SATYRS 



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Tiiere is another form not uncommon on tho 

 Continent which had been raised to the rank 

 of a species, but now is universally considered 

 a mere variety ; it is distinguished by the 

 presence of white pupils to the black spots 

 on the wing : this variety was described as 

 a species by Knoch, in 1783, under the name 

 of Epiphron ; and ten years subsequently the 

 form without the white pupils was described 

 by Fabricius under the name of Cassiope ; 

 again, still later, our own Ha worth described 

 the same insect under ihe name of Mnemon. 

 In accordance with the usage of science the 

 earliest name only is retained. 



LIFE HISTORY. Of this very little is 

 known ; the only record in my possession is 

 from the pen of Mr. Wailes, at page 200 of 

 the second volume of the " Transactions of 

 the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club," and is 

 in the following words: "Having this sum- 

 mer (1857) captured Erebia Epiploon on the 

 mountains near Sprinkling Tarn, Cumberland, 

 and obtained a few caterpillars from eggs 

 deposited by one of the specimens, which, 

 however, I regret to say, have since all died, 

 both those in my possession and those given 

 to my friends, I may as well place on record 

 8 description of them, as the caterpillar was 

 previously entirely unknown : pale green, 

 with numerous darker green longitudinal lines 

 shading into the ground-colour, and with a 

 well-defined white line along each side in the 

 region of the spiracles. The caterpillars fed 

 upon the annual meadow grass (Poa annua), 

 and the sheep's fescue grass (Festuca ovina), 

 though I suspect that in a state of nature they 

 live on the young leaves of the small mat 

 grass (Nardus stricta), or some of the smaller 

 rushes (Juncus) which constitute the principal 

 herbage on the mountain sides where the in- 

 sect is met with." Wailes. 



TIME OP APPEARANCE. Caterpillar in 

 autumn, and again in spring, doubtless hyber- 

 nating at the roots of the mountain herbage ; 

 butterfly in June and July. 



LOCALITIES. A very local species in the 

 British Islands. Mr. Birchall gives a single 

 Irish locality " Croagh Patrick, near West- 

 port : the locality is about half-way up the 



mountain on the Wcstport side, in a grassy 

 hollow, where a little hut is erected for the 

 shelter of the pilgrims. I captured a fine 

 series here in June, 1854." It has not been 

 taken in the Isle of Man. 



The first notice of the occurrence of this 

 butterfly in Scotland is from my own pen, and 

 is published at p. 682 of the " Zoologist" for 

 1844. Eight specimens are recorded as 

 having been taken, but subsequently, at p. 729 

 of the same volume, I have recorded that a 

 considerable number, a great majority of 

 which were males, were taken in the district 

 of Rannoch, in Perthshire, by Mr. Weaver, 

 who wrote thus respecting them : " I took 

 these butterflies when the sun shone, morning 

 and evening, the first on the 27th of June, 

 and the last on the 27th July. They appeared 

 confined to a spot of level and rather marshy 

 ground about 150 yards in length and 50 yards 

 in breadth ; it was grassy, but without heath ; 

 and although there was plenty of heath all 

 round the neighbourhood I did not see a 

 single specimen settle on it. The locality is 

 among rocky mountains, some of which attain 

 an altitude of 4,000 feet above the sea level ; 

 and I think that one locality where I found 

 the butterfly is at least 3,000 feet above the 

 sea level. I spent ten days in hunting them, 

 and although I wandered over most of the 

 country for ten or fifteen miles round, I found 

 them nowhere else. The nearest village is 

 Kinloch Rannoch, consisting of a few scattered 

 houses, one of which is a shop for sundries, 

 two are pothouses, and the remainder are 

 principally the residences of shepherds. It 

 has no road to any other place." At p. 166 

 of the first volume of the " Entomologists' 

 Weekly Intelligencer," Mr. Young, of Paisley, 

 says that in the first week in August, 1856, 

 he took a good number of this species on Ben 

 Lomond. At p. 132 of the seventh volume 

 of the "Entomologists' Weekly Intelligencer," 

 Mr. Bibbs, of Worcester, gives us another 

 Scotch locality : " The spot where I cap- 

 tured them was on the road-side skirting Loch 

 Vennachar, leading from Callander to the 

 Trossachs, about two miles before I reached 

 that romantic pass. Near the spot I observed 



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