THE MEADOW BROWN. 1 25 



As its English name suggests, it is fond of basking on walls, 

 but it does this also on dry hedge banks, sides of gravel pits, 

 tree-trunks — in fact, wherever it can enjoy the full sunshine. It 

 is not at all shy, and will be pretty sure to introduce itself to 

 the notice of the collector as soon as he enters its domain. 

 Although it now seems to be absent from certain districts in 

 which it was once abundant, it may still be regarded as a 

 generally common species in England and Wales, and even 

 plentiful, in some years, in the southern, eastern, and western 

 counties ; it appears to be more local in North England. In 

 Scotland it seems fairly distributed, and not scarce in the 

 south ; its range extends to Aberdeenshire. Kane states that 

 it is everywhere abundant throughout Ireland. Abroad it is 

 'common throughout Europe, except the extreme north, and 

 extends into North Africa, Asia Minor, and Armenia. 



The Meadow Brown (Epinephele ianira). 



The female is the jurtina of Linnaeus, and as he described 

 this sex before the male, under the impression that they were 

 distinct species, the law of priority, we are told, must be 

 observed and the earlier name be adopted. 



This fuscous-brown butterfly of the meadows is marked, 

 especially in the female, with dull orange. The male, of which 

 sex three specimens are shown (Plate 84, Figs. 1-3), has a 

 broad black sexual brand on the central area of the fore wings, 

 and a white pupilled black spot towards the tips of the wings ; 

 this spot is usually encircled with orange, and there is often 

 more or less of this orange colour below it (Fig. 2 typical). The 

 under side of the fore wings is orange with the costa narrowly, 

 and the outer margin broadly, greyish-brown to match with the 

 colour of the under side of the hind wings. The female is with- 

 out the black brand, and is more ornamented with orange, which 

 generally forms a broad patch on the outer area of the fore 



K 



