Though much less abundant than the last, this is another very common species, and met with throughout England and the _south_ of Scotland. The ground tint above is a _rich rust-colour_, or _orange-brown, bordered with dark-brown_; the base of the wings also slightly clouded with the same; and on each front wing, near the tip, there is a _black eye-spot_, with _two white_ dots. So far, both sexes are similar; but the _male_ has, in addition, a _bar of dark-brown across the centre of the rust-coloured space_, on the upper wing. This sex is that figured on the plate. {103} Underneath, there is a pretty arrangement of subdued colouring; that of the front wings nearly resembling the upper side; the lower wings clouded and spotted with russet-brown on a paler brown ground, the _dark rounded brown spots_ having _white_ centres; but there are _no black_ eye-spots on the hind wings. The _caterpillar_ is greenish-grey, with reddish head and two pale lines on each side and a dark one down the back. The _butterfly_, a feeble flier and easily captured, appears in July and August; its favourite resorts being heaths, dry fields, and lanes. It is sometimes called the _Small_ Meadow Brown, and the Gate-keeper. * * * * * THE RINGLET BUTTERFLY. (_Hipparchia Hyperanthus._) (Plate VI. fig. 3, Female.) This is one of those butterflies in which Nature, departing from her accustomed plan, has reserved the chief adornment of the wings for the _under_ surface, leaving the upper comparatively plain and unattractive. In both sexes the wings, above, are of a deep sepia brown, surrounded by a greyish white fringe, and bearing several black spots in paler rings, which rings are {104} much _less distinct_ in the _male_ than in the female, the sex figured in the plate. The under surface is of a soft russet ground, adorned with a wreath of the _ringlet_-spots from which the insect takes its common name. These are _black eye-spots_, white-centred and set in a clear ring of pale tawny colour. The most usual form and proportions of these spots are shown in the figure (with closed wings), but there are many varieties met with, the following being the most remarkable that have come under my notice. One, and not a very uncommon one, has _no light rings_ round the black spots on the under side. Another has the rings reduced to a range of mere light specks, the _black eye-spots being entirely absent_. Then again, another has the black _pupils_ exceedingly large and rich, forming a most elegant variety. The spots on the _upper_ side in the _male_ are sometimes quite imperceptible. The ground colour of the _upper_ side is occasionally of a pale drab or fawn colour. The _caterpillar_ of this species is very like that of the last in colouring, and feeds on the same grasses. The _butterfly_, which is out in June and July, is a common and widely distributed species, frequenting woods, shady corners of hedge-rows, &c.