-green, dotted with white.
From the larger of these dots on the back arise greyish bristles; the
three lines on the back (dorsal and subdorsal) are whitish, edged with
dark green; the line on the sides (spiracular) is white, fringed with
greyish hairs; anal points green, hairy, extreme tips white. Head larger
than the first ring (1st thoracic segment), green dotted with white and
hairy, jaws marked with brownish. It feeds on grasses.
The chrysalis is green, with yellow-tinted white markings on the edge of
the wing covers and ridges; the spots on the body are yellowish, or
sometimes white. Occasionally the chrysalids are blackish, with white or
yellow points on the body.
There are certainly two broods of this butterfly in the season, and in
favourable years there may be three broods. In an ordinary way the first
flight is in May and June, and the second flight in July and August. The
caterpillars feed on _Poa annua_, _Dactylis glomerata_, etc. Those
hatched in autumn hibernate more or less completely, and become full
grown in early or late spring according to the season. Sometimes,
however, they seem to feed during the winter, and assume the chrysalis
in March. Probably it is from such precocious caterpillars that the
butterflies sometimes seen in April result.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 84.
=Meadow Brown.=
1, 2, 3, 4 _male_; 5, 6, 7 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 85.
=Meadow Brown.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillars and chrysalis._]
The Speckled Wood, it was noted, prefers shady places; the present
butterfly is more partial to sunshine and plenty of it. As its English
name suggests, it is fond of basking on walls, but it does this also on
dry hedge banks, sides of gravel pits, tree-trunks--in fact, wherever it
can enjoy the full sunshine. It is not at all shy, and will be pretty
sure to introduce itself to the notice of the collector as soon as he
enters its domain. Although it now seems to be absent from certain
districts in which it was once abundant, it may still be regarded as a
generally common species in England and Wales, and even plentiful, in
some years, in the southern, eastern, and western counties; it appears
to be more local in North England. In Scotland it seems fairly
distributed, and not scarce in the south; its range extends to
Aberdeenshire. Kane states that it is everywhere abundant throughout
Ireland. Abroad it is common throughout Europe, except the extreme
north, and extends into North Africa, Asia Minor, and Armenia.
The Meadow Brown (_Epinephele ianira_).
The female is the _jurtina_ of Linnæus, and as he described this sex
before the male, under the impression that they were distinct species,
the law of priority, we are told, must be observed and the earlier name
be adopted.
This fuscous-brown butterfly of the meadows is marked, especially in
the female, with dull orange. The male, of which sex three specimens are
shown (Plate 84, Figs. 1-3), has a broad black sexual brand on the
central area of the fore wings, and a white pupilled black spot towards
the tips of the wings; this spot is usually encircled with orange, and
there is often more or less of this orange colour below it (Fig. 2
typical). The under side of the fore wings is orange with the costa
narrowly, and the outer margin broadly, greyish-brown to match with the
colour of the under side of the hind wings. The female is without the
black brand, and is more ornamented with orange, which generally forms a
broad patch on the outer area of the fore wings (Fig. 6), but it is
sometimes continued inwards, so that almost the whole of the discal
area--that is, nearly all but the margins, appears to be orange (Fig.
7); the hind wings have an indistinct paler band on the outer area, and
this is sometimes suffused or clouded with orange. On the under side the
pale band is more defined (Fig. 5). The apical spot of fore wings is
sometimes double, and a tendency to this variation is shown in Fig. 6,
but in the complete form there are two white dots (bi-pupillated). At
the other extreme, and generally in the male, the apical spot is
entirely absent (var. _anommata_), or is greatly reduced in size, and is
without the white pupil. Spots on the under side are as often absent as
present. They may be from one to five in number, and either simply black
dots or ringed with orange, as in Fig. 4. Occasionally the orange on the
upper side of the female gives place to a pale straw or even whitish
colour; and on the under side to whitish-grey.
Not infrequently a greater or lesser area of the wings is "bleached,"
and this seems to be due to absence of pigment in the scales on such
parts. This bleaching may affect the whole or a portion of one wing
only, or it may take the form of symmetrical blotches on each wing. All
such abnormal specimens of this, and of other species similarly
affected, are certainly of value to those who are interested in
teratology, but they seem to be out of place in a collection of
butterflies where the aim should be to show the true variation of
species rather than "freaks," which are the result of accident or
disease.
The egg, laid on a blade of grass as shown (Plate 85), is upright and
ribbed; the top is flattened, with an impressed ring thereon. Colour,
whitish-green inclining to brownish-yellow as it matures, and marked
with purplish-brown.
The caterpillar is bright green, clothed with short whitish hairs;
there is a darker line down the back, and a diffused white stripe on
each side above the reddish spiracles; the anal points are white. Head
rather darker green, hairy.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 86.
=Gatekeeper.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 87.
=Gatekeeper.=
1, 2, 6, 7 _male_; 3, 4, 5 _female_.]
The chrysalis is pale green, marked with brownish on the wing-covers,
the thorax is spotted with blackish, and the points on the body are
brownish. Suspended, and with the old skin attached, as shown in the
figure.
From its wide distribution and general abundance, this may be said to be
our commonest butterfly. It appears to be always on the wing, in dull
weather as well as in sunshine, and, except for a short interval in
early August, it is to be seen in hayfields, open places in woods, on
grassy slopes, or borders of highways and byways from June to September.
Although quite fresh specimens are fuscous-brown, the butterfly, after a
short time on the wing, loses the dusky tinge and becomes brown. It is,
therefore, always desirable to rear specimens for the cabinet from
caterpillars. These feed on grasses of various kinds in May, are easily
managed, and may be found in most hay meadows at night, when, of course,
a lantern will be needed to throw a light on the business of collecting
them.
The not infrequent occurrence of fresh specimens in the autumn is strong
presumptive evidence of at least an occasional second brood. Perhaps, as
has been suggested by Mr. R. Adkin, "a late emergence of _Epinephele
ianira_ is the rule rather than the exception," especially in the warmer
parts of the country.
The butterfly is found throughout England and Wales, Ireland, and
Scotland, including Isles of Lewis and Orkney. Abroad it occurs in all
parts of Europe except the most northern, Asia Minor, Armenia, North
Africa, and the Canary Isles.
The Gatekeeper (_Epinephele tithonus_).
Other English names in use at the present time for this butterfly
(Plate 87) are "Small Meadow Brown," "Hedge Brown," and "Large Heath,"
but the latter is more often applied to another species which will be
referred to later. Petiver called it the "Hedge Eye."
