224 



situated some black marks and spots ; the spiracles are ringed with black and 

 placed within the largest dark blotches. 



The butterfly appears in May and June, and has been taken both in the 

 end of April and the beginning of July. The caterpillars emerge by the end 

 of June, and are full-fed in September. They remain in the chrysalis state 

 over the winter. 



S. alveolus occurs all over Europe except the extreme north, in Asia Minor, 

 and North Africa. It is abundantly distributed in England and Scotland 

 south of the Clyde, and has been met with at Galway in Ireland. It was 

 first described as a British species in Ray's " Historia Insectorum," 1710; 

 after describing it, he goes on to say, " Maii 29 in pascuis loco palustri 

 inneni. Quarti generis Papilionum a nobis observatarum speciei primse 

 persimilis est quoad colores, sed multa minor." 



It is figured and described by Petiver in his " Papilionum Brittannicse 

 Tcones," 1717, under the name of the Small Spotted Brown Marsh Fritillary. 



Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian," 1778, writes, "Grizzle. The whole fly 

 is of a dark lead colour, speckled all over with small square specks. The 

 fringes are chequered black and white. The underside is similar to the 

 upper ; but the inferior wings are paler. Eoesel says, the caterpillar is found 

 on the common mallow, inclosed in a web ; that it lays in chrysalis eleven 

 days, and that the fly, when it appears from the chrysalis, produces blood 

 from the abdomen. See Linn, Papil. Pleb. 267, Malva." 



Wilkes, in his "English Moths and Butterflies/' 1773, figures for the 

 Grizzled Butterfly, the butterflies and chrysalides of another species, also the 

 caterpillars feeding on a plant of mallow; and writes : "Mr. Roesel tells us, 

 that the caterpillar of this fly was found on the mallow, with the leaves of 

 which he fed it till the end of June, when it spun a web amongst the leaves, 

 and changed to a chrysalis, the butterfly of which was bred the May follow- 

 ing. This fly is to be taken in woods and meads, at the beginning of May ; 

 and although small, it flies swiftly, so that you must be very quick to take 

 it." 



Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects," likewise figures 

 another species, and writes " The larva of this butterfly feeds on the mallow ; 

 the colour is greyish or yellowish, with the head black, and a black collar 

 marked with four sulphur coloured spots. The pupa is somewhat gibbous 

 and bluish. This insect is common in many parts of Britain in the fly state ; 

 the larva, though known, is by no means common. The butterfly appears 

 on the wing in May. Some collectors admit two or more varieties of the 

 Grizzled Skipper Butterfly, while others consider them as so many distinct 

 species : the male also differs from the female in being somewhat smaller." 



