212 



The caterpillar is of a dull green mixed with red ; second segment white ; 

 head black ; there are also two white spots near the bottom of the tenth and 

 eleventh segments. It feeds on the bird's foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) 

 and other papilionaceous plants. 



The chrysalis appears never to have been described. 



The butterfly emerges in July and continues on the wing for more than a 

 month. The caterpillars are hatched in April and turn into chrysalids in 

 June. 



Hesperia comma occurs throughout Europe and Northern and Western 

 Asia, on heaths, downs, &c. It is unknown in Scotland, Ireland, or the 

 Isle of Man, and is a very local species in England, occurring on chalk 

 downs. It is common in the counties of Kent Sussex, Surrey, and Cam- 

 bridgeshire, and rare in those of Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, Gloucester- 

 shire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, and 

 Yorkshire. 



It appears to have been known in Britain as long ago as 1667, for Dr. 

 Christopher Merrett, in his " Pinax rerum Naturalium Britannicseum," gives 

 the following description of a butterfly : " Alis conchatis, et clavatis : ex 

 albo et obscure rubente varias." 



Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian's Pocket Companion," 1775, records the 

 Pearl Skipper as being found in swampy ground on briars, Hanwell Heath, 

 near Ealing, on August 25th. 



Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes, "This butterfly is 

 said to be out on the wing in August, and to have been taken on the swampy 

 ground on Hanwell Heath, near Ealing, in Middlesex. The specimens of 

 this fly that I have seen lead me to think, that it is not a distinct species, 

 but merely a variety of the Large Skipper." 



Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects," Vol. IX., published 

 in 1800, writes, " In the begining of August, 1772, a brood of these insects 

 were taken near Lewes, in Sussex, by the late Mr. Green ; and we believe 

 no other specimens have been taken since that period. It is not very unlike 

 the Papilio sylvanus of Fabricius, but may be readily distinguished from it 

 by the square spots on the underside being perfectly white." 



Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes, 

 " A local species occurring in plenty on Eiddlesdown, near Croydon, and on 

 the chalky downs of Sussex, especially near Lewes. It used formerly to be 

 taken on Hanwell Common, Middlesex, but I have not heard of recent cap- 

 tures near that place : it appears towards the end of August. Discovered in 

 -considerable abundance towards the middle of August, 1825, on the Devil's 

 Ditch, between the running gap and the turnpike ; the specimens remarkably 