The general colour is brownish-orange, and the margins are
fuscous-brown; there is a black spot towards the tips of the fore wings,
and this, as a rule, encloses two white dots; one or both of these dots
sometimes absent in the male. The male differs from the female in its
rather smaller size, and in having a fuscous band on the central area;
the latter is broadest towards the inner margin, and in this part are
some patches of blackish androconial scales or plumules; at the upper
end of the band there is sometimes a fuscous cloud. Occasionally, one or
more small black spots, some with white pupils, are present below the
apical one. Four such spots are rare, but specimens with one or with two
are not uncommon. There is usually a white-pupilled black spot towards
the anal angle of the hind wing, but I have several males and females
that are without this spot. Sometimes there are as many as four spots on
the hind wings, but this is perhaps exceptional (Plate 113, Fig. 5). On
the under side of the hind wings there are often two white dots,
sometimes ringed with black, towards the costa, and two or three other
similar dots towards the anal angle; but the number of dots may be
reduced to two, one of which is near the costa, or be increased to six.
Colour changes, similar to those in the last species, occur, and the
orange colour, in both sexes, may be replaced by yellow (var. _mincki_,
Seebold), or by white (var. _albida_, Russell, Plate 119, Figs. 6, 7).
Such aberrations are very local and rare; a few have been obtained on
chalk hills in South Hampshire.
In an extraordinary aberration, taken in Sussex in 1897, the whole of
the dark brown colour of margins and band is replaced by pale
pinkish-ochreous, but the normal brownish orange remains. Other somewhat
similar specimens have been recorded.
The egg (Plate 86) is pale yellowish when first laid, becoming lighter
and irregularly blotched with reddish-brown, the upper blotches forming
a sort of band round the egg; as the caterpillar matures the shell
assumes a darker tinge, inclining to slaty, and the markings are less
distinct.
The caterpillar, when full grown, is pale ochreous, clothed with short
pale hair, and freckled with brownish; the line down the back is darker,
one on each side is paler, and that above the feet is yellowish. The
head is rather darker than the body, marked with brownish, and bristly.
According to Hellins, the newly hatched caterpillar is whitish-grey,
with rusty yellow lines on the back. In October, after the first moult,
it becomes green with a brownish head. In April the body is
greenish-grey, and the head pale greenish-brown. At the end of April it
moults for the last time, and is then pale ochreous generally, but some
caterpillars are darker than this, and some paler with a greenish-grey
tinge.
The chrysalis is whitish-ochreous, with dark brown streaks on the
wing-covers and some brownish spots and clouds on the back and sides.
Suspended from stem or blade of grass; the old skin remains attached.
The caterpillars feed at night on grasses, such as _Poa annua_,
_Triticum repens_, and _Dactylis glomerata_, from September to June. The
butterfly is on the wing in July and August. Although these butterflies
may be seen, sometimes in considerable numbers, where the rides are
grassy, in woods, they are perhaps more attached to hedgerows. Bramble
flowers are their special attraction, but they are not indifferent to
the blossoms of the wood sage (_Teucrium scorodonia_) or of marjoram
(_Origanum vulgare_).
Pretty generally distributed throughout England, it is often
exceedingly plentiful in the south and also in South Wales. In Scotland
the butterfly seems to be common in Kircudbrightshire, but not common in
other southern counties up to Argyle and Fife. Kane says that in Ireland
it is almost confined to the southern counties.
Abroad it is found throughout Europe, except the North-East, and its
range extends into Northern Asia Minor.
The Ringlet (_Aphantopus hyperanthus_).
The sombre-looking butterfly, of which several figures will be found on
Plate 89, has been known by its present English name since 1778, the
year in which Moses Harris published "The Aurelian." The Latin specific
name was written _hyperantus_ by Linnæus, but Esper corrected this to
_hyperanthus_. It has, however, been supposed that Linnæus really
intended to have written _hyperanthes_ (a son of Darius), and this form
of the name has been used, but Esper's emendation is here adopted.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.
=Var. lanceolata.=]
All the wings are sooty-brown, the male when quite fresh appearing
almost black, and the sexual brand is then difficult to see; there are
one or more black spots with pale rings, and sometimes white pupils, on
the fore wings, but these are always more prominent in the female than
in the male; in the latter sex they may be entirely absent. On the under
side there are generally two, sometimes three, ocellated spots on the
fore wings, and there are five such spots on the hind wings, the two
nearest the costa being double, and not very infrequently there is a
smaller spot near or attached to the lower edge of the double one. In
the matter of size of the spots on the under side there is a wide range
of variation, and at one end of this is var. _lanceolata_, Shipp, and at
the other var. _obsoleta_, Tutt, in which not a trace of any of the
spots remains. Specimens with a varying number of white dots, with or
without yellow rings, are usually referred to var. _arete_, but Fig. 6
on the Plate represents a modification of this variety, known as
_coeca_.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 88.
=Ringlet.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalids._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 89.
=Ringlet.=
1, 2, 3, 7 _male_; 4, 5, 8 _female_; 6 _var. cæca_, _male_.]
Occasionally, on the under side, there are transverse lines on the outer
half of all the wings, and the space between these lines is suffused
with whitish. The specimen showing these lines faintly (Fig. 3 on the
Plate) is from North Cumberland.
The early stages are figured on Plate 88.
The egg is yellowish-white at first, but soon turns to a pale brown. As
will be seen on comparing the enlarged figure of this egg with those of
the two previous species, it is quite different in shape, and is pitted
rather than ribbed. The eggs are not attached to anything, but are
allowed to fall down among the roots of the grass over which they are
deposited.
The caterpillar is described by Newman as pale wainscot brown in colour,
with a darker line down the back, and the head has three broad, slightly
darker but faint, stripes on each cheek. According to others it is
ochreous or brownish-grey, with a dark brown line on the back, a pale
one with darker edge on the sides, and a whitish stripe above the feet.
The chrysalis is ochreous-brown sprinkled with reddish-brown, and marked
with brown on the wing-covers. It lies low down among the tufts of
grass. The figures of caterpillar and chrysalis are from Buckler's
"Larvæ of British Butterflies."
The caterpillars feed upon various grasses, including _Poa annua_ and
_Dactylis glomerata_, growing about damp places in woodland districts.
