THE SMALL SKIPPER 
365 
The whole surface is granular and densely covered with 
white powdery bloom of a waxy nature. The head is green, 
suffused with a pinkish bloom ; the beak is lilac-pink ; the 
thorax, grass-green ; the wings, greyer-green; and the 
abdomen is pale yellow-green with a grass-green dorsal stripe, 
the last two segments blending into pale lilac. The cremaster 
is darker. The pupa is 
attached to the grass 
blades by a cincture round 
the waist and by the cre- 
mastral hooks to a pad of 
silk spun on the surface of 
the blades. Three or four 
blades are generally spun 
together, forming a tubu¬ 
lar covering in which the 
pupa is more or less hid¬ 
den. The pupal stage oc¬ 
cupies from twelve to 
seventeen days, according 
to temperature. 
Imago. The average ex¬ 
panse of the wings is 
30 mm. 
The sexual difference is 
distinct. The male has an 
oblique, rather curved, 
black androconial mark 
from the discoidal cell to 
the lower base of the fore 
wing. The mark is absent 
in the female, otherwise 
the sexes are similar. 
The ground colour is light orange-fulvous, slightly olive at 
the base of the wings, and the inner margin of the hind wing ; 
the costal and outer margins are narrowly bordered with 
black. The antennae are black above and light ochreous 
below ; the apex is orange-red. In front of each eye is a 
tuft of curved black hairs. 
On the under side, both fore and hind wings are pale 
The Small Skipper depositing its eggs 
in the sheath of the flower-stem of Phleuni 
pratense. Sketched from life. 
