Butterflies

Lepidoptera The Green Hairstreak Butterfly – Thecla Rubi Next to Quercus, this is the most plentiful of the genus. It frequents woods and heaths in nearly every county in England, and is also found in parts of Scotland and Ireland. It is peculiar among British butterflies as being the only one that exhibits a bright […]

Lepidoptera The Speckled Wood Or Wood Argus Butterfly – Pararge Egeria Most of our butterflies delight in the hot sun, and are to be seen on the wing only when it is shining brightly. This fact is particularly noticeable on a bright day with occasional heavy clouds. While the sun’s rays are pouring uninterruptedly on […]

Lepidoptera The Ringlet Butterfly – Epinephele Hyperanthus Fig. 81.-The Ringlet-Upper Side. This is another rather plainly dressed insect, though somewhat prettily adorned on the under side. The upper surface is of a very deep sepia brown, almost black, with a few indistinct black eye-like spots near the margins. The under side (Plate V, fig. 10) […]

Lepidoptera The Wall Butterfly Butterfly – Pararge Megara Belonging to the same genus is another very familiar butterfly -the Wall-which receives its popular title from its peculiar habit of frequently resting on walls and stony banks. It is one of the first, if not the first, to take to the wing in the morning, and […]

Lepidoptera The Large Heath Butterfly – Epinephele Tithonus This butterfly is sometimes called the ‘Small Meadow Brown,’ and is certainly much like the last species, both in colouring and habits. The fore wings of the male (Plate V, fig. 9) are light orange brown, bordered with dark brown, and having a broad patch of the […]

Lepidoptera The Red Admiral Butterfly – Vanessa Atalanta There seems to be a tendency with many to under-estimate the beauty of certain natural objects because they happen to be so very common, and this is particularly the case with some of our most familiar butterflies. The beautiful Red Admiral (Plate IV, fig. 3) may possibly […]

Lepidoptera The Black Hairstreak, Or White-letter Hairstreak Butterfly – Thecla W-album Fig. 84.-The White-letter Hairstreak. The first of the above two popular names has been applied to this species on account of the very deep brown colour of the upper side, which colour is often a near approach to black. The second is due to […]

Lepidoptera The Large Skipper Butterfly – Hesperia Sylvanus During May, June, and August this butterfly may be seen on grassy banks in nearly every part of England, as well as in certain localities of Scotland and Ireland. The wings are all of a bright orange-brown colour, with a narrow black border, inside which is a […]

Lepidoptera The Queen Of Spain Fritillary Butterfly – Argynnis Latona We now pass from the commonest to the rarest and most prized of our wood butterflies-The Queen of Spain (Plate II, fig. 7). This royal personage is not easily mistaken for any of the meaner Fritillaries even when the upper surface only is examined, as […]

Lepidoptera The Small Blue Butterfly – Lycana Minima Fig. 94.-The Small Blue-Under Side. We now come to the smallest of all British butterflies-a little insect that measures less than one inch from tip to tip when its wings are expanded. Its upper surface is of a dull and dark-brown colour, the bases of the wings […]