They emerge from the egg in August, feed leisurely until October, when
they appear to hibernate. In March they resume feeding, but do not
attain full growth until June. The butterflies are on the wing in July
and August, and frequent lanes and the outskirts of woods. They usually
fly along the shady side, but they are not averse to the nectar of the
bramble blossom, and I have seen them taking a sip here and there
although they were fully exposed to sunshine all the time.
Wherever there are suitable haunts the butterfly may be found throughout
the greater part of England and Wales. It seems, however, to have
disappeared from some districts in Lancashire and Yorkshire where it was
formerly common. It is fairly plentiful in most of the southern counties
of Scotland, and its range extends north to Aberdeen. In Ireland it is
abundant in the south and the west, and seems to occur in most suitable
places; also common in certain localities in Donegal and Antrim. Abroad
it is distributed through Europe and Northern Asia eastward to Japan.
The Large Heath (_Coenonympha typhon_).
The butterfly now to be considered is a most variable one, both as
regards colour and marking. Several of the varieties have been named,
and in the time of Haworth down to Stephens, and even much later, at
least three of these were regarded as distinct species. In the present
day, however, it is generally accepted that all the varieties are forms
of one species, although two local races are recognized.
The typical form is _typhon_, Rottemburg, and _polydama_ (The Marsh
Ringlet) of Haworth (Plate 90, Figs. 1, 2, 5, 7-11). The colour ranges
from darkish-brown to a pale tawny; there is an ochreous ringed black
spot towards the tips of the fore wings, sometimes another similar spot
above the inner angle, and occasionally when both spots are present
there is an ochreous spot between them; the hind wings have from one to
three of these spots, but a larger number than three is exceptional. The
under side of the fore wings is either bright or dull fulvous, and the
spots are pretty much as above, but with white pupils, and there is a
whitish band before them; the under side of the hind wings is olive
brown on the basal two-thirds, covered with pale hair, and the outer
third is brownish merging into greyish on the outer margin; an irregular
white or whitish band limits the two areas; there are six ochreous
ringed black spots, with white pupils, but they are always rather small
in size. The female is much paler than the male.
This is the usual form in Northumberland, Cumberland, Yorkshire, and
Ireland; it also occurs in Lancashire, Westmoreland, and the South of
Scotland.
Var. _philoxenus_, Esper. This is _davus_ (Small Ringlet), Haworth, and
_rothliebii_, Newman (Plate 90, Figs. 3, 4, 6).
On the upper side the colour is dark brown in the male and rather paler
in the female; the spots are very distinct, ringed with fulvous; those
on the hind wings are generally three in number, and often five or six;
on the under side, the bands are whiter, and often broader, and the
spots are very black, large, and conspicuous.
This form is found on some of the mosses in Lancashire and Westmoreland,
in Delamere Forest, Cheshire, and in North Shropshire; but the most
characteristic examples of the form are chiefly obtained in the
first-named county, from which it was first made known, in 1795, as the
"Manchester Argus," or "Manchester Ringlet."
Var. _scotica_, Staudinger (_laidion_, Staud., but not of Borkhausen),
Pl. 90, Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5 male, 3 female, is the _typhon_ of Haworth, as
stated by Newman; the latter author, however, figures it as _davus_,
Fabricius, which is doubtful.
The ground colour is pale tawny, sometimes suffused with brownish,
greyish on the margin, and broadly so on the outer area of the hind
wings; the spots are often absent, and when present are rarely very
distinct. The female is much paler than the male. The under side of the
hind wings is somewhat similar to that of the typical form, but
sometimes the whole area is a uniform greyish; the spots are only rarely
at all distinct, and then only one, or perhaps two, on a wing, and not
infrequently they are entirely absent. This form occurs in Scotland,
especially in Aberdeenshire and Sutherlandshire, also in the Isle of
Arran, in the Orkney and Shetland Isles, and in the Outer Hebrides. Kane
states that he has met with single specimens at "Killarney, Westmeath,
Galway, and Sligo."
In some localities, such as Carlisle, Rotherham, and others in
Yorkshire, forms intermediate between the type and var. _philoxenus_ are
found; modifications of the type form in the direction of var. _scotica_
occur in Cumberland, Northumberland, and Co. Leitrim, in Ireland; and
forms approaching the type more nearly than var. _scotica_ are met with
in the Glasgow district, and at Pitcaple in Aberdeenshire.
The egg is very pale greenish-yellow at first, but the green fades,
brownish blotches appear, and some dark markings appear around the upper
part a short while before the caterpillar hatches out. It is finely
scored almost from the base to the top, which is depressed, and has a
raised boss in the centre, as in the egg of the Small Heath.
From some eggs sent to me in July, caterpillars hatched in August. They
fed on ordinary meadow grass, and in September were figured, when they
were about half an inch in length. Head shallowly notched in front,
green, roughened with whitish dots, eyes and jaws brownish. Body green,
roughened with white dots, with darker line down the back, and paler,
almost white lines along the sides, anal projections reddish (these were
greenish when younger).
The figure of the full-grown caterpillar is after Buckler, who
describes it as "of a bright green, with dark bluish-green dorsal line,
edged with pale lemon-yellow, the subdorsal and spiracular lines are of
the same pale yellow, but the subdorsal is edged above with dark
bluish-green, and between these two lines is an interrupted streak of a
darker colour, posteriorly with a slight tinge of reddish or pink, and
the caudal fork is tipped with pink."
[Illustration: _Pl._ 90.
=Large Heath.=
1, 3, 4, 6 _male_, 2 _female (Delamere)_; 7, 9 _male_,
5 _female (Arran)_; 8 _male (N. Salop)_; 10 _do. (Ireland)_;
11 _do. (Carlisle)_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 91.
=Large Heath.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillars and chrysalis._]
The chrysalis is bright green, with brown streaks on the edges and
centre of the wing-covers, and at the tip of the tail, turning dark
brown just before the butterfly emerges. (Figure and description after
Buckler.)
The eggs are laid in July on blades of grass, and the caterpillars hatch
out in that month and August. The food of the caterpillars is said to be
the beaked-rush (_Rhynchospora alba_); those that I had from Witherslack
eggs fed well upon ordinary grass until October, but they died during
the winter. After hibernation they recommence feeding, and are full
grown in May and June, when they pupate, and the butterflies appear at
the end of June and in July.
