Mr. Curtis says, "They only fly when the sun shines, and their flight is neither swift nor continued, for they frequently alight among the grass, and falling down to the roots, their sombre colour perfectly conceals them."
The following notice of their locality, &c. from { 108} personal observation, is quoted from a communication to the _Intelligencer_, by a well-known entomologist, Mr. R. S. Edleston, of Manchester. He says:--
"I and my friend, Mr. Hugh Harrison, in the middle of June made the ascent to Sty Head Tarn; for the first time in my experience, the weather was everything we could desire--calm and sunshine; this, combined with the dry season of last year and the long drought for months during this, enabled us to collect on ground in other years a dangerous morass. The result was, we captured _Cassiope_ in abundance, some of them in superb condition, just emerged from the chrysalis. A very short time on the wing suffices to injure them. They vary considerably in the development of the black spots on the fulvous patch, almost obsolete in some through all gradations to the fullest development; the patch varies in like manner, and also in form; lastly, they vary in size."
The _butterfly_ has the wings above of a dark brown colour. Each wing bears near its extremity a bar of deep but dull red, divided into sections where the brown veins cross. In each section is usually a black spot, but sometimes these are absent, and a few red spots take the place of the bar. The hind wings are smoothly rounded in their outline, and not toothed or scalloped as in the last species (_Blandina_). The _males_ generally appear towards the end of June, but a few sometimes earlier. The females, however, come later. { 109} being found in July, and some even as late as August. The following localities for it are recorded:--Rannoch, Perthshire; Lake District; Sty Head Tarn; Langdale Pikes; Red Skrees Mountains, near Ambleside; Gable Hill. But other stations for it will probably be added to our list in time.
THE MARSH RINGLET, OR SMALL RINGLET BUTTERFLY. (_Coenonympha Davus._)
This species, which is another North-country butterfly, varies so much in its colouring of sober drab or brown, with black eye-spots, that its varieties have been described as distinct species under the names of _C. Polydama_, _Typhon_, and _Iphis_, now, however, all placed together under the name of _Davus_.