The caterpillar is like the last species, but a greener grey; it feeds on grasses. The butterfly is out in July. When you do happen upon this species, keep a sharp lookout for varieties, as it has quite a range of well-known “sports”; the variation is mostly on the under surface.
The Marsh Ringlet (Cænonympha Typhon), [Plate IX.], Fig. 10. —This insect has to be sought for on the swampy moorlands and mountains of the North. It is of a dingy fawn-colour, sometimes brighter, often as if it had been held over the fire and “Peat-reekit.” It is somewhat remarkable what a number of creatures inhabiting this same region have gradually come to assume a similar coloration. Many of the Highland cattle on these moors have this dirty tawny-yellow tint; the deer and the hare find protection under the same guise. The upper surface of the Marsh Ringlet is varied with a few eye-spots, though I possess specimens with no spots at all, while others have four on each of the hind-wings and two on each of the fore-wings. The under side is generally better marked by eyes, six forming a row round the outer margin of each hind-wing, of which the first and last are usually the largest; fore-wing under side—two eye-spots, the one nearest the tip being the larger. There is also a light bar across this wing, and this is continued on to the hind-wing, where it broadens out and is irregular and often interrupted. The ground colour here is a subdued green-grey, getting lighter towards the fringe. Females have more ample and rounded wings than the males. I find the most comfortable way to hunt this butterfly is with bare feet and legs, and the trousers well tucked up, which will perhaps convey some idea of the nature of the ground it loves to flit over. Splash, splash you go over the Sphagnum and Cotton-grass, Heather and Marsh Wortleberry, while overhead the eerie cries of the curlew and the lapwing remind the naturalist that there are many young families hidden amongst the Heather, who will rejoice when they see the last of him and that fearful net of his.
The caterpillar is green, with white lines, and feeds on Cotton-grass in May. The butterfly appears towards the end of June.
The Small Heath Butterfly (Cænonympha Pamphilus), [Plate XII.], Fig. 1.—This can be best described as a smaller and brighter edition of Typhon; occasionally a large specimen may even be mistaken for a small Typhon, but you can always tell the smaller species by the presence of only one eye-spot on the tip of the fore-wing, and no eye-spots anywhere else. Its habits, too, are different, preferring, as it does, a much drier and more pastoral country to sport over. And its range is also wider, being found all over the country from June till September.
The caterpillar is green and a grass-feeder. I have swept it from grass in August.
The Brown Hairstreak (Thecla betulæ), [Plate XII.], Fig. 6. —There are five British species included in the very distinct group of interesting little butterflies, to which this species belongs. All of them are nearly black on the upper surface, but the undersides are exceedingly chaste in pattern, if not showy in colour. The Brown Hairstreak is the largest of the five. The male is a dark brown relieved by a lighter spot edged with black on the fore-wing, and the bottom angle of the hind-wing and the little tails are orange. The female has an orange bar across the fore-wing. The under side ([Plate XIV.], Fig. 7) is a tawny orange inclining to deep orange at the margins; a double white irregular line edged with black runs across the hind-wings, and between these lines the tawny shade is darker; the fringe is white.
The caterpillar is green, marked with diagonal yellow lines and tapers considerably towards each extremity. It feeds on Birch and Blackthorn. Though by no means a common insect, it is found in a great many localities from North to South of England, but not in Scotland. The butterfly is out in August.
The White-Letter Hairstreak (Thecla w-album), [Plate XII.], Fig. 4.—A smaller and, on the upper surface, a blacker insect than the last. Excepting for a small indistinct spot in the centre, and near the outer margin of the fore-wing, the upper surface is devoid of markings of any kind. The under side, however, provides all the distinctive features necessary for identification. The colour is a cool brown-grey, the fore-wing being traversed by a white line; the hind-wing has a similar white line, which forms a W at the basal angle; under it is a broad orange scalloped band, edged with black and white; the extreme outer edge is black, and this black edging scallops into the orange band. Tail black.
The caterpillar feeds on Elm; is pale green, with yellow bars and two rows of whitish humps along the back. It may be got by beating the Elm in early summer. The Butterfly appears in July, but is far from common, York being about its northern limit.