17*2 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST 



with closed eyes ; while some wasted their 

 'energy upon profitless pursuits, or even 

 gloated themselve by life-destroying habits of 

 intemperance ; our two learnt a lesson from 

 every withered leaf that blew across their 

 path, or which lay in the damp gulley 

 skeletonised by the atmospheric influences. 

 Every little patch of moss had its own 

 individual beauty ; every robin that essayed 

 its short, but ever pleasant song, filled them 

 with new delight, — with new life : the world 

 to them was not a " vale of tears ;'" they had 

 not a soul of sorrow and discontent : the 

 world to them was full of beauty, full of won- 

 der ; and to them the greatest impulse to do 

 right came from ihe fact that every object 

 in nature, however minute or significant, had 

 fixed laws and principles to which it always 

 adhered. Every country lane is in itself a 

 library of knowledge, but people will not 

 read ; every hill-side is a manufactory of 

 health, but people prefer to stay in narrow 

 courts and crowded dwellings, and sicken 

 and die ; every stream furnishes life — a free 

 gift of nature, — but people prefer to pay dear 

 and drink death. Vv'hen shall the time 

 arrive when those who pretend to believe that 

 all the beautiful in nature was made for the 

 grtification of man shall not turn away and 

 close both J^yes and intellect against that 

 beauty ? 



(To be continued. J 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



By J. E. Robsox ; with figures from life by 

 S. L. Mosley. 



(Assisted by Contributors to the Y. N.) 

 MEDEA, W V., PI. 4l Fig 13. 

 /ETHIOPS, ESP., BLANDINA, FABR, 



The Scotch Argus. 

 " Blantina, F., BLindina, the name of a 

 slave who was martyred during the persecu- 

 tion of the church at Lyons, A.D., 177." — 

 A.L. 



JEthiops was, no donbt. given to this species 

 from its dark colour. 



ImagO.— PI. 13, Fig. 4. Rich dark brown, 

 with a fulvous band, containing several eyed 



I spots, near the hind margin of both wings. 

 The female is paler in colour, and generally 



j has more eyed spots than the male. 



; Larva-— PL 13, Fig. 4a. Pale stone colour. 



! Dorsal line white, broadest near the head, a 

 narrow line on each side ; a brown line 

 above, shading off to the ground colour. 

 Spinacular line greenish drab. There are 

 other narrow lines between these, darker than 

 the ground colour ; head brownish drab. 

 This description, which does not agree with 

 that given by Mr. Newman, was taken from 

 the living larva last year, and all that I had 

 were exactly alike. 



Pupa. — Pale stone colour, almost without 

 markings, and very stumpy. It is not sus- 

 pended by the tail, but the larva goes down 

 among the grass stems, and there changes. 

 Before the butterfly emerges the entire 

 chrysalis becomes of a deep brown hue, th0 

 eyes being the first portion to change in 

 colour. 



Food Plants. — Mr. Newman gives 

 Brown Bent Grass (Agroxtis c.inina) as the 

 only food he knew of. Mr. Wailes, in the 

 Tyneside Naturalist's Field Club for 1858, 

 mentioned having the larva then " feeding on 

 several species of Poa." The larva I had 

 last year were nearly full fed when I got 

 them, but they also ate several species of Poa. 



Times of Appearance.— The butterfljj 

 emerges about the last week in July, andcon-j 

 tinues some time on the wing but is soon worn.; 

 The eggs are attached singly to the blades of 

 grass ; they hatch in 10 or 12 days, and the] 

 larva feeds a few weeks before hybernation. j 

 About May it begins to feed again, and is full) 

 fed by the middle middle or end of June. 



Habitat- — Not so much a mountain! 

 insect as others of the genus. In Scotland it| 

 has been noticed that it does not range above) 

 800 or 1000 feet above the sea level, while in! 

 Castle Eden Dene (Durham County) it is 

 abundant at the sea level, and within a few' 

 hundred yards of high water mark. It fre T 



