PLATE XVI1. Large White2. Large White Caterpillar3. Small White4. Small White Caterpillar5. Green-veined White, under-side
PLATE XVI
1. Large White2. Large White Caterpillar3. Small White4. Small White Caterpillar5. Green-veined White, under-side
From a little distance you might very easily mistake this butterfly for a “small white”; for it is of just the same size, and the upper surface of its wings is marked in almost exactly the same way. But if you happen to see it sitting with its wings closed, you will notice at once that the veins on the lower surface of the hinder pair are streaked with green or grey. It is not quite as common as the “small white,” but you may see it flying about in almost any part of the country in May, and again in August.
This butterfly lays its eggs on hedge-garlic, and also on winter-cress and sometimes on water-cress. They are most beautiful little objects if you look at them through a microscope, for they are shaped just like little tiny sugar-loaves, with ridges running down them from the top to the bottom, and smaller ridges crosswise between them. The caterpillars which hatch out of them are darker green above and lighter green below, with a row of little black spots on either side, each of which is enclosed in a yellow ring; and the chrysalis is green, sprinkled all over with the tiniest possible black spots.
Skipper butterflies are common enough in almost all parts of the country; yet very few people ever seem to notice them. The reason is that they hardly look like butterflies at all. They look much more like little grey or brown moths. Yet they are really butterflies, for if you look at them closely you will see that their feelers have little knobs at the tips. And that is one of the marks of a butterfly.
It is very easy to see why these little insects are called “Skippers,” for they seem toskipfrom flower to flower in a manner quite unlike the flight of any other butterfly. And the Grizzled Skipper is one of the commonest of them all. You may see it darting about in May, and again in August, in open grassy places in woods. But it only seems to live for a short time, so that although it may be flying about in numbers one day, two or three days later it will have quite disappeared. The caterpillar is sometimes green and sometimes brown in colour, with paler lines along its back and sides. It feeds for a few weeks on bramble-leaves, and then turns into a dull white chrysalis spotted with black.