Pl. 127.
Chequered Skipper.
Egg enlarged and caterpillar.
The chrysalis is secured in the cocoon by hooks at the tail and by hooked bristles on the head; the head and thorax are pale olive mottled with blackish; the body olive, spotted with dark olive, and inclining to yellow on the ventral surface; below each spiracle is a short longitudinal mark; the spiracles are amber-brown.
The butterfly is to be found in August on most of our chalk hills, but has not been recorded from either Scotland or Ireland.
It is a very quick flyer and difficult to capture when on the wing, but it is fond of sitting on low-growing thistles, and is then sometimes easy to take. Abroad it occurs throughout Europe and Northern Asia to China and Japan.
The Chequered Skipper (Carterocephalus palæmon).
The well-defined yellow or orange spots on the blackish-brown ground colour distinguish this butterfly from all other British Skippers.