PLATE IX1. Small Copper2. Common Blue
PLATE IX
1. Small Copper2. Common Blue
This is a very pretty little butterfly indeed, for the upper surface of its front wings is of the richest and most glossy reddish-brown, just like the colour of burnished copper, with nine black spots in the middle, and a narrow blackish border. The hind-wings are dark brown, with a broad band of copper running along the margin. It is very plentiful indeed, and you may see it in hundreds by the roadside, or on heaths and in waste places, darting to and fro in the hot sunshine, gambolling with the pretty little “blue” butterflies, or resting on the lilac blossoms of scabious plants. And it has no less than three broods in each year, the first appearing in April, the second in June, and the third in August and September.
The caterpillar of this pretty little butterfly is bright green in colour, with a red stripe running along each side, and another along its back. It feeds on the leaves of sorrel plants, and turns into a whitish chrysalis speckled with black and brown.
Perhaps you may wonder why this insect is called the “Small” Copper. The reason is that there used to be a much larger butterfly, which was very much like it, and which was called the “Large Copper.” But this has not been taken for a great many years.
Everybody knows the pretty little “Blue” butterflies, which one sees playing about in such numbers in meadows and by grassy roadsides, all through the summer and the early part of the autumn. But there are several different kinds of these insects, and that which one generally sees is the Common Blue. The male and the female are not quite alike, for the wings of the male are lilac blue all over, while those of the female are much browner, with a row of orange spots running along the hind margin. And the under surface of the male is grey, while that of the female is brown. But, strange to say, “Blues” are sometimes found with the colouring of the male on the wings of one side, and that of the female on those of the other!
The caterpillar of this pretty little butterfly is rather hairy, and is bright green in colour, with a dark stripe running along the back, and a row of little white spots on each side. It feeds on bird’s-foot trefoil, rest-harrow, and other low plants, and turns into a small green chrysalis tinged with brown.