172 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



three of them near the costal margin, touching 

 each other, or rather separated only by the 

 darker wing-rays ; all the wing-rays are dark 

 brown : the hind wings are fulvous brown, 

 with dark brown hind margins, dark brown 

 rays, and about six not very distinct squarish 



63. Large Skipper (Hesperia Sylvanus). Male and 

 Female. 



fulvous spots : all the wings have a fulvous 

 gray fringe. The female has all the wings 

 fulvous brown, with paler fulvous spots ; all 

 the hind margins are darker brown, and the 

 fringes fulvous gray. 



LIFE HISTORY. Mr. Stain ton, in his 

 " Manual," quoting Professor Zeller, whose 

 accuracy in observation is almost unequalled, 

 says that the CATERPILLAR has a brown head 

 and a dull green body, with a darker dorsal 

 line, dotted with black; Beneath, on th* tenth 

 and eleventh segments, are snow-white trans- 

 verse spots. It feeds on the meadow soft 

 grass (Holcus lanatus) r and on other grasses, in 

 the beginning of May. I believe that I have 

 several times found this caterpillar, and that 

 it has a remarkably large brown head. 



TIME OF APPEARANCE. May and August. 



LOCALITIES. Mr. Birchnll gives the Mur- 

 rough of Kildare as a locality for this butterfly, 

 but no additional information as to its distri- 

 bution in Ireland; Mr. AlfredO wen has taken 

 it in the Isle of Man, and Dr. Buchanan 

 White says it is indigenous to Scotland. The 

 name occurs in every English county list I 

 have received, except that from .Northumber- 

 land ; in those from southern counties the 



name is generally accompanied by some, ex- 

 pression indicative of its abundance. 



64. Silver-spotted Skipper (Hesperia Comma). 

 Male and Female. 



64. SILVER-SPOTTED SKIPPER. The antennae 

 are clubbed and hooked at the tip. The 

 upper side of the shaft is brown, the under 

 side fulvous ; the upper side of the club is 

 black, the under side bright fulvous. In the 

 male, the basal portion of the fore wings, 

 extending two-thirds the length of the wing, 

 is bright fulvous, and the outer, or hind 

 marginal third, dark brown ; in the middle of 

 the fulvous portion is a raised and incrassated 

 slightly oblique black line, which commences 

 near the middle of the wing and trends 

 towards the base of the inner margin : in the 

 brown or hind-marginal portion of the wing 

 and above the middle, are six pale yellowish 

 spots ; three of these, near the costal margin, 

 are linear, crowded together, and only sepa- 

 rated by the darker wing-rays: the hind wings 

 are dark brown round the margin, paler in 

 the middle, and having the paler portion 

 spotted with fulvous. The female is more 

 dingy than the male, the spots are less dis- 

 tinct, and the black line is altogether wanting. 

 The under side of the fore wings is yellow 

 towards the body and greenish towards the 

 tip ; at the very base ai-e three broad dashes 

 of black : the hind wings have a number of 

 squarish spots of a silvery whiteness, whence 

 the name of "Silver-spotted Skipper." 



LIFE HISTORY. The CATERPILLAR feeds on 

 the common \)\rd.'s- r oot(0rnithopusperpusillus) 



