MIDSUMMER BUTTERFLIES 37 



the characteristic eyelet markings of this and many other 

 butterfly tribes. Only the ubiquitous small tortoiseshell 

 ranges as high as the mountain ringlet among the Lakeland 

 fells, and the tortoiseshell is a wanderer from nettle-beds in 

 the dales, and is attached to no native hollow among the 

 bare grey crags. The Scotch ringlet is a rather larger 

 butterfly, with the same deep brown and orange markings, 

 which is not found south of Lancashire. It is curious 

 that neither of these glacial species survives in the Snowdon 

 district, or the other mountain masses of Wales. 



The large heath is another June butterfly which is con- 

 fined to the more northern and mountainous parts of the 

 country, but ranges further south and to lower levels than 

 the two mountain ringlets. It is commonest in the north 

 of England and south of Scotland, where it is found on the 

 mosses, and among the sandhills close to the sea. But 

 for its larger size, and hoarier colour, it is much like the 

 small heath, which is almost the commonest and hardiest of 

 English butterflies. The characteristic hardiness of this 

 tribe of 'browns' comes out in different ways in different 

 species. The two mountain ringlets and the large heath 

 are confined to breasts of high mountains, sweeps of wind- 

 beaten moor, and barren northern tracts. The small heath 

 does not refuse to colonise the warmer and more fertile 

 parts of England, but it cheerfully puts up with the bleakest 

 and dustiest pastures, and seems indifferent to the wettest 

 and coldest seasons. Except for the common white, which 

 is artificially fostered by cabbage-gardens, the first and last 

 butterfly to be met with on the sparse turf of building plots 

 in the outskirts of towns is usually the small heath. Par 

 excellence, it is the 'common brown.' Almost as widely 

 distributed, and quite as unsusceptible to cold and rainy 

 summers, is the large meadow brown, which punctually 



