Common

One brood, late-June to late August.

Mixed or grassy deciduous woodlands, usually near streams, rivers, or marshes.

1¾″ to 2⅝″ wingspan

This is a medium-sized butterfly found in woodlands.

The antennae clubs are black with an orange tip.

The upper wing surface is medium brown with areas of lighter and darker brown and several black eyespots. The upper forewing has four round spots and a dark brown zigzag line about halfway between the body and the margin.The spots are dark brown and are surrounded by a pale ring. The spots do not have white centers. The second spot (from the outer edge of the wing) is the smallest of the four, and may be nearly absent. The upper hindwing has 5 large spots. The margin of the hindwing is slightly scalloped.

The lower wing surface is grayish-brown and more boldly patterned than the upper surface. There are two bold lines crossing the wing horizontally. The line closest to the body is relatively straight, the one near the center is zigzagged. The underside of the forewing has four black eyespots, each with a single white pupil in the center, in nearly a straight line. Each eyespot is surrounded first by a narrow yellow ring, then a wider darker ring that overlaps that of the neighboring eyespots, then by a pale band that surrounds the entire group of eyespots. The second spot (from the outer edge of the wing) is the smallest of the four. The lower hindwing has 6 eyespots. The lowest one (nearest to the body) is a double eyespot, with two small black spots and two white pupils.

White grass (Leersia virginica), bearded shorthusk (Brachyelytrum erectum), reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), false melic grass (Schizachne purpurascens), and eastern bottlebrush grass (Elymus hystrix var. hystrix).

Liquids from dung, fungi, carrion, mud, and sap, but not flower nectar.

The female lays eggs singly on host plants. The eggs hatch in the fall. The offspring overwinter as hibernating third- or fourth-stage caterpillars. Adults emerge in late-June to late August.

Males perch to wait for females at the edges of clearings on tree trunks, often upside down, or on foliage, 1½″ to 10″ above ground.

Appalachian brown (Satyrodes appalachia) hindwing is less scalloped. The second forewing spot is not smaller than the first. The bands across the underside of both wings are narrower. The underside of both wings is are the same color as the upperside, light brown not grayish-brown. The pale area surrounding each eyespot is clearly separated from that of its neighbor.

Eyed brown (Satyrodes eurydice) is paler and has smaller spots. One or more of the spots on the upper hindwing has a white center. The eyespots on the lower hindwing have a much smaller black area. The line nearest to the center of the lower hindwing is more jagged, resembling the letter M.

Little wood satyr (Megisto cymela) is smaller, with a wingspan no more than 1⅞″. It has only 2 eyespots on the upper forewing and 2 (male) or 3 (female) on the upper hindwing, most or all with double “pupils”. The line nearest to the center of the lower hindwing is relatively straight.

Taxonomy
The pearly eyes have recently been moved from the genus Enodia to the genus Lethe.