78 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES 
species; but Mr. Duncan adds, that ‘it occurs in some plenty over a district of considerable extent in Dumfries-shire 
near Minto in Roxburghshire, occasionally near Edinburgh, and probably in most of the southern counties of 
Scotland. Mr. Wailes informs us that it exists in profusion in one or two places in the magnesian limestone 
district not far from Neweastle. The caterpillar is light green with brown and white longitudinal stripes ; head 
reddish. The egg is ribbed, and of a whitish colour speckled with brown.” 

SPECIES 3—OREINA CASSIOPE. THE SMALL RINGLET, BUTTERFLY. 
Plate xxii. fiy. 9—10. 
Synonyars.—Papilio Cassiope, Fabricius. Papilio Zthiops minor, Villars. 
Hipparchia Cassiope, Ochsenheimer ; Stephens, Hlustr. Haust. 1, | Papilio Melampus, Esper. 
pl. 8, figs. 1, 2,3; Curtis ; Dunean, Brit. Butt. pl. 24, fig. 3. | . Var.—Papilio Mnemon, Haworth Ent. Trans. 1, 332. 
Melampias Cassiope, Uiibner. 
This species differs from the two preceding species of this group in having the wings much more elongated : 
the hind pair being also entire and not denticulated. The fore wings generally measure 1+ or 1+ inches in expanse. 
The wings above are of a brown colour with a silky gloss; the fore wings having a red bar near the extremity 
interrupted by the veins, and net extending to the margins of the wings: in this bar are generally four 
small black dots with obscure pupils; but specimens occur with only three, two, or even no ocelli, whilst in 
others the bar itself is reduced to a few red spots. The hind wings have also a red bar near the extremity, bearing 
three similar eyelets. On the under side the fore wings are redder brown, with the red band marked with four 
black spots, whilst the hind ones are ashy or coppery-brown, with three black spots, each surrounded by a slender 
red ring. Variations occur in the number and size of the spots as well as of the band. 
The mountainous districts of Cumberland and Westmoreland are the only localities yet indicated for this small 
species, upon which Mr. Curtis makes the following observations :—‘* The males in forward seasons have 
appeared as early as the 11th of June; but last year (1829), when Mr. Dale and myself visited Ambleside, they 
were later, the first being taken the 18th of June, and they did not become plentiful till the 25th. They are 
found amongst the coarse grass that covers considerable spaces abounding with springs on the sides of mountains. 
They only fly when the sun shines, and their flight is neither swift nor continued, for they frequently alight 
amongst the grass ; and, falling down to the roots, tlicir sombre colour perfectly conceals them. The females are 
later, and have been taken even in August. We found the males on Red Skrees, a mountain near Ambleside ; 
and Mr. Marshall took them at Gable-hill and Stye-head, between Wastwater and Borrowdale.” 
Iiprarcni, Myxsrra of Ochsenheimer was introduced into the list of English species without authority in 
the 2nd Edition of the Butterfly Collector's Vade-Mecum, on the examination of a variety of Oreina Cassiope in 
the British Museum, in which the fascia on the fore wings has only two eyelet spots. Mr. Stephens, however, 
corrected the error in his Illustrations (Haustell, vol. i. p. 63); but Mr. Curtis has subsequently given Mnestra 
as a British species in the second edition of his Guide, but accompanied by a mark of interrogation. That 
gentleman has, however, recently observed to me in a note, ‘* You will observe that Mnestra Hub. ? is queried, 
and it may be only the female of Cassiope.” The true Mnestra, as carefully figured by Boisduyal in his 
Icones Historiques des Lepidopteres d'Europe, v. i. pl. 35, figs. 1—4, has the dise of the under side of the fore 
wings in both sexes rich red brown—the four wings are also “ proportionnellement assez courtes arrondies.” It 
is found in various parts of Switzerland, especially near the Great and Little St. Bernard. The males have the red 
band of the fore wings unspotted, and in the females it has two eyes on each side. ‘ 
