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wedge-shape portion from the side, which cuts off the pointed top, leaving an 

 oblique edge above, and proceeds to eat away large wedge-shaped pieces from 

 the side of the blade ; when tired of feeding it moves lower down the blade, 

 and spins a coating of white silk from one side to the other, causing the two 

 edges of the blade to draw together a little, and then in a silk lined hollow 

 rests awhile, and then comes out again to feed. When full-grown it seeks for 

 a retired shelter, which it finds between some leaves, of which it forms a 

 spacious habitation by spinning, in the open parts, a thin wall of whitish silk 

 web, with large and very irregular meshes j the resting place being thickly 

 covered with whitish silk, but most thickly where the tail of the caterpillar 

 is to rest. In four or five days it changes into a chrysalis. 



The chrysalis is very slender, and is three-quarters of an inch in length, with 

 two lines across the arched thorax, and has large prominent eyes ; the top of 

 the head is a trifle flattened, and has a beak-like process projecting forwards, 

 of a flattened triangular shape ; the tail ends in a prolonged and blunt flat- 

 tened tip, furnished with a circlet of exceedingly minute recurved hooks. 

 I he wings, antennas, and legs are plainly developed, and the proboscis is ex- 

 tended at full length down the body, from which it lies wholly free towards 

 its extremity. It is of a very pale and delicate yellowish green colour, on 

 which all the stripes of the caterpillar, though faint, are to be seen. Just 

 before the emergence of the butterfly, the colour changes to a purplish black. 



There are apparently two broods of the butterfly, the first appearing in 

 June, the second in August, but specimens may be met with all through the 

 summer. In 1833, the butterflies appeared as early as the 31st of May, and 

 in 1888, worn examples were still on the wing as late as the 13th of Septem- 

 ber. The eggs are laid in June, July, and August. The caterpillars hatched 

 from the earlier laid eggs feed up before winter comes on, and hibernate 

 probably in the chrysalis state. Those from the later eggs hibernate small, 

 and feed up in the spring. Being full-fed in the middle or end of J une, 

 they remain about a fortnight in the chrysalis state. 



Hesperia action is a very local species, though abundant where it occurs ; 

 and is found in central and Southern Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa, 

 also in the Mauritius and the Canary Islands. At Meseritz, in Austria, the 

 caterpillars were found by Professor Zeller feeding in June, on the wood 

 small reed grass {Calamagrostis epigejos), chiefly under the shade of fir trees. 

 In Britain, it is exclusively confined to a very few restricted localities on the 

 south-west coast, chiefly in Dorsetshire, where it frequents places along the 

 coast, from Swanage to Preston, near Weymouth, and also the line of chalk 

 hills from Swanage to Upaney. It has also been taken on the cliffs east of 

 Sidmouth, and at Torquay, in Devonshire ; and near Falmouth, in Cornwall. 