Barrett, writing of the butterfly in all its forms, says, "Its most
southern known locality in England is Chartley Park, Derbyshire, and it
is common in all 'mosses' of Lancashire and Cheshire--all moors about
Grange, and in Chat Moss, Risley Moss, Rixton Moss, Simondswood, Lindon
Moss, and Carrington Moss, as well as at Delamere Forest. In Yorkshire
abundant in Thorne Waste, not scarce in Wensleydale, and found on
Cottingham Moor, Hatfield Moors, and elsewhere. Northward it is found in
all suitable mosses and moors in Durham, Westmoreland, and Cumberland,
but seems to have been exterminated in Northumberland."
In Scotland it appears to be pretty generally distributed, and occurs
up to an elevation of some 2000 feet. Kane states that in Ireland it is
widely spread throughout, on the bogs and mountains. It is stated to
have occurred in North Wales a long time ago, but there are no recent
records from that country. Abroad it is found in Central and Northern
Europe, extending to Lapland, and through Northern Asia to Amurland. In
North America it is represented by two forms, which are not quite like
any of those occurring elsewhere.
The Small Heath (_Coenonympha pamphilus_).
To the ancient fathers the male of the butterfly on Plate 92 was known
as the "Selvedged Heath Eye," and the female was called the "Golden
Heath Eye." Harris figured it as "The Small Heath," or "Gatekeeper;" the
latter name being now associated with another species, it may be allowed
to drop out in the present connection.
The wings are pale tawny, with a brownish or greyish-brown border, of
variable width, on all the wings, and stronger in the male than the
female; there is a black spot towards the tip of the fore wing. The
under side resembles that of the last species in some degree, but the
eyed spots of the hind wings are not always prominent, often only white
dots, and may be absent altogether (Fig. 9).
Variation in this species is extensive, but not striking. The tint of
the ground colour may be reddish or yellowish; occasionally brownish or
greyish-brown specimens of the male occur, and more rarely
purplish-brown examples of the same sex have been found. Females, in all
cases paler, and generally larger than the male, are sometimes
whitish-ochreous in colour, and, very rarely, yellowish-white. The brown
border is also a variable character, and may be very dark and broad
(var. _lyllus_), or reduced to linear proportions. The apical spot on
the fore wings may be of fair size and very black, very pale and
indistinct (Figs. 8, 12), or entirely absent; it does not seem to be
pupilled with white (as it is on the under side), but sometimes there is
a pale speck in the centre. On the under side of the hind wings there is
variation in the width of the central whitish band-like patch, in some
specimens with unusually dark ground colour this patch is very broad; in
other examples, of normal coloration, the band is complete, and extends
to the inner margin. The white dots that normally do duty as ocelli are
not infrequently set in reddish-brown spots, and then become rather more
noticable (Fig. 14). This form is var. _ocellata_, Tutt.
The egg is green at first, afterwards becoming whitish or bone-colour;
later on a brownish irregular ring appears a little above the middle,
and there are various brownish freckles. It is finely ribbed, and the
top is depressed, forming a hollow with a central boss. Laid in a
cluster of four on a blade of grass, but this may have been accidental.
Others were deposited singly on muslin and on fine grass, all in
mid-June. The caterpillar is of a clear green colour, "with darker green
dorsal stripe, and a spiracular stripe not so dark; the anal points
pink" (Hellins).
The chrysalis is of "a delicate pale rather yellowish-green, with a
faintly darker green dorsal stripe, the edge of the projecting
wing-covers on each side whitish, outlined with a streak of
reddish-brown; the abdomen freckled very delicately with paler green;
the tip of the anal point, with a short streak of brownish-red on each
side; the wing-cases faintly marked with darker green nervures"
(Buckler).
The figures of caterpillar and chrysalis on Plate 93 are from Buckler's
"Larvæ of British Butterflies."
Some caterpillars, from eggs laid in May or June, become full-grown in
four or five weeks, and appear as butterflies in August, but others do
not complete their growth until the following spring. Just exactly what
happens in the case of eggs from autumn females does not seem to be very
definitely ascertained. It has, however, been stated that caterpillars
hatching from eggs laid in August, attain the size of the slow-growing
contingent from May eggs, and then hibernate. Probably, therefore, it is
these that produce the July butterflies, and if so, the succession of
emergences may be something in this way: May and June butterflies from
May and June eggs (twelve months' cycle), July butterflies from August
eggs (eleven months cycle), August and September butterflies (partial
second brood) from May and June eggs (four months' cycle).
This interesting little butterfly is to be seen almost everywhere, but
it is perhaps most frequently to be found in grassy places in lanes, on
heaths and downs, railway banks, in rough meadows, etc. It occurs on
mountains even up to an elevation of 2000 feet. When flying in company
with the blues and coppers, all frolicking together over some patch of
long grass, the colour combination has an exceedingly pleasing effect.
They rest by day, and sleep at night on grass or rushes.
A common species throughout England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland, as
far north as Nairn, also in the Outer Hebrides. Abroad its distribution
extends over Europe to South-West Siberia, Central and North-East Asia,
Asia Minor, and North Africa.
* * * * *
We now arrive at the Hairstreaks, Coppers, and Blues. These belong to
the Lycænidæ, a very large family of butterflies which is represented in
all parts of the globe. There are eighteen species in Britain, but at
least one of these is extinct and another is supposed to be so; two are
very rare, and the chances of meeting with either are probably about
equal.
The Brown Hairstreak (_Zephyrus betulæ_).
The butterfly is represented on Plate 94, Figs. 1-3. The male is
blackish-brown with a faint greyish tinge, and there is a conspicuous
black bar at the end of the discal cell of the fore wing, followed by a
pale cloud; there are two orange marks at the anal angle of the hind
wings. The female is blackish-brown, and has the black bar at end of the
cell, and an orange band beyond; there are usually three orange marks on
the hind wings at the anal angle, but sometimes there are only two. The
under side of the male is ochreous, but that of the female is more
orange; the fore wings have the black bar edged on each side with white,
and there is a white-edged, brownish triangular streak beyond, the outer
margin is tinged with reddish; on the hind wings there are two white
irregular lines and the space between them is brownish, the outer margin
is reddish, becoming broadly so towards the anal angle, where there is a
black spot. Variation is not of a very striking character. The shade
following the black bar at end of the discal cell on the fore wings in
the male is sometimes yellowish tinged, not infrequently fairly large,
and with two smaller spots below it. More rarely all three spots are
distinctly ochreous-yellow (var. _spinosæ_, Gerhard). A similar
aberration, but with the marks white instead of yellow, has been named
_pallida_, Tutt. The orange band in the female varies in width and in
length; occasionally it extends well below vein 2, and into the discal
cell within the black bar. I have one specimen in which the band is
broken up into three parts, and the upper one of these is but little
wider than the same spot in var. _spinosæ_, the other two being almost
exactly of the same size as in that variety.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 92.
