The upper surface of this pretty butterfly is shown on [Plate V], fig. 5, and the under side in the accompanying woodcut. Both sides are prettily marked with various shades of brown and buff, and adorned with white-centred dark eye-spots which have earned for it the name of Argus.
It first appears on the wing in April, and may be seen from this month continuously to the end of August.
The food plants probably consist of many species of grasses, the cock's-foot (Dactylis glomerata) and couch grass (Agropyron repens) being among the number, and the eggs are laid on or in the neighbourhood of these during the summer months.
The caterpillar of this species is of a dull greenish or brownish colour, and it has two whitish stripes (sometimes three) down the middle of the back, and similar stripes along each side. It hybernates during the winter, and is full grown in March, when it changes to a dull green or brownish chrysalis, which is streaked with black, and has a few white dots on the back.
It has been stated that the butterfly is on the wing from April to August, and, according to some authorities, there are no less than three broods during this time, following each other in rapid succession. It is common throughout England and Ireland, and is known in parts of Scotland.
The Wall Butterfly (Pararge Megæra)
Belonging to the same genus is another very familiar butterfly —the Wall—which receives its popular title from its peculiar habit of frequently resting on walls and stony banks. It is one of the first, if not the first, to take to the wing in the morning, and is generally the last to seek its hiding place in the evening. I have seen it actively flying about during August, as early as 7.30 in the morning, and found it still flitting from one spot to another along the western side of a wall as late as 8 in the evening, as if in search of a convenient shelter for the fast approaching night.