The Grizzled Skipper (Hesperia Malvæ)
The wings of the butterfly figured on Plate 122 are blackish, ornamented with numerous white spots, which are more or less square in shape, on the fore wings. The fringes are chequered black and white.
The male differs from the female in having the front edge of the fore wings folded towards the base, and these wings have scattered greyish scales on the basal area; the central series of spots on the hind wings are also more in evidence, and not infrequently unite and become band-like. Variation consists in modification of the markings, chiefly in a tendency of the spots to run together, culminating in var. taras, Bergstr., in which the white spots of the fore wings are confluent and form a large blotch. This variety was figured by Petiver in 1717, but was not named by Bergsträsser until 1780. Haworth described it as lavateræ, and Newman figured it under the same name.
On a small plant of Alpine strawberry, sent by the Rev. Gilbert Raynor, were three eggs of this butterfly. These were pale green in colour, ribbed, and delicately netted with cross-lines. On June 26, three caterpillars were noticed on the upper side of the leaves, each on a separate leaf, and under cover of a few coarse silken threads. They were pale steely-grey, with black heads, and plates on the first and last segments of the body.
As the supply of strawberry foliage was failing, the caterpillars were given bramble on July 21, and the next day each was found enclosed in a sort of envelope formed of a bramble leaf. They were then seemingly in their last skin, whitish-green in colour, and covered with short whitish hair; a whitish edged dark olive-brown line along the back, and similar lines on the sides; between the rings the colour was pale ochreous. The date of pupation was not noted, but on September 9, one of the spun-together bramble leaves was opened, and a chrysalis found within. This was pale brown, with dark brown or blackish marks along the back and sides; the head and back were covered with dense pale reddish-brown bristles; the wing, leg, and antennæ cases were greenish, smooth, and shaded with brownish. Between the head and first ring of the body above there was a deep furrow, with a black-centred white spot on each side of it (Plate 123).
Besides the plants adverted to above, the caterpillars will eat raspberry (Rubus idæus) and cinquefoil (Potentilla fragariastrum and P. reptans).
The butterfly is pretty generally distributed in Great Britain, but does not seem to be common in Ireland, as Kane only mentions two examples, from Killarney. It is found in May and June on chalk downs and other hillsides, especially in the hollows and sheltered nooks, also in and around woods, and in rough fields. On dull days and at night it may be found sitting, with the wings erect over the back, on various seed-heads, etc.
The species is double brooded on the Continent, and occasionally a few butterflies will appear in August, but such emergences depend on a combination of favourable circumstances. In very forward seasons it has been seen on the wing during the last week in April.
Its range extends over Europe and into Northern Asia.
As Barrett refers to the capture in Norfolk (May or June, 1860) of several specimens of the Central and South European species, H. alveus, Hüb., it maybe well to mention it here, if only for the purpose of quoting his remarks thereon. After detailing the facts connected with the occurrence, he states, “It seems undesirable now to introduce the species to a place in the British list, but rather to record the captures in question as specimens accidentally introduced with plants, or else the result of a very exceptional act of migration.”