=Scotch Large Heath.= 1, 2, 5 _male_; 3, 4 _female_.
=Small Heath.= 6, 9, 10, 14 _male_; 7, 8, 11, 12, 13 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 93.
=Small Heath.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
The life-history is figured on Plate 95--the lower set of figures.
The egg is described by Newman "as a depressed sphere and white," and he
states, "it is attached to the twigs of blackthorn (_Prunus spinosa_) in
the autumn, often as late as the end of September or beginning of
October; it is not hatched until the spring."
The caterpillar is bright pale green, and the lines on the back and
sides are yellowish, as also are the oblique streaks on the sides and
the border of the ridge above the feet. There are some bristles along
the ridge on the back and also on that above the feet. It feeds on
blackthorn in May and June, and will eat the foliage of almost any kind
of plum. I have reared fine specimens from caterpillars which fed on
greengage.
The chrysalis is pale reddish-brown with a dark line down the middle of
the back and some pale oblique streaks on each side; the wing-cases are
freckled with darker brown. Barrett, quoting Fenn, says, "Suspended by
the tail and a silken girth to the stem of the food-plant close to the
ground." Those that I have seen pupated on or under leaves, and so far
as I could observe without any girth, and certainly not suspended.
Nearly two hundred years ago the male of this butterfly was known as the
Brown Hairstreak, whilst the female was called the Golden Hairstreak.
The caterpillar seems to have been observed in quite early times. It has
always been a local species, and although it appears to frequent
hedgerows occasionally, its haunts generally are open grounds in the
neighbourhood of woods, where blackthorn or sloe is plentiful. August
and September are the months for the butterfly, but it does not seem to
be very often observed on the wing, even in places where the
caterpillars are known to occur. When seen it is generally high up on,
or around, some oak tree. Occasionally, however, it visits the bramble
blossoms, and at such times becomes a fairly easy prey. The caterpillar
is obtained by beating sloe bushes.
Barrett, who seems to have worked out its distribution in England and
Wales pretty closely, remarks, "In the eastern counties it has been
taken occasionally in Norfolk and Suffolk, more frequently in Essex,
where, in Epping Forest, it has been fairly common; also in
Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, and Northamptonshire, in some plenty.
In very few localities in Kent, Sussex, Hants, and Dorset; rarely in
Gloucestershire, and possibly Somerset; but found in many Devonshire
localities, especially in the sheltered valleys around the Dartmoor
range, and in the charmingly wooded districts about Axminster and
Sidmouth; becoming common towards Dartmouth. It has also been found
commonly near Marlborough, Wilts, and plentifully in some parts of North
Wales; apparently rare in South Wales, but certainly existing in some
parts of the wooded districts skirting Milford Haven. Also recorded from
Worcestershire, and Cannock Chase in Staffordshire; and northward in the
favoured districts of Grange and Silverdale in North Lancashire, and
Witherslack in Westmoreland." As Surrey is not quoted in the foregoing,
it may be mentioned as one of the counties in which the species is
found. In Ireland Kane says that it is "abundant in certain localities
in Munster; and in Co. Galway at Claring Bridge, and Oranmore; Cork;
Killoghrum Wood, Enniscorthy; Blarney, Killarney."
[Illustration: _Pl._ 94.
=Brown Hairstreak.= 1, _male_; 2, 3 _female_.
=White-letter Hairstreak.= 4, 6 _male_; 5, 7 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 95.
=White-letter Hairstreak.= _Egg enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._
=Brown Hairstreak.= _Egg enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
It is distributed throughout Central and Northern Europe, except the
Polar region, and its range extends through Northern Asia to Amurland,
Ussuri, and China.
The Purple Hairstreak (_Zephyrus quercus_).
The butterfly (figured on Plate 96) has the sexes differently
ornamented, as in the last species. The male is strongly tinged with
purplish-blue, the veins are blackish; the outer margin of the fore
wings are narrowly, and the costa and outer margin of the hind wings are
broadly, bordered with black. The female is purplish-black, with two
patches of bluish-purple in the discal cell and space below; often there
is a smaller patch of the same colour between them, the whole forming a
large blotch interrupted by the blackish veins. Under side greyish with
blackish shaded white lines; two or three blackish clouds on the outer
margin of fore wings above the inner angle; these are sometimes edged
with orange; a black spot on anal angle of the hind wings, with an
orange one above it, and a black-centred orange spot between veins 2 and
3.
Variation in this species is exceptional. An aberration known as
_bella_, Gerhard, has a yellowish mark at end of the cell on the upper
side of the fore wings, and at least one such variety has been taken in
England. Sometimes the blotch on the female is rather blue than purple;
a male specimen with blue streaks on the costa of the fore wings has
been recorded, and Barrett mentions a gynandrous specimen in which the
right side was that of the male.
The egg is pale brown tinged with pink, and over this is a whitish
network. The caterpillar is reddish-brown and downy; a black line along
the back has a whitish edge, and there are whitish oblique stripes, with
blackish edge, on each side of the central line; the segmental divisions
are well marked, and the spiracles are blackish with pale rings. The
head, which, when the caterpillar is resting, is hidden within the first
body ring, is brownish and glossy, and there is a greyish shield-like
mark on the second ring. The chrysalis is red-brown, with darker
freckles; the body is downy, and there are traces of oblique marks
thereon. It does not appear to be fastened by the tail, but the cast
larval skin remains attached; there are a few strands of silk around and
about the chrysalis, but these are very flimsy, although they hold it in
position on the ground or under a leaf.
The eggs are laid in July or August on twigs of oak, but the
caterpillars, it is said, do not hatch out until the following spring.
In May and early June the caterpillars are full grown, and may be
obtained by beating or jarring the branches of oak trees in places where
the butterfly is known to occur. They have also been found on sallow.
This species frequents oak woods, or the borders thereof, in July and
August, and is often more easy to see than to capture, as it has a
tantalizing trick of flying around the upper branches of the trees.
Occasionally it resorts to lower growing aspens, probably to feast on
the honey dew, the secretions of Aphides, with which the leaves are
often covered in hot summers. It seems to be pretty generally
distributed in all parts of England and Wales, and in Scotland as far
north as Ross. In Ireland it appears to be more local, and has only been
recorded from the east and south.
