COPPERS. 



that bright coinage of meadow butterflies, y'clept the " Cop- 

 pers." Of these the most common, also the smallest, is a splen- 

 did little flatterer, t with the primary wings of red metallic lustre, 

 spotted and bordered with deep black ; the secondary, brown 

 and black, margined by a coppery band encountered not un- 

 frequently, early in the summer, also in August. This is the 

 little Copper Captain, the fiery Mars of his radiant tribe, so 

 renowned for making war upon his own kindred, and even 

 darinti 1 to encase with antagonists of twice his bulk, but 



O O O O * 



without his metal. The caterpillar of this most common 

 of the Coppers, is greenish yellow, onisciform, and, like the 

 majority of those belonging to its tribe, it is a feeder upon 

 sorrel and other herbs of the field. 



Contrasted with the Metallic Coppers, and often seen side 

 by side, are the " Aerial Blues." J These are the little blue 

 butterflies, which, loving to disport over the thymy down, the 

 grassy glade, and flowering meadow, do literally " paint them 

 with their own delight." Now, rising in sportive pairs or 

 trios, they enliven the fragrant air. Now, basking on the 

 yellow buttercups, or chalk- sprung flowers of their own colour, 

 they reflect, in the hues of their expanded wings, every tint of 

 the summer sky, from deep, deep blue to lightest azure, or 

 t he glowing lilac, which precedes the sun-set red ; while ever 

 and anon, closing their pinions, and opening thereby the 



' <~ T . Lycana. f Vignette to Butterflies in General, G. Polyomiiiatus. 



