The Butterflies of the British IslesSouth, Richard
Science
The Butterflies of the British Isles
South, Richard
Butterflies -- Great Britain; Butterflies -- Great Britain -- Identification; Lepidoptera -- Great Britain
In those kinds of butterflies that attain the perfect state twice in the
year, the individuals composing the first flight are somewhat different
in marking from those of the second flight. Such species as the large
and small whites exhibit this kind of variation, which is termed
seasonal dimorphism. The males of some species, as for example the
Common Blue and the Orange-tip, differ from the females in colour; this
is known as sexual dimorphism. The Silver-Washed Fritillary, which has
two forms of the female, one brown like the male, the other green or
greenish in colour, is a good example of dimorphism confined to one sex.
Gynandrous specimens, sometimes called "Hermaphrodites," are those which
exhibit both male and female coloration, or other wing characters; when
one side is entirely male and the other side entirely female, the
gynandromorphism would be described as complete.
The ornamentation on the under side of a butterfly differs from that of
the upper side, and is found to assimilate or harmonize in a remarkable
manner with the usual resting-place. It is therefore of service to the
insect when settled with wings erect over the back, in the manner of all
butterflies, except some few kinds of Skippers.
The number of known species of butterflies throughout the world has been
put at about thirteen thousand, and it has been suggested by Dr. Sharp
that there may be nearly twice as many still awaiting discovery. Dr.
Staudinger in his "Catalog" gives a list of over seven hundred kinds of
butterflies as occurring in the whole of the Palæarctic Region. This
zoological region embraces Europe, including the British Islands, Africa
north of the Atlas range of mountains, and temperate Asia, including
Japan. The entire number of species that can by any means be regarded as
British does not exceed sixty-eight. Even this limited total comprises
sundry migratory butterflies, such as the Clouded Yellows, the Painted
Lady, the Red Admiral, the Camberwell Beauty, and the Milkweed
Butterfly; and also the still less frequent, or perhaps more accidental
visitors, the Long-tailed Blue and the Bath White. Again, the Large
Copper is now extinct in England, and the Mazarine Blue does not seem to
have been observed in any of its old haunts in the country for over
forty years. The Black-veined White is also scarce and exceedingly
local.
The majority of the remaining fifty-seven butterflies may be considered
natives, and of these about half are so widely distributed that the
young collector should, if fairly energetic, secure nearly all of them
during his first campaign. The other species will have to be looked for
in their special localities, but a few kinds are so strictly attached to
particular spots, that a good deal of patience will have to be exercised
before a chance may occur of obtaining them.
A few remarks may here be made in reference to the names and arrangement
adopted in the present volume.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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