It is found in all parts of Europe, except the northern.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 96.
=Purple Hairstreak.= 1 _male_; 2, 3 _female_.
=Black Hairstreak.= 4, 6 _male_; 5 _female_.
=Green Hairstreak.= 7 _male_; 8, 9 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 97.
=Black Hairstreak.= _Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and
enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._
=Purple Hairstreak.= _Egg enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._
=Green Hairstreak.= _Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and
enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
The Black Hairstreak (_Thecla pruni_).
This butterfly is figured on Plate 96. In colour it is dark brown or,
when quite fresh, brownish-black; there are some orange marks on the
outer margin of the hind wings, and these are most distinct in the
female, in which sex there are orange spots on the fore wings also. The
male has a pale sexual mark at the end of the cell of the fore wings,
but this is less distinct than in the following species. The under side
is brown, with a bluish-white interrupted transverse line on each wing,
that on the hind wings angled before reaching the inner margin. All the
wings have an orange band on the outer margin, but on the fore wings of
the male this is often indistinct; there are some white-edged black
spots before it, and, on the hind wings, beyond it also.
The eggs are laid in July on the twigs of blackthorn, but the
caterpillars do not hatch until the following spring. The egg figured on
Plate 97 was reddish-brown and appeared rather shiny. The caterpillar is
described as yellowish-green, with a darker green furrow and purplish
ridges along the back; the latter are edged with whitish and the
divisions between the rings are yellowish. The head is pale brown. The
chrysalis, which is attached by the tail and has a silken thread around
it, is black, marked on the head and body with yellowish-white.
The caterpillars feed on blackthorn (_Prunus spinosa_) in a state of
nature, but will eat the leaves of damson in confinement. They may be
obtained in May, in their particular haunts, by beating sloe bushes with
a beating tray, or an inverted open umbrella, held under to intercept
the evicted caterpillars, etc.
This butterfly was not known as British until 1828, when a number of
specimens were captured at Monkswood in Huntingdonshire. These were sold
by the captor as _T. w-album_, which was then called the Black
Hairstreak. As soon as the mistake was detected, it was given out that
the specimens had been taken in Yorkshire, but this was only a ruse, as
_T. pruni_ has never occurred in that county. It is confined, so far as
Britain is concerned, to three or four of the midland counties. "Mr.
Herbert Goss, who has found it at Barnwell Wold, and in other wooded
districts of Northamptonshire, at intervals, for more than twenty years
past, says that it is fond of sitting on the flowers of privet
(_Ligustrum_), and of _Viburnum lantana_, in the woods, and sometimes is
to be found in numbers. Its time of emergence is very variable,
apparently regulated by the lateness of the spring--from June 17th to
the first week in July. Reared specimens made their appearance from June
13th to 27th. He writes, 'It was the greatest possible pleasure to see
them walking about the table while I was at breakfast.' In 1858 it was
found commonly at Kettering, and in 1859 at Oundle, and has been
recorded at Warboys Wood, Huntingdonshire, and in Buckinghamshire. One
specimen was taken at Brandeston, Suffolk, by the Rev. Joseph Green; and
Mr. Allis found it commonly in the Overton Woods and about St. Ives.
There is also a record in Monmouthshire, which may require confirmation.
This butterfly does not appear to be losing ground in this country, its
fondness for trees and lofty bushes rendering it difficult to capture"
(Barrett).
A writer in the _Entomologist_ for 1874 mentions Linford Woods, in
Bucks, as a locality where he had observed several specimens, mostly
females, on flowers of privet.
It is found throughout the greater part of Europe and also in Amurland
and Corea.
The White Letter Hairstreak (_Thecla w-album_).
The male of this butterfly (Plate 94) is blackish, with a small whitish
sex mark at end of the discal cell of the fore wing; there is a small
orange spot at the anal angle of the hind wings. The female agrees in
colour with the male, but the tails are longer, and there is no sex mark
on the fore wings. The under side is brownish, with a white line on each
wing, that on the hind wings forming a =W= before the inner margin; the
hind wings have a black-edged orange band on the outer margin which is
finely tapered towards the costa. Captured specimens are usually browner
than those that are reared from caterpillars.
The species does not exhibit much tendency to variation. The white lines
on the under side may be rather broad or very narrow, and that on the
hind wings is sometimes so broken up towards the inner margin that the
=W= character disappears; when absence of the anal orange spots on the
upper side is associated with the broken line, the form is known as
_butlerowi_. I have several males without the =W=, and some of these
have the orange spot above, whilst others are without it. Barrett refers
to a specimen in which there is "on the under side an extension of white
colour from the white line towards the margin, in the fore wings forming
a broad wedge-shaped band, but in the hind wings occupying the whole
space from the white line to the orange band."
The egg has been described as whitish in colour, and in shape something
like an orange with a depression on the top. The eggs are laid on twigs
of elm in July, and, according to some writers, remain thereon
throughout the winter. The caterpillar when full grown is
yellowish-green and covered with short hairs; the ridges on the back are
yellowish, and there are oblique whitish streaks on each side of the
darker dorsal line. The head is black. When about ready to assume the
chrysalis state, the whole body becomes purplish-brown. The chrysalis is
brownish, sometimes tinged with purple; covered with tiny bristles
except on the blackish wing cases, and there are two purplish lines on
the back. It is attached by the tail, and has a strand or two of silk
around it, generally on the under side of a leaf.
In a state of nature the caterpillar feeds on wych-elm (_Ulmus
montana_), but it will eat the leaves of the common elm (_Ulmus
campestris_). It is to be obtained in May and June by beating wych-elms
in localities where the butterfly is known to occur.
The butterfly is on the wing in July, and usually disports itself
around the elm trees, but it is fond of bramble blossoms, and may often
be netted when feasting on those flowers. It is a local species, but, as
a rule, plentiful enough in its localities. It is rare in Hampshire and
Dorsetshire, scarce in Sussex, and not found in many parts of Kent.
Ripley, in Surrey, was a well-known locality for it in the early part of
the last century, and the caterpillars were found there commonly quite
recently. In Essex it is generally common near Maldon. And, according to
Barrett, it is "plentiful in various parts of Suffolk; very scarce in
Norfolk; found more or less plentifully in Herts, Hants., Cambs., and
Northamptonshire; very rare in Nottinghamshire; but again to be found in
North Lincolnshire; and common in several localities near Doncaster,
Barnsley, and elsewhere in Yorkshire. This appears to be its northern
limit, and in this respect it contrasts curiously with _Thecla betulæ_
[The Brown Hairstreak], since it extends farther north in the east than
that species; yet in the west is recorded no farther than Cheshire and
Shropshire, where I found it thirty-five years ago upon Benthall Edge.
