174 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



are prolonged as far as the middle of the 

 green head, and run to the end of the rounded 

 anal shield, which is narrowly edged with 

 yellow. Towards the end of June the cater- 

 pillar spins together two leaves with a few 

 white silk threads, and becomes a slender agile 

 CHRYSALIS, the peculiarities of which I had, 

 however, no opportunity of observing. In a 

 fortnight two males made their appearance." 



TIME OF APPEARANCE. July and August. 



LOCALITIES. Its range in the British Isles 

 is more restricted than that of any other of 

 our butterflies. It has never been observed 

 in Ireland, Scotland, or the Isle of Man. In 

 England it has only been recorded from three 

 coun ties. \V e are indebted to the indefatigable 

 Mr. Dale for the discovery of this insect at 

 Lul worth Cove in August, 1832, as announced 

 by Mr. Curtis in his " British Entomology," 

 Fasc. 442. I believe it to be extremely local 

 that is, frequenting particular spots, but still 

 abundant in those spots, scattered at intervals 

 all along the sea-coasts of Devon and Dorset. 

 In an extract given below Mr. Douglas treats 

 of Lulworth Cove and the Burning Cliff as 

 synonymous ; but all my correspondents write 

 of them as two localities. The Warwickshire 

 localities, although confidently spoken of, are 

 very unlocked for, and are, I think, fainy 

 open to doubt. 



Devonshire. Extremely local , f req ue 1 1 ting 

 cliffs and coves on the coasts, more especially 

 cliffs east of Sidinouth and Torquay J. J. 

 Reading ; Mr. Hellins has also taken it near 

 Sidmouth. 



Dorsetshire. Lulworth and Burning Cliff 

 by Holworth J. C. Dale. An hour's sail 

 across Weymouth Bay, during which we 

 amused ourselves with catching mackerel, 

 brought us to the desired spot, the Burniug 

 Cliff (or Lulworth Cove), where we had been 

 told we should find Hesperia Actceon, and 

 there, sure enough, we saw it in profusion. 

 The spot, close to the sea, is a kind of under- 

 cliff, not very level, of no great extent, and 

 covered with thistles and large tufts of a long 

 coarse grass or Carex, about which our prey 

 were skipping briskly. So abundant were 

 they that I often had five or six in my net at 



one stroke, and in about two hours I caught a 

 hundred, filling my box and my hat, and Mr. 

 Fair had nearly as many. They were accom- 

 panied by a few of the common Hesperia 

 Linea, which in their flight they greatly 

 resembled. My ungeological eyes detected 

 nothing particular in the soil, and I confess 

 that two hours' hard work in the sun had not 

 disposed me to look if any particular plant 

 which might serve as food for the caterpillars 

 of this Skipper grew there ; so that I can 

 offer no supposition as to the cause of the 

 species being confined within such narrow 

 limits in this county J. W. Douglas, Stain- 

 ton 's "Manual." Hesperia Actceon has been 

 taken this year (1870) in two new localities 

 in this neighbourhood, at Swanage and near 

 Tyneham T. Parmiter, "Entomologist," 

 v. 179. 



Warwickshire. Stratford-on-Avon W. G. 

 Colbowrne ; Mr. Humphreys states that he 

 met with it in great abundance in 1835 

 at Shenstone, near Lichfield Stainton's 

 "Manual." 



66. Small Skipper (Hesperia Linea). Male and 

 Female. 



66. SMALL SKIPPER. The antennae have a 

 gradually thickened club, which is not hooked 

 at the tip ; they are brown, annulated with 

 gray, and havinga distinct fulvous tip. In both 

 sexes all the wings are fulvous, with a black 

 hind margin and wing-rays and a pale fringe : 

 in the males there is a slender oblique black 

 line extending from near the middle towards 

 the base of the hind margin, which, however, 

 it does not reach. 



