120 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



The Speckled Wood (Pararge egeria). 



Quite early in the eighteenth century Petiver met with the 

 butterfly shown on Plate 80 at Enfield, so he figured it as the 

 " Enfield Eye " in that curious old book entitled " Papiliorium 

 Britannise I cones." Later on, Wilkes named the butterfly the 

 " Wood Argus," thus indicating its favourite haunts, as well as 

 a prominent character in its ornamentation. Harris changed 

 the name to the " Speckled Wood Butterfly," which seems even 

 more suitable. 



The general colour is blackish-brown, and the spots are 

 yellowish. The fore wings have one white-pupilled black eye 

 spot towards their tips, and the hind wings have three such 

 eye spots on the outer area. The male has a long oblique patch 

 of blackish scales on the middle of the fore wings, which is, 

 perhaps, more easily detected if the insect is held up to the 

 light. The female is usually slightly larger than the male, the 

 wings rather rounder, and the yellowish spots, are, as a rule, 

 distinctly larger. The typical or southern form of this butterfly 

 has the spots of a tawny colour, but it does not occur in Britain. 

 Our form, in all its modifications, belongs to egerides^ Staudinger. 

 Occasionally, in the south of England, specimens are found in 

 which the spots are tinged with fulvous ; others have almost 

 white spots. The spots are sometimes much reduced in size in 

 the male, or greatly enlarged in the female. 



The egg is pale greenish, finely reticulated ; as the caterpillar 

 matures within, the shell becomes less glossy than at first, and 

 the upper part is blackish. 



The caterpillar has a green head, which is larger than the 

 first ring of the body (1st thoracic), covered with short fine 

 whitish hairs, with which are mixed a few dark hairs. The 

 body is rather brighter green, with darker lines, edged with 

 yellowish, along the back and sides ; the skin is transversely 



