THE DINGY SKIPPER 
35 i 
chalk and limestone formations. Rough, uncultivated hill¬ 
sides, flowery waysides, meadows, heathlands, railway banks 
and outskirts of woods all seem equally suited to its require¬ 
ments ; wherever, in fact, there is am abdundance of Bird’s 
Foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatns), the food plant of the larva. 
E. tages is abundant and widely distributed throughout 
England and Wales, but is very local in Scotland ; it occurs 
as far north as Banff. In Ireland it is locally abundant in 
County Clare, Fermanagh and Galway. Abroad it occurs 
throughout Europe, except in the Polar regions, and its range 
extends into Western Asia and Amurland. 
Time of Appearance. This butterfly is normally single- 
brooded, but during hot, fine summers a partial second emer¬ 
gence sometimes takes place, chiefly in its southern localities: 
The usual time for its appearance is May and June. In early 
seasons it appears in April. As a rule, males appear several 
days in advance of the females. On May 2ist, 1909, I ob¬ 
served forty-five specimens on a small patch of rough ground 
about 50 yards long by 10 yards wide; out of this number 
only one was a female. On the same spot six days previously 
the males were fully out, but no female was seen. 
Hibernation. Hibernation is passed in the larval state after 
it is fully grown, and the hibernating period occupies nine 
months. 
Egg and Egg Laying. When engaged in egg laying, the 
female flies close to the ground as she searches for a Lotus plant 
for her eggs, usually selecting one more or less concealed by 
the surrounding grass, she then settles on a terminal shoot 
and deposits a single egg on one of the leaflets and flies off to 
repeat the process. 
The egg measures 0-50 mm. in diameter and the same in 
height. It is of a spheroid form with a flattened base ; the 
micropyle is sunken. There are either twelve or thirteen 
(usually thirteen) keels, about half this number run the entire 
length from summit to base; others run only one-fifth over 
the crown and then diverge and run to the base. The spaces 
between the keels are finely ribbed transversely. When 
first laid the egg is a light citrine-yellow, it gradually deepens 
to apricot-orange. The egg state lasts from nine to twelve 
days according to temperature. 
