THE PAINTED LADY. 189 



" Belle Dame," a butterfly, as its name imports, of exceeding 

 elegance. Its upper wings, brown towards the base, and 

 redder towards the middle, are variegated and tipped with 

 black, and marked at the apex with a spot of white. 



In some seasons our " Painted Ladies " are abundant, in 

 others scarce ; but of all the Lepidoptera, these are considered 

 to have the widest geographical range, having been seen in 

 America, Africa, and Asia, also frequently out at sea. Their 

 caterpillars are feeders chiefly on the great spear-thistle, whose 

 unmanageable leaves they yet continue not only to eat but also 

 to roll, as well as those of the nettle and other spiny vegetables. 



In the genus known to naturalists as that of Hipparchia, 

 we have another of the butterfly tribes, more distinguished for 

 sombre than for lively colouring. Their caterpillars, usually 

 green with forked tails, assimilate with the various grasses on 

 which they feed ; and even when arrayed in winged attire, 

 their prevailing shades of brown and orange bear still a degree 

 of correspondence with the hues of the ripened and sunburnt 

 clothing of their favourite localities, the meadow and the heath. 



Amongst other species, not rare, the most common of this 

 brown brotherhood, perhaps, of all the race of butterflies, 

 excepting the Cabbage Whites, is the "Meadow Brown." 1 

 The wings of the male are of a uniform blackish brown, 

 enlivened by a small black eye with a white pupil. Beneath 

 this ocellus there is in those of the female a large irregular patch 

 of orange buff, and all her pinions are more prettily, and some- 

 what more gaily, painted on their under than their upper sides; 

 the foremost with dark orange, the hindmost with shades of 

 light brown. 



According to their usual arrangement, we come now to that 

 assemblage of pretty little butterflies, of the genus Theckla, 

 known to collectors as the " Hair-Streaks." 2 They are so called 

 from the fine hair-like lines streaking the under side of their 



1 Hipparchia Janira. 2 G. Thechla, 



