S-1141001_COMPLETO.pdf

HEATH BUTTERFLY. 49
ford Brigg, Lincolnshire; also in Northumberland and Cum­
berland; and on Barnet Heath.
Coates and Drumsheugh, Schehallion, Ben Nevis, Ben
Lomond, Craig Chalaach, Ben More, the Isle of Arran, and
the neighbourhood of Oban, in Scotland, as also in the Shetland
Islands; near the lakes of Kiilarney, and on the mountains of
Donegal, in Ireland; Kinnordy, between Bala and Festiniog,
in Wales.
The perfect insect occurs from the first week in June to the
second or third in August.
The expanse of the wings in this species varies from an inch
and a half to an inch and three quarters. The fore wings are
of a fulvous brown colour, the fringe of a pale grey; near
the outer corner are one or more eyes, following the line of
the margin, all but one being in some specimens scarcely
visible. The hind wings are rather darker than the fore ones,
and there is a row of faint eyes following also their outer
margin, at a little distance within it. An irregular band of a
paler colour than the general tone of the wings runs more or
less distinctly across them about the middle, following the same
course as the eyes.
Underneath, the fore wings are nearly of the same colour
as their upper surface. Near the outer corner are one or two
dark eyes—a white dot in the centre, surrounded by a ring
of black, and this by one of very pale buff. These eyes are
followed by two or three smaller and less distinct ones, pale
buff with a black dot in the centre. Within these is an irreg­
ular bar of still paler buff, wider at the upper than the lower
part: it goes nearly, but not quite, across the wings.
The hind wings are greyish brown at the base, and as far
as the middle, edged by an irregular very pale buff band, which
runs nearly across the wing, the remainder of which is pale
reddish brown, in the middle of which is an irregularly-waved
row of eyes, each formed by a white speck surrounded by a
black ring, and this by a pale buff one.
This is an exceedingly variable insect, and as may be sup­
posed, several so-called species have been made out of one;