101 



north. It occurs also in Asia, but only in some of the districts bordering on 

 Europe. It is widely distributed in the British Isles, but as it frequents 

 woods and wooded districts, is rather local, and has not been observed in the 

 Isle of Man. In Ireland it is very local, but occurs very abundantly in Gal- 

 way. In Scotland it does not occur in the more mountainous parts. Dun- 

 negan in the Isle of Skye, is the most northern locality in Britain at present 

 known for the species. 



It is first described as a British species in " Merrett's Pinax," published 

 in 1667. 



In his "Papilionum Britannise Icones," 1717, Petiver records it as rarely 

 appearing before August, and mostly near rivers. 



In Lewin's "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, we read: "Caterpillars that 

 feed on the leaves of trees, shrubs, or bushes, are readily discovered by beat- 

 ing the boughs into a sheet j but those that feed on herbs, or grasses, that 

 grow close to the surface of the earth, are not to be obtained but by the most 

 diligent search under the cover that the leaves or roots afford them ; and as 

 the caterpillars in this section do not keep together, but are dispersed, and 

 live in a solitary manner, they are but rarely to be met with. This is a com- 

 mon insect, frequenting the skirts of woods, and the sides of hedges." 



Stjb-Genus CLENONYMPHA. 

 Hubner, 



This genus or sub-genus includes between twenty and thirty species, the 

 greater part of which are European, two occurring in Great Britain. 



They are all of a pale drab or tawny colour, and comprise the smallest of 

 the family. All the three nervures of the fore-wings are dilated at the base, 

 and the antennae are slender, with a long and fusiform club. The middle 

 pair of tibiae are as long as the tarsi. The caterpillars differ from those of 

 the other sub-genera in being completely glabrous and shining. A couple of 

 species, Hero and Arcanins, have been erroneously recorded as British. 



(XENONYMPHA TYPHON. 

 Large Heath, 



Typhon, Rott. Ty'phon, last of the sons of Terra, a giant on whose 

 shoulders grew an hundred serpents' heads. 



This is an exceedingly variable butterfly, especially on the underside, and 

 as may be supposed, two or three species have been made out of one ; per- 

 manent varieties seeming, as in the case of Poli/mmatus alexis, to belong to 

 particular localities. 



