THE LARGE HEATH 13 



PLATE VII 

 THE LARGE HEATH (1) 



This butterfly is very nearly as plentiful as the 

 " meadow-brown," and you can hardly walk along 

 a lane or through a meadow without seeing it. 

 The male is rather different from the female, for 

 he is a good deal smaller, and has a band of dark 

 brown running down from just above the middle 

 of the front wings to the centre of the hind 

 margin. 



The caterpillar of this butterfly feeds upon 

 couch-grass. It is greenish-grey in colour, with 

 a reddish head, and has two pale lines running 

 along each of its sides, and a dark one along its 

 back. When it has reached its full size it spins 

 a kind of little silken pad upon a blade of grass, 

 from which it hangs itself up with its head down- 

 wards. Two days later it throws off its skin and 

 turns into a fat little greenish-white chrysalis, 

 marked with a number of dark streaks and 

 blotches. Look for the caterpillar in May and 

 the early part of June, for the chrysalis at the 

 end of June, and for the butterfly in July and 

 August. 



