The Ringlet (Aphantopus Hyperanthus)
The sombre-looking butterfly, of which several figures will be found on Plate 89, has been known by its present English name since 1778, the year in which Moses Harris published “The Aurelian.” The Latin specific name was written hyperantus by Linnæus, but Esper corrected this to hyperanthus. It has, however, been supposed that Linnæus really intended to have written hyperanthes (a son of Darius), and this form of the name has been used, but Esper’s emendation is here adopted.
All the wings are sooty-brown, the male when quite fresh appearing almost black, and the sexual brand is then difficult to see; there are one or more black spots with pale rings, and sometimes white pupils, on the fore wings, but these are always more prominent in the female than in the male; in the latter sex they may be entirely absent. On the under side there are generally two, sometimes three, ocellated spots on the fore wings, and there are five such spots on the hind wings, the two nearest the costa being double, and not very infrequently there is a smaller spot near or attached to the lower edge of the double one. In the matter of size of the spots on the under side there is a wide range of variation, and at one end of this is var. lanceolata, Shipp, and at the other var. obsoleta, Tutt, in which not a trace of any of the spots remains. Specimens with a varying number of white dots, with or without yellow rings, are usually referred to var. arete, but Fig. 6 on the Plate represents a modification of this variety, known as cœca.
Occasionally, on the under side, there are transverse lines on the outer half of all the wings, and the space between these lines is suffused with whitish. The specimen showing these lines faintly (Fig. 3 on the Plate) is from North Cumberland.
The early stages are figured on Plate 88.
The egg is yellowish-white at first, but soon turns to a pale brown. As will be seen on comparing the enlarged figure of this egg with those of the two previous species, it is quite different in shape, and is pitted rather than ribbed. The eggs are not attached to anything, but are allowed to fall down among the roots of the grass over which they are deposited.
The caterpillar is described by Newman as pale wainscot brown in colour, with a darker line down the back, and the head has three broad, slightly darker but faint, stripes on each cheek. According to others it is ochreous or brownish-grey, with a dark brown line on the back, a pale one with darker edge on the sides, and a whitish stripe above the feet.
The chrysalis is ochreous-brown sprinkled with reddish-brown, and marked with brown on the wing-covers. It lies low down among the tufts of grass. The figures of caterpillar and chrysalis are from Buckler’s “Larvæ of British Butterflies.”
The caterpillars feed upon various grasses, including Poa annua and Dactylis glomerata, growing about damp places in woodland districts. They emerge from the egg in August, feed leisurely until October, when they appear to hibernate. In March they resume feeding, but do not attain full growth until June. The butterflies are on the wing in July and August, and frequent lanes and the outskirts of woods. They usually fly along the shady side, but they are not averse to the nectar of the bramble blossom, and I have seen them taking a sip here and there although they were fully exposed to sunshine all the time.
Wherever there are suitable haunts the butterfly may be found throughout the greater part of England and Wales. It seems, however, to have disappeared from some districts in Lancashire and Yorkshire where it was formerly common. It is fairly plentiful in most of the southern counties of Scotland, and its range extends north to Aberdeen. In Ireland it is abundant in the south and the west, and seems to occur in most suitable places; also common in certain localities in Donegal and Antrim. Abroad it is distributed through Europe and Northern Asia eastward to Japan.