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 (Cœnonympha 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).