In Herefordshire it is recorded but rarely; more commonly in
Worcestershire; also in Derbyshire and Needwood Forest, Staffordshire;
common around Burton-on-Trent and elsewhere in Leicestershire; and in
Oxfordshire, Bucks, and Berks. But its metropolis seems to be Wiltshire,
where Mr. Perkins has found it around Marlborough and Savernake in
thousands, as well as in Gloucestershire." It has also been obtained in
Monmouthshire, but its extreme western limit seems to be
Weston-super-Mare, Somersetshire. Abroad it is widely distributed in
Europe, except the extreme north and south-west; its range extends into
Asia Minor, and to Amurland and Japan.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 98.
=Large Copper.=
1, 4, _male_; 2, 3, 5 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 99.
=Large Copper.=
_Caterpillar and chrysalis._]
_Thecla spini_ and _T. ilicis_, two species of Hairstreak butterflies
belonging to Central and Southern Europe, have been mentioned as
occurring in Britain by some of the earlier authors. There is not,
however, the slightest reason to suppose that either of them ever
occurred naturally in this country.
The Green Hairstreak (_Callophrys rubi_).
Both sexes of this butterfly (Plate 96) are brown with a faint golden
tinge above, and green on the under side. The male has a dark, or, when
the plumules are dislodged, pale sexual mark, which is oval in shape,
and placed at the upper corner of the discal cell in the fore wings.
Occasionally there are some orange scales at the anal angle of the hind
wings, and more rarely, and in the female, at the extremities of veins
two and three also. On the under side of some specimens, chiefly from
Northern localities, there is a transverse series of white dots across
all the wings; more often these are confined to the hind wings, and
sometimes they are almost or quite absent from all the wings. Now and
then the under side of the hind wings is found to be brown in colour,
and this change in colour has been ascribed to the action of moisture.
The life-history is figured on Plate 97.
The egg is greenish, reticulated with paler or with whitish-green; the
reticulation is somewhat rough on the side, but becomes finer towards
and on the top, which has the centre hollowed. Laid on the petals of the
common furze (_Ulex europæus_), and on leaves of rock-rose
(_Helianthemum chamæcistus_).
The caterpillar feeds in June and July. It is pale green, with a darker
line along the back, and yellow oblique stripes on the sides. Among the
plants that it has been found upon, or is known to eat, are dyer's
greenweed (_Genista tinctoria_), needle furze (_G. anglica_), broom
(_Cytisus scoparius_), dwarf furze (_Ulex nanus_), whortleberry
(_Vaccinium myrtillus_); also the berries of buckthorn (_Rhamnus_),
making holes through which the contents of the berry is extracted; buds
of bramble (_Rubus_), and of dogwood (_Cornus sanguinea_), are also
attacked in a similar way.
The chrysalis is clothed with tiny hairs, and when freshly formed is
green in colour, but becomes purplish-brown after a time. It appears to
be unattached to anything. I think, however, that there are generally a
few strands of silk around or about it, but these are so easily broken
when the chrysalids are removed that they escape observation. May and
June are the months for the butterfly, which occurs in various kinds of
situations, such as the outskirts of woods, high hedgerows, hill slopes,
and boggy heaths. I once saw it in abundance about the entrance from
Lynton to the Valley of Rocks. Its resemblance on the under side to the
leaves on which it perches is as baffling to the collector as is the
resting habit of the Grayling butterfly previously referred to. It seems
to be pretty generally distributed throughout the kingdom, but is rather
more local in Ireland than elsewhere, and it has not yet been recorded
from the Orkney or Shetland Isles. Its range extends throughout the
Palæarctic Region.
The Large Copper (_Chrysophanus dispar_).
The brilliant butterfly, figured on Plate 99, is of a coppery orange
colour. In the male the fore wings have two black dots in the discal
cell, the outer one linear, and the outer margin is narrowly blackish;
the hind wings have a linear black mark in the cell, and the outer
margin is narrowly edged with blackish and dotted with black. The female
is more conspicuously marked with black; there are two, sometimes three,
spots in the cell of the fore wings, and a transverse series of seven or
eight beyond; the outer margin is broadly bordered with black, and there
are generally two spots above the inner angle; the hind wings have a
black spot in the cell, and a series of black spots beyond, but the
whole basal three-fourths of these wings is often deeply suffused with
blackish; the outer margin is bordered and spotted with black. The sexes
are much alike on the under side, and have reddish-orange fore wings
with bluish grey outer margins, and black spots as on the upper side of
the female; the hind wings are bluish-grey, powdered with bluish towards
the base, and with whitish ringed black spots; five of these spots are
before the linear discal mark, and a series of nine or ten beyond; an
orange band on the outer margin has black dots on each edge.
Except as regards the size and the shape of the spots, especially in the
female, there appears to have been but little variation noted in this
species in England.
The two fine female specimens figured on the plate have a more or less
distinct wedge-shaped black spot in the basal end of the discal cell of
the fore wings. Dale mentions that he has an "almost entirely black"
example of the female in his collection.
The var. _rutilus_, which is the continental form of our butterfly, is
smaller in size, as a rule, the spots are not so large, and the orange
band is always narrower on the under side of the hind wings. It has been
averred that some of the British specimens are referable to this form.
Newman, writing about 1870, gave the following life-history
details:--"The egg is laid on the leaves of the great water-dock (_Rumex
hydrolapathum_) during the month of August, and the young caterpillars
(never, to the best of my belief, observed) probably emerge during the
following month, and hibernate very early at the base of the petioles.
"The caterpillar is full fed in June, and then lies flat on the
dock-leaf, rarely moving from place to place, and, when it does so,
gliding with a slug-like motion, the legs and claspers being entirely
concealed. The head is extremely small, and can be completely withdrawn
into the second segment: the body has the dorsal surface convex, the
ventral surface flat; the divisions of the segments are distinctly
marked, the posterior margin of each slightly overlapping the anterior
margin of the next, and the entire caterpillar having very much the
appearance of a _Chiton_; the sides are slightly dilated, the legs and
claspers are seated in closely approximate pairs, nearly on a
medio-ventral line. The colour is green, scarcely distinguishable from
that of the dock-leaf; there is an obscure medio-dorsal stripe, slightly
darker than the disk, and in all probability due to the presence of food
in the alimentary canal. The chrysalis is obese, blunt at both
extremities, attached by minute hooks at the caudal extremities, and
also by a belt round the waist." Newman adds, "My acquaintance with the
caterpillar and chrysalis was made very many years ago in Mr.
