BUTTERFLIES. 137 



of the species being Arctic, though one or two are Alpine. They 

 are generally of a pale tawny colour, with marginal spots or eyes. 

 The curious silvery Argyrophorus Argenteus, Blanch., a native of Chili, 

 is allied to these butterflies ; as are also the Marbled Whites, which 

 belong to the genus Melanargia, Meig. These are of a black and 

 white colour above, though the wings are sometimes more or less 

 marked with reddish on the under surface along the nervures. They 

 are most numerous in Southern Europe, though one or two species 

 are met with throughout Europe, North Africa, and Northern and 

 Western Asia. 



The largest and handsomest of the European Satyrince belong to 

 the genus Hipparchia, Fabr. Our common Grayling (Hipparchia 

 Semele, Linn.) is the only British species. It is brown, with a 

 black eye near the tip of the fore wings, bordered by a square 

 tawny blotch on each side ; the female has a second eye, surrounded 

 with tawny, near the hinder angle ; the hind wings have a tawny 

 submarginal band, and a small black eye near the anal angle. 

 It frequents dry hill-sides or heaths, especially in chalky localities; 

 and I first met with it on the Great Orme's Head, in Wales. It 

 measures about two or two and a half inches in expanse. Several 

 of the European species of this genus are very simply marked, 

 such as E. Phcedra, Linn., which is dark brown, with two black 

 eyes, with large blue pupils, on the hind wings. It is found in 

 open places in woods, but is not common everywhere. The hand- 

 somest species of this genus is H. Parisotis, Koll., which is a dark- 

 brown insect about the size of H. Phcedra, but is ornamented with 

 a broad white or very pale blue border to all the wings. It is met 

 with from Armenia to North- Western India. 



The greater number of the smaller Satyrince of Asia and Africa 

 belong to the genus Mycaksis, Hiibn. They are black or brown, 

 and, like so many butterflies of this family, are generally adorned 

 with three eyes, two on the fore wings, and one at the anal angle 

 of the hind wings. Many of the males are adorned with a large 

 fan-like tuft of hair at the base of the hind wings above. One 

 peculiarity by which a brown butterfly may often be recognised as 

 a Mycalesis at a glance, is that the eye near the hinder angle of 

 the fore wings is generally much larger than that at the tip, 

 whereas the reverse is the case in other genera of Satyrince. The 

 species are generally of small size, rarely exceeding an inch and a 

 half in expanse. 



Yvthima, Hiibn., another genus common in Asia and Africa, 



