Now follow the Skippers (Hesperiidæ), of which kind of butterfly we have eight species in England. Of these the first two belong to the Hesperiinæ and the others to the Pamphilinæ.
The Grizzled Skipper (Hesperia malvæ).
The wings of the butterfly figured on Plate [122] are blackish, ornamented with numerous white spots, which are more or less square in shape, on the fore wings. The fringes are chequered black and white.
The male differs from the female in having the front edge of the fore wings folded towards the base, and these wings have scattered greyish scales on the basal area; the central series of spots on the hind wings are also more in evidence, and not infrequently unite and become band-like. Variation consists in modification of the markings, chiefly in a tendency of the spots to run together, culminating in var. taras, Bergstr., in which the white spots of the fore wings are confluent and form a large blotch. This variety was figured by Petiver in 1717, but was not named by Bergsträsser until 1780. Haworth described it as lavateræ, and Newman figured it under the same name.
On a small plant of Alpine strawberry, sent by the Rev. Gilbert Raynor, were three eggs of this butterfly. These were pale green in colour, ribbed, and delicately netted with cross-lines. On June 26, three caterpillars were noticed on the upper side of the leaves, each on a separate leaf, and under cover of a few coarse silken threads. They were pale steely-grey, with black heads, and plates on the first and last segments of the body.
As the supply of strawberry foliage was failing, the caterpillars were given bramble on July 21, and the next day each was found enclosed in a sort of envelope formed of a bramble leaf. They were then seemingly in their last skin, whitish-green in colour, and covered with short whitish hair; a whitish edged dark olive-brown line along the back, and similar lines on the sides; between the rings the colour was pale ochreous. The date of pupation was not noted, but on September 9, one of the spun-together bramble leaves was opened, and a chrysalis found within. This was pale brown, with dark brown or blackish marks along the back and sides; the head and back were covered with dense pale reddish-brown bristles; the wing, leg, and antennæ cases were greenish, smooth, and shaded with brownish. Between the head and first ring of the body above there was a deep furrow, with a black-centred white spot on each side of it (Plate [123]).
Larger Image
Pl. 120.