This butterfly is not known in Scotland or Ireland, nor is it to be found in several of the northern counties of England. Its chief haunts are the waste cliffy grounds of the southern and some of the midland counties of England, where it is usually restricted to certain small districts. In some places it is really a common insect, and among these may be mentioned Brighton, Horsham, Dover, Folkestone, Margate, Gravesend, New Forest, parts of Gloucestershire, Cambridgeshire, and Devonshire, also in the Isle of Wight and South Wales.
The perfect insect is out in July, during which month the eggs are deposited on various grasses, or indiscriminately on leaves and stems in grassy spots.
The caterpillar feeds on grasses; and, being still small at the end of the autumn, hybernates during the winter among the stems of grass. It feeds again in April, and is fully grown by the end of May. Its colour is a dull green or brownish, with a darker stripe down the back, and lighter stripes along the sides. Its spiracles are black.
The chrysalis is pale brown, marked with lines of a slightly darker shade. It may be found among grass stems, without any attachment, during the month of June.
The Small Ringlet (Erebia Epiphron)
On account of the very limited range of this butterfly, only those who have the opportunity of visiting its haunts can have any practical acquaintance with its natural history. It is almost exclusively confined to the lake district in England, to a few mountainous localities in Scotland, and to one or two similar localities in Ireland. Its strong partiality for elevated situations has earned for it the popular name of Mountain Ringlet.
The colour of the upper surface ([Plate V], fig. 3) is a dark brown, with a broad band of rusty brown, parallel with the hind margin of each wing, and broken by the wing rays. Each division
of these bands has often a black central spot, but frequently these are entirely absent. The colouring of the under side is very similar but less defined, and the rusty spots of the hind wings are very small.
The butterfly is out in June and July. The caterpillars, which are green, with white stripes along the sides, feed on various grasses. They hybernate during the winter, and change to the chrysalis state in the following May or June.