Butterflies and Moths

Lepidoptera The March Moth – Anisopteryx ascularia Fig. 193.-The March Moth. This is another common moth, and should be looked for during March and April on the barks of trees in oak and other woods. The fore wings are of a dingy brown colour, paler near the base, and crossed by a pale wavy line. […]

Lepidoptera The Yellow Shell Moth – Camptogramma Bilineata Passing over two smaller genera, we come to the beautiful little Yellow Shell. This moth is so abundant in most parts that we arouse it at almost every stroke while beating low bushes. Fig. 206.-The Yellow Shell. All its wings are yellow, and crossed by numerous delicate […]

Lepidoptera The Dark Hairstreak Butterfly – Thecla Pruni The upper side of this butterfly is very much like that of W-album, but it may be distinguished by the presence of a few orange spots near the anal angle of the hind wings. The colouring of the under side (Plate VI, fig. 5) is also very […]

Lepidoptera The Small Ringlet Butterfly – Erebia Epiphron On account of the very limited range of this butterfly, only those who have the opportunity of visiting its haunts can have any practical acquaintance with its natural history. It is almost exclusively confined to the lake district in England, to a few mountainous localities in Scotland, […]

Lepidoptera The Large White Butterfly – Pieris Brassica We pass now from one of the rarest to one of the most abundant of British butterflies. Everybody has seen the ‘Large White,’ though we doubt whether everybody knows that this insect is not of the same species as the two other very common ‘Whites.’ The three-Large, […]

Lepidoptera Facts Butterfly And Moth Eggs I suppose you are all acquainted with the general structure of the hen’s egg, having dissected several, in your own way, many a time. Its outer covering, which you speak of as the ‘shell,’ you have observed is hard and brittle. It is composed of a calcareous or limy […]

Lepidoptera The Large Copper Butterfly – Polyommatus Dispar Our next genus contains only two British species. The first of these-the Large Copper-was once a common insect at Whittlesea in Cambridgeshire, and in some of the fens of Huntingdonshire, but is now feared to be quite extinct, as none have been seen for many years. The […]

Lepidoptera The Holly Blue Butterfly – Lycana Argiolus While all the other Blues delight to sport on low flowery banks in the full blaze of the summer’s sun, the Holly Blue prefers to flit among the branches of trees, often many feet from the ground. The larva feeds on the flowers of the holly (Ilex […]

Lepidoptera The Chequered Skipper Butterfly – Carterocephalus Palamon This is another local insect, more so even than the last, but it sometimes appears in profusion in certain limited districts. Kettering, Oundle in Northamptonshire, and Monk’s Wood in Huntingdonshire are places where it has been taken freely. It appears in June. The wings are chequered with […]

Lepidoptera The Coxcomb Prominent Moth – Lophopteryx Camelina The family Notodontida contains several moths of somewhat varied appearance, but foremost among them are the ‘Prominents,’ distinguished by a conspicuous projection on the inner margin of the fore wings. Fig. 133.-The Coxcomb Prominent. Our example of this group is the Coxcomb Prominent. Its fore wings are […]