1.12 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Suffolk. Brandeston and Playford Joseph 

 reene. 



36. Brown Hairstreak (Thecla Betul<n). 

 Female, and Under side. 



Male, 



36. BROWN HAIRSTREAK. The costal mar 

 gin of the wings is nearly straight, the tip 

 obtuse, and the hind margin simple ; the hind 

 wings have the hind margin slightly scalloped, 

 and it is produced at the anal angle into a 

 square lobe, and near this, supported by the 

 next wing ray, is a very decided tail. The 

 colour is rich glossy umber-brown, with a 

 large oblique and somewhat kidney-shaped 

 orange-red blotch beyond the middle of the 

 wing ; this blotch contains on the edge nearest 

 the base of the wing a crescentic dark brown 

 discoidal spot : the hind wings have the lobe 

 at the anal angle, and the tail orange red, the 

 fringe is white. The under side is glowing 

 fulvous gray, approaching to orange colour ; 

 the fore wings have two transverse white 

 lines descending from the costa and towards 

 the inner margin, and meeting before they 

 reach it, thus enclosing an acutt ly triangular 

 space, between which and the base is a short 



transverse space similarly enclosed by white 

 lines : the hind wings have two oblique trans- 

 verse white lines, both of which descend from 

 the costal margin ; that nearest the base ter- 

 minates at the middle of the wing, the other 

 is slightly waved, and terminates on the inner 

 margin near the angle > the hind margin is 

 bright rust iloured. Such is a description 

 of the femaie ; the male is smafler, and differs 

 in wanting t ". orange blotcn on the uppei 

 side, and in having the under surface fulvous 

 gray. 



LIFE HISTORY. -The EGJG is a depressed 

 sphere an^ white; it is attached to the 

 twigs of blackthorn (Prumts spinosa) in the 

 autumn, ofteu as lak as the end of September 

 or beginning of October; it is not hatched 

 until the spring, and the young CATERPILLAR 

 feeds on the blackthorn, genera 1 ly concealing 

 itself beneath the leases: when full fed I 

 rests in a flat position on the leaf of the black- 

 thorn, with its head, legs, and claspers con- 

 cealed, and it does not abandon this position 

 readily : when compelled to do so, it falls 

 about three inches and hangs by a thread. 

 The head is almost globular, but slightly pro- 

 duced towards the mouth : it is scarcely half 

 so wide as the second segment ; indeed, the 

 head may be said to be retractile within that 

 segment : the body is shaped somewhat like 

 a little boat turned keel upwards : the sides 

 are dilated all round, even including the second 

 segment, the anterior margin of which projects 

 beyond the head : the segments are deeply and 

 distinctly divided, so much as to give the back, 

 when viewed sideways, a serrated appearance; 

 the dilated sides and dorsal keel are each gar- 

 nished with a fringe ot stiff hairs ; this fringe 

 is double on the dorsal keel, which is bisected 

 by a shallow and inconspicuous medio-dorsal 

 furrow, but single on the lateral dilation ; on 

 the former each hair is curved into the segment 

 of a circle, and its end is directed backwards ; 

 on the margin each hair is also curved, but 

 more slightly, and its end is directed down- 

 wards. The colour of the head is brown, and 

 its surface very glabrous ; that of the body 

 apple-green, with four narrow longiturvnal 

 v hitish itripes, and two oHique lines 01 thf 