Doubleday's garden at Epping, where the very plant of _Rumex
hydrolapathum_, on which the caterpillars fed, is still in existence."
The caterpillar was described by Stephens, in 1828, as somewhat hairy,
bright green, with innumerable white dots. The same author states that
the chrysalis was "first green, then pale ash-coloured, with a dark
dorsal line and two abbreviated white ones on each side, and, lastly,
sometimes deep brown."
The figure of the caterpillar on Plate 98 is after Westwood, and that of
the chrysalis after Newman ("Grammar of Entomology").
Although he refers to it as "_hippothoë_," the Large Copper seems to
have been known to Lewin (1795), as he states that specimens had been
taken in Huntingdonshire. Haworth (1803) mentions its occurrence in the
fens of Cambridgeshire, and Stephens, twenty-five years later,
wrote:--"This splendid insect appears to be confined to the fenny
counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon, with the neighbouring ones of
Suffolk and Norfolk, unless the account of its capture in Wales by
Hudson be admitted; but this may probably be the following species
[_hippothoë_], which may, moreover, eventually prove synonymous with
_Ly. dispar_. In the first two localities it appears to occur in great
profusion, as several hundred specimens have been captured within these
last ten years by the London collectors, who have visited Whittlesea and
Yaxley Meres, during the month of July, for the sole purpose of
obtaining specimens of this insect."
[Illustration: _Pl._ 100.
=Small Copper.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; caterpillars and chrysalids._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 101.
=Small Copper.=
1, 2 _Typical male_; 3 _typical female_; 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
_varieties_; 7 _var. schmidtii_.]
Dale states that "the latest capture, consisting of five specimens,
appears to have been made in Holme Fen, by Mr. Stretton either in 1847
or 1848."
There is evidence that floods, which were not uncommon in the home of
the Large Copper, were not really injurious to the butterfly, and
therefore the occasional submergence of its feeding grounds can hardly
have been the cause of its almost sudden destruction. It seems more
probable that its disappearance was due to the draining of the fens, and
at least it is significant that the two events were almost coincident.
There are records of the butterfly having been taken in various odd
localities since it was last seen in fenland, but the latest of those
dates back to the year 1865. There seems to be no question that the
butterfly is now extinct in England, and, lamentable to relate, the
chief locality where we can hope to secure a specimen or two for our
collection is in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden, where the only
requirement for the capture will be a well-lined purse.
The continental form _rutilus_ is found in Germany, France, Northern
Italy, South-Eastern Europe (except Greece), Northern Asia Minor,
Armenia, and the Altai. The Asian form _auratus_ occurs in South-Eastern
Siberia, Amurland, Corea, Northern China, and Amdo.
* * * * *
Four other kinds of "Coppers" have been reported as occurring in
England: these are _Chrysophanus hippothoë_ and _C. virgaureæ_, both of
which have even had English names bestowed upon them, to wit, the
Purple-edged Copper and the Scarce Copper; _C. gordius_, and _C. circe_
(_dorilis_). These are only mentioned to afford an opportunity for
saying that there does not appear to be the least reason for considering
either of them to be a British butterfly. Kirby, Barrett, and others,
however, think it possible that the first two may have inhabited England
in ancient times.
The Small Copper (_Chrysophanus phlæas_).
This little butterfly is very smart, in activity as well as appearance.
In colour it is very similar to the last species, but both sexes are
spotted with black on the fore wings, the outer series of six spots
forming a very irregular row; the hind wings are black, with a wavy
orange-red band on the outer margin.
There is considerable variation, and it is, therefore, deemed advisable
to give a number of figures representing some of the more striking
aberrations. The three figures at the top of Plate 101 depict the normal
male and female; the latter sex is Fig. 3. For the loan of the other
specimens (Figs. 4-12) my thanks are due to Mr. E. Sabine, who has a
very fine and extensive series of varieties of this butterfly. Other
examples of aberration on the under side are shown on Plate 119. Blue
spots are sometimes found on the hind wings; these are placed near the
orange-red band, and occasionally they attain a good size. Specimens
much suffused with blackish sometimes occur; these are referable to var.
_eleus_, which is the usual summer form in some of the warmer countries
abroad. A very rare form is that known as _schmidtii_ (Fig. 7), in which
the ground colour of the fore wings and the band on the hind wings are
silvery white instead of orange or coppery-red. A modification of this
form which is hardly less rare has a creamy tint. Straw-coloured or pale
golden specimens are rather more frequently met with. The colour of the
hind wings in fresh specimens is sometimes steely-grey, but blackish is
the more usual hue; the band on the outer area, which as a rule agrees
in colour with the fore wings, varies in width a good deal, and
occasionally is more or less obscured by the blackish ground colour. The
arrangement, size, and shape of the black spots, both above and below,
are subject to much vagary, sometimes of a very striking kind, as, for
example, when the spots of the outer series on the fore wings are united
with the discal pair and form a large irregular blotch. A remarkable
specimen taken some years ago in the Isle of Wight had a small patch of
copper with a black spot in it on the under side. This gave one the idea
of a clumsy attempt at patching, but as I happened to take that
particular specimen, I know that it had not been tampered with.
Gynandrous specimens of this butterfly sometimes occur, but these are
very rare.
The egg is of a yellowish-white colour at first, and afterwards becomes
greyish; the pattern on the shell, which resembles network, is always
whiter.
The caterpillar is green and similar in tint to the leaf of dock or
sorrel upon which it feeds. It is clothed with short greyish hair which
arises from white dots; the dorsal line is brownish-olive, and the ring
divisions, especially along the back, are well defined. Head very small,
pale brownish, marked with blackish, drawn into the first ring of the
body when resting. The legs and prolegs are tinged with pink, and
sometimes the body is marked with pink.
The chrysalis is pale brown, sometimes tinged with greenish, and
freckled with darker brown; there is a dark line along the middle of the
thorax and body, the wing cases are streaked with blackish, and the body
is dotted with black. Attached by the tail and loose silken threads
around the body to a leaf or stem.
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.=