PARARGE MEG^ERA. 143 



colour, and marked with dark brown on the wings and 

 dorsal surface, the latter also bearing a few whitish dots. 

 The skin of the caterpillar usually remains attached to 

 the anal extremity of the pupa. 



The imago (Fig. 148) has the costal margin of the 

 fore-wings convex, and the hind-margin nearly straight ; 

 the hind-wings are rather deeply scalloped. The 

 ground-colour of the upper surface is a dull smoky 

 brown, with pale yellow spots, about ten on the fore- 

 wings arranged as in Fig. 148, and six on the hind-wings 

 arranged as follows : one on the costal margin, one near 

 the centre of the wing, and four along the hind-margin. 

 There is a white-centred, black eye-spot near the tip of 

 the fore-wings, and four (one in each of the marginal 

 spots) occur on the hind-wings; but the white centre is 

 usually not present in all four. The under-surface (Fig. 149) 

 somewhat resembles the upper, but is paler, and the 

 markings are less distinct, except the eye-spot on the fore- 

 wings, which is as distinct as that on the upper surface. 



P. megaera, Linn. (Wall Butterfly, Speckled Wall 

 Butterfly, or Gatekeeper) (Figs. 150 to 154). Why this 

 species is called the Gatekeeper, it is hard to say. 

 That it is speckled is certainly true ; but probably many 

 a collector will have made its acquaintance a consider- 

 able time before seeing why the name Wall Butterfly has 

 been bestowed upon it. On one occasion I was parti- 

 cularly struck with the appropriateness of this title. On 

 the top of a hill near Cheltenham one or two Megaeras 

 were disporting themselves flitting from one side to the 

 other of an old wall, while I noticed no others round 

 about. On visiting the same spot a day or two after- 

 wards my friends were still haunting the same individual 

 bit of wall. This lively little butterfly should, however, 

 usually be sought for along sunny lanes and hedgerows, 



