180 



BRITISH BUTTEBFLIES 



the tail to blades of grass. It is of a very light colour, almoat 

 white, but adorned with numerous black lines and patches. 



TIte liiiiglct {Eii'nieplide Hyperanthiis) 



This is another rather plainly dressed insect, though somewhat 

 prettily adorned on the under side. The upper surface is of a very 

 deep sepia brown, almost black, with a few indistinct black eye-like 

 spots near the margins. The under side (Plate V, fig. 10) is of a lighter 

 umber brown, with corresponding e^'e-spots generally very con- 

 spicuous. These spots are black, with white centres, and generally 

 surrounded by light rings. They are subject, however, to consider- 

 able variation. Those on the upper surface are sometimes quite 

 absent in the male, but are nearly always readily perceptible in the 

 female. On the under side, too, they are occasionally quite absent, 



while in other varieties they 

 are minute white-centred 

 dots, without any surround- 

 ing light ring. Our coloured 

 drawing represents the most 

 usual form. 



The favourite haunts of 

 the Ringlet are the borders 

 of woods, and the sheltered 

 sides of flowery hedgerows. 

 It is not so widely distri- 

 buted as some of the common 

 ' Browns,' but is usually very abundant where it occurs, sometimes 

 appearing in such numbers that several may be taken with a single 

 stroke of the net. It does not seem to be a frequenter of Scotland, 

 and is known in Ireland only in the south. Its head quarters are 

 the southern and south-midland counties of England. 



The eggs are laid in July on various grasses, on which the young 

 caterpillars feed from about the middle of August till the cold weather 

 sets in. They hybernate at the roots of the grasses till the begin- 

 ning of the following May, and change to the chrysalis state about 

 the middle of June, suspending themselves to grass blades by 

 ixieans of their anal hooks. 



The colour of the caterpillar is dull green or brown, and is 

 marked with five longitudinal stripes nnich like those of the 

 Large Heath. 



Fig. si. — The Ringlet — Upper Siue. 



