THE PEARL-BORDERED FRITILLARY 
93 
a darker and olive-green hue. The ground colouring is duller 
and more ochreous. The apical and outer marginal spots are 
often much paler than the rest of the fulvous colouring, 
sometimes almost white. 
Life of Imago. The life of this little butterfly is about 
four weeks. 
Aberration. A. selene is liable to types of aberration similar 
to those that occur in A . ciiphrosync , but the former appears 
more liable to melanism ; in extreme forms the entire colouring 
is a deep purple-brown, almost black, except for a marginal 
series of more or less distinct small fulvous spots; in these 
melanic aberrations the under side presents a very beautiful 
pattern of various colours. 
Genus ARGYNNIS, Fabricius, 1807 
THE PEARL-BORDERED FRITILLARY 
Argynnis euphrosync (Linn., 1758). 
(Plate VIII, facing page 97) 
This little Fritillary is one of the commonest of our woodland 
butterflies in the spring and early summer months. 
Haunts and Distribution. Its favourite haunts are the 
clearings in woods where the undergrowth has been cut down 
for two or three years and the ground is carpeted with wild 
flowers, such as the Wild Hyacinth, Bugle, Violet and Primrose. 
In these sun-lit openings A. euphrosync is sure to be met 
with flying rapidly to and fro ; its flight is graceful, swift 
and gliding. This butterfly appears to spend most of its 
time on the wing. Towards evening it delights to bask, with 
wings expanded, in the lowering sunshine, resting on the 
ground or foliage. On one occasion I counted eight specimens 
resting with expanded wings and sunning themselves, all 
clustered together on a small birch branch. 
This bright and active butterfly occurs in almost all the 
larger woods and forests throughout England and Wales, 
but is less common in the northern counties and Scotland. 
In Ireland it is unknown. Its range abroad extends through- 
