184 



GENUS HIPPARCHIA. 



WITH the exception of Polyommatus, which ap- 

 proaches it in the number of species, this is by far 

 the most extensive genus among the British Butter- 

 flies. As at present constituted, however, it is not 

 of a very homogeneous nature, several of the insects 

 which it includes not only differing considerably from 

 each other in habit, but also in the form of the 

 wings, the proportions of the joints of the palpi, and 

 other essential parts of structure. None of the in- 

 digenous kinds are remarkable for the brightness of 

 their colours, the prevailing tints being deep brown, 

 relieved and variegated with ochre-yellow and brown- 

 ish-red -, and the under side is often ornamented with 

 eye-like spots. The caterpillars are almost inva- 

 riably of some shade of green, and are thus assimi- 

 lated, no doubt with a view to their safety, to the 

 colour of the plants on which they feed, viz. the dif- 

 ferent kinds of grasses. Their bodies are nearly 

 naked, or covered only with short hairs, and there 

 are two projecting points behind, which make the 

 anal extremity appear bifid. The antennse are va- 

 riable in length, the club generally spindle-shaped, 

 or tapering at both ends, and curved ; in H. semele, 



