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
This butterfly, which as a British species was discovered in the Isle of
Arran in 1804, only occurs in the north of England and in Scotland. Its
localities in the latter country are Glen Tilt and other valleys in the
Perthshire highlands, Strathglass in Inverness, Altyre woods at Forres;
Selkirk, Roxburgh, and various parts of Argyleshire; around the Lowther
Hills, Dumfrieshire; also in Arran and the Isle of Skye. In most of the
places it is plentiful. In England it occurs in the counties of Durham,
Westmoreland, Cumberland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire. It is common in
Castle Eden Dene, Durham; at Grassington, in Yorkshire; at Witherslack
and Arnside, in Westmoreland; and at Grange and Silverdale, in
Lancashire.
Abroad, it is distributed through Central and Southern Europe, and its
range extends into Northern Asia Minor, Kurdistan, and Armenia; the
Altai and South Siberia.
It may be noted here that _E. ligea_ was supposed to have been taken in
Arran at the same time as _E. blandina_, that is in 1804. If this were
so, it would seem that the captor must have exterminated the species,
for, although the island has often been closely explored, no one has
been able to detect the "Arran Brown" again.
The Grayling (_Satyrus semele_).
On the upper side, this butterfly (Plate 78) is brown, more or less
suffused with black, and this is especially noticeable on the outer area
of the wings in the male, where it obscures the ochreous or
rust-coloured bands, which in the female are almost free from the
suffusion. The fore wings have two black spots, the upper one generally,
and the lower often, pupilled with white. On the hind wings the bands
are clear of blackish suffusion to a greater or lesser extent, and there
is one black spot towards the anal angle which may be pupilled with
white. Apart from its larger size and brighter bands, the female may be
distinguished from the male by the absence of the blackish brand on the
disc of the fore wings. On the under side, the fore wings are ochreous,
tinged with orange on the basal half or two-thirds; hind wings are
greyish, with darker markings, and an irregular white or whitish band
beyond the middle.
Variation is largely confined to the under side of the hind wings, and
these wings, as well as the costal edge and the tips of the fore wings,
are coloured and marked, in various localities that the butterfly
affects, so that the insects may be protected from their enemies when
resting.
On the upper side of the fore wings an additional spot is sometimes
present below one or other of the usual ones. The bands of the wings are
pale ochreous in some examples, and rust-coloured in others; but it is
not unusual for a specimen with ochreous bands on the fore wings to have
rust-coloured bands on the hind wings, or ochreous bands with
rust-coloured patches on the outer portion; these patches are most
frequently triangular in shape, and placed between the veins. Gynandrous
specimens also occur, but very rarely.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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