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 (Cœnonympha 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."