The Meadow Browns 



have found it during the day under stones in hilly 

 districts near the sea. It is variable in colour brownish 

 to black, with a few lighter lines on the back and sides, 

 and it has a dirty putty-colour on the under side. It 

 feeds on grass in May. The butterfly is out from 

 July to September. It appears in August in Scotland. 



Plate IX., Fig. 7. Perhaps this is the commonest of 

 all our brown butterflies. On roadside or hillside, moor 

 or meadow, one can hardly fail to notice this homely 

 brown insect all through the summer rambles. The 

 males are smaller and dingier than the females. They 

 have an obscure reddish patch on the fore-wing which, 

 with an eye-spot, relieves the upper surface of dark 

 brown. The females are brighter and often more 

 variable, the fulvous patch on their fore-wings being 

 large and bright, and even extending into a band on 

 the hind-wings. There is occasionally an inner patch 

 of suffused yellow on the centre of the fore-wings ; the 

 under side is a paler brown, with a decided band of 

 grey-brown on the hind-wing, which is also slightly 

 scalloped. 



The caterpillar is a delicate green, with a white line 

 on either side, and may be swept from moorland grasses 

 in May and June. The chrysalis is short and dumpy ; 

 pale papery grey, rather fragile, and is hung up by the 

 tail to a grass-stem. The butterfly is out practically 

 all through the summer. 



THE SMALL MEADOW BROWN (Epinephele Tithonus), 

 Plate IX., Fig. 8. Also a common species, but does 



