The Small Heath (Cœnonympha Pamphilus)
To the ancient fathers the male of the butterfly on Plate 92 was known as the “Selvedged Heath Eye,” and the female was called the “Golden Heath Eye.” Harris figured it as “The Small Heath,” or “Gatekeeper;” the latter name being now associated with another species, it may be allowed to drop out in the present connection.
The wings are pale tawny, with a brownish or greyish-brown border, of variable width, on all the wings, and stronger in the male than the female; there is a black spot towards the tip of the fore wing. The under side resembles that of the last species in some degree, but the eyed spots of the hind wings are not always prominent, often only white dots, and may be absent altogether (Fig. 9).
Variation in this species is extensive, but not striking. The tint of the ground colour may be reddish or yellowish; occasionally brownish or greyish-brown specimens of the male occur, and more rarely purplish-brown examples of the same sex have been found. Females, in all cases paler, and generally larger than the male, are sometimes whitish-ochreous in colour, and, very rarely, yellowish-white. The brown border is also a variable character, and may be very dark and broad (var. lyllus), or reduced to linear proportions. The apical spot on the fore wings may be of fair size and very black, very pale and indistinct (Figs. 8, 12), or entirely absent; it does not seem to be pupilled with white (as it is on the under side), but sometimes there is a pale speck in the centre. On the under side of the hind wings there is variation in the width of the central whitish band-like patch, in some specimens with unusually dark ground colour this patch is very broad; in other examples, of normal coloration, the band is complete, and extends to the inner margin. The white dots that normally do duty as ocelli are not infrequently set in reddish-brown spots, and then become rather more noticable (Fig. 14). This form is var. ocellata, Tutt.
The egg is green at first, afterwards becoming whitish or bone-colour; later on a brownish irregular ring appears a little above the middle, and there are various brownish freckles. It is finely ribbed, and the top is depressed, forming a hollow with a central boss. Laid in a cluster of four on a blade of grass, but this may have been accidental. Others were deposited singly on muslin and on fine grass, all in mid-June. The caterpillar is of a clear green colour, “with darker green dorsal stripe, and a spiracular stripe not so dark; the anal points pink” (Hellins).
The chrysalis is of “a delicate pale rather yellowish-green, with a faintly darker green dorsal stripe, the edge of the projecting wing-covers on each side whitish, outlined with a streak of reddish-brown; the abdomen freckled very delicately with paler green; the tip of the anal point, with a short streak of brownish-red on each side; the wing-cases faintly marked with darker green nervures” (Buckler).
The figures of caterpillar and chrysalis on Plate 93 are from Buckler’s “Larvæ of British Butterflies.”
Some caterpillars, from eggs laid in May or June, become full-grown in four or five weeks, and appear as butterflies in August, but others do not complete their growth until the following spring. Just exactly what happens in the case of eggs from autumn females does not seem to be very definitely ascertained. It has, however, been stated that caterpillars hatching from eggs laid in August, attain the size of the slow-growing contingent from May eggs, and then hibernate. Probably, therefore, it is these that produce the July butterflies, and if so, the succession of emergences may be something in this way: May and June butterflies from May and June eggs (twelve months’ cycle), July butterflies from August eggs (eleven months cycle), August and September butterflies (partial second brood) from May and June eggs (four months’ cycle).
This interesting little butterfly is to be seen almost everywhere, but it is perhaps most frequently to be found in grassy places in lanes, on heaths and downs, railway banks, in rough meadows, etc. It occurs on mountains even up to an elevation of 2000 feet. When flying in company with the blues and coppers, all frolicking together over some patch of long grass, the colour combination has an exceedingly pleasing effect. They rest by day, and sleep at night on grass or rushes.
A common species throughout England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland, as far north as Nairn, also in the Outer Hebrides. Abroad its distribution extends over Europe to South-West Siberia, Central and North-East Asia, Asia Minor, and North Africa.
We now arrive at the Hairstreaks, Coppers, and Blues. These belong to the Lycænidæ, a very large family of butterflies which is represented in all parts of the globe. There are eighteen species in Britain, but at least one of these is extinct and another is supposed to be so; two are very rare, and the chances of meeting with either are probably about equal.