THYMELICUS ACTEON. 127 



resting on the hindwings at about an angle of 60° to them ; at this 

 time, the inner margin of the forewing rests along the anal nervnre of 

 the hindwing much as in A. lineola, but the forewings are much more 

 elevated and nearly parallel to each other. Like most of the " skippers " 

 the male loves to drink, and, at a runnel near the bridge at Bourg St. 

 Maurice, on August 3rd-5th, 1905, we captured many, as they sat motion- 

 less, imbibing in the hot sun, and practically oblivious of the crowds of 

 Polyoimnatus damon and P. corydon that almost stood on them. In a 

 clover-field above Gresy-sur-Aix, on July 31st, 1905, they showed the 

 same restless disposition as on the flower-slopes at Bourg, sitting for a 

 moment sucking the nectar and then flying off rapidly, on the approach 

 of any other butterfly, to their chosen point of vantage to give battle, 

 often returning after driving the offender off. On the borders of a 

 lucerne-field at Chavoire, at the end of July, 1901, where the plants 

 grew tall and sparsely, they were also exceedingly active in the hot sun, 

 sitting for a moment on a lucerne-head, and darting off rapidly to give 

 battle -to another of their kind, but returning again and again to nearly 

 the same place ; the $ s often appear to be in rather better condition 

 than the $ s, probably because they emerge a little later and are a trifle 

 less active. At Digne the species was abundant in July, 1901, frequent- 

 ing the lavender flowers with Adopaea lineola. Towards the end of the after- 

 noon and early evening, however, they become less active, settle down on 

 the flowers and become an easy prey ; by dusk, however, they disappear 

 into the lowest herbage. Kowland-Brown observes that, at Mende, 

 the imagines particularly affect the brown flowers of a rush on which 

 to rest, and to which their colour offers a close resemblance, and thus 

 affording considerable protection, whilst Fletcher observes that, at 

 Suda Bay, in Crete, they were easily captured as they rested on 

 clumps of rushes. This rush-resting habit appears to be fairly 

 general, for it is noted by Claxton as occurring also at Swanage ; he 

 observes that, when freshly emerged, they appear to like to sit on a 

 spray of bramble or on a grass-culm, but later are fond of sitting on 

 teasel-heads, and not infrequently on thistle- and bramble-flowers, to 

 suck the honey ; on a dull day they do not fly, and are then to be found 

 at rest on the rushes, but on a bright day are very active and 

 pugnacious, attacking other species of butterflies occurring in their 

 neighbourhood. In its haunts at Lulworth, it is reported as 

 flying very rapidly in the sunshine, in short, sharp, jerky flights, 

 settling on the rough herbage found growing in the localities it 

 affects, or on the Brachypodium on which its larva feeds, and darting 

 off rapidly from, one point to another at no great distance. It some- 

 times settles on the ground, whilst Stephens found a few on flowers of 

 thistle and ragwort, although more were seen on the flowers of a 

 Carex, that grew in clusters close to the beach, the species being 

 -confined apparently, in the Burning Cliff locality, to a space of about 

 100 yards only ; Dale also notes that it affects that part of the under- 

 cliff to the east of Lulworth Cove, where Inula crit/unoides grows 

 abundantly ; Goss says the imagines frequent flowers of Ononis 

 arvensis, and Bankes that he finds them feeding on thistle flowers in 

 Purbeck. 



Habitat. — Distributed as the species is over almost the whole of 

 that part of the Palasarctic area comprising the Canary Isles, 

 the Mediterranean region, southern, central, and southeastern Europe, 



