LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BRITISH BUTTERFLIES, BY C. W. DALE. THE HISTORY OF OUR BRITISH BUTTERFLIES CONTAINING— A FULL BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF FACH SPECIES, WITH COPIOUS EXTRACTS FROM THE OLD AUTHORS ; AND FULL DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE BRITISH SPECIES, THEIR EGGS, CATERPILLARS, CHRYSALIDES AND VARIETIES, WITH A NOTICE OF THEIR HABITS, LOCALITIES, FREQUENCY, &c., &c. BY C. W. ,Dale, F.E.S. Uon&on : JOHN KEMPSTER & Co. HSECQIIQLOW Ibarttepool : B. T. ORD, PRINTER, 69, HIGH STREET. Q l-SSS INTRODUCTION. THE early history of science informs us of peculiar acquirements by which nations distinguished themselves from the rest of the world. Thus we are told of the skill of the Egyptians in astronomy, to which they were peculiarly led by their manner of reposing on open terraces under a cloudless sky. We learn also from the Old Testament, which if it were merely a human work would be the most venerable monument in the world, that Natural History was very early one of the sciences in the highest estimation. The manner in which Solomon's botanical knowledge is mentioned in the Bible, proves that to have been in those days the most esteemed, perhaps, of all learning whatever. Moses, moreover, appears to have possessed more than an ordinary knowledge of insects, if we suppose, as the ingenious remarks of Professor Lichtenstein render probable, that he distinguishes as clean insects the Fabrician genera Gryllus, Locusta, Truxalit, and Ac ft eta, which a person unobservant of these insects would have confounded together. Allusion is oftentimes made in Holy Writ to insects of almost every one of the modern orders, — the locust, bee, moth, fly, lice, &c. ; but not once to butterflies. The Prophets frequently introduce them as symbols of enemies that lay waste or oppress the church ; and Solomon did not deem insects, those " Little things upon the earth/' unworthy of his attention. He even advised the sluggard to go to the ant, to consider her ways, and be wise. With Aristotle, however, begins the real history of science; and how much soever he may have erred on particular points, the greatness of his conceptions and the justness of his ideas on the whole, entitle him to our high veneration. His labours in the investigation of the animal kingdom have laid the founda- tion of the knowledge we now possess, and it cannot sufficiently be regretted that we have only an imperfect account of his discoveries. Theophrastus, the worthy disciple of Aristotle, has given us the first scientific views of the MS5G1S3 11. vegetable and mineral kingdoms. These two great men stand unrivalled as the only philosophical naturalists of antiquity of whom we have any satis- factory knowledge. Several ages after came Pliny, who has transmitted to us, so far as he was able, all that was known of natural history at the time in which he lived. Apollodorus, as Pliny informs us, was the first monographer of insects, since he wrote a treatise upon scorpions, and described nine species. ^Elian also, amongst other animals, mentions insects. From him we learn incidently that artificial flies were sometimes used by Grecian anglers. From the time of Pliny and ^Elian, 1400 years rolled away, in which scarcely anything was done or attempted for entomology or natural history in general. During that long period the glimmer of only one luminary appeared to make a short and feeble twilight. In the middle of the thirteenth century Albertus Magnus devoted one out of twenty-one folio volumes to natural history. He gives a very correct account of the pit-falls of the Ant Lion. Insects he distinguishes by the name of Anulosa. He also calls them worms, describing butterflies as flying worms*; and what is still more extraordinary, the toad and the frog, which he includes amongst his Anulosa, he calls quad- ruped-worms. After the taking of Constantinople by the Turks in the middle of the fifteenth century, the light of learning, kindled by those of its professors who escaped from that ruin, appeared in the West. The Greek language then began to be studied universally ; and in consequence of the coeval invention of the art of printing, various editions of the Greek works of the ancients were published : amongst the rest, those of the fathers of natural history. From the perusal of those works, the love of the sciences of which they treated revived in the West, and the attention of scientific men began to direct itself to the consideration and study of the works of their Creator. In the latter part of that century, a work entitled the " Book of Nature " appeared in the German language, in which animals and plants were treated of and rudely figured, as they were likewise most miserably in " Cuba's Ortus Sanitatis/' published in 1485. In this work, insects and crabs were described under the three different denominations of Animals, Birds, and Fishes. Conrad Gesner, the greatest naturalist the world had ever seen since Aristotle, was born at Zurich, in 1516, and died in 1565. He founded and supported a botanic garden, kept a painter engraver in his service, had a very considerable library, and, according to Haller, was the first who ever formed a museum of natural history. Ulysses Aldromandus resembled Gesner in the indefatig- able industry and zeal for the advancement of natural history. His memory 111. has been much honoured at Bologna, where he died in 1605. The great zoological work, which he left imperfect was finished after his death ; and the first attempt at a separate and systematical arrangement of insects subsequent to the times of Aristotle, was made in the ponderous volumes. From him Linna3us borrowed the name Polychloros, which he bestowed on the Large Tortoise-shell Butterfly. About the. same time botany began to be attended to in our own country. Turner published his " Herbal" in 1551., and in 1597 was printed the first edition of Gerard's " Herbal." The work that is usually called Mouffet's,"Theatrum Insectorum" was produced in the seventeenth century, and was the fruit of the successive labours of several men of talent. Dr. Edward Wotton and the celebrated Conrad Gesner laid the foundation ; whose manuscripts falling into the hands of Dr. Thomas Penery — an eminent physician and botanist of the Elizabethan age, much devoted to the study of insects — he upon this foundation meditated raising a superstructure which shonld include a complete history of these animals, but in 1589 he was snatched away by an untimely death. His unfinished manuscripts were purchased at a considerable price by Thomas Mouffet, a contemporary physician of singular learning, who reduced them to order, improved the style, added new matter and not less than 150 additional figures, but before he could commit his labours to the press he also died. The work remained buried in dust and obscurity till it fell into the hands of Sir Theodore May erne, one of the court physicians in the time of Charles I., who at length published it in 1634; and it was so well received that in the year 1658, Edward Topsel published an English translation of it. It is the first entomological publication extant in the British Isles, and is embellished with numerous wood engravings, accompanied by long, tedious, and some- times superstitious descriptions of the articles they represent, which are systematically divided into two books and forty-two caputs. The 14th caput treats " De Papilionilibus," and occupies above twenty pages, in the margins of which are inserted, in an indented manner, 112 woodcuts of the rudest execution imaginable ; yet, for the most part, perfectly intelligible to any person tolerably skilled in the science of entomology. In it the moths are called nocturnal butterflies, and the butterflies diurnal butterflies. Amongst the latter, one can recognise the following British species: — Swallow-tail, Scarce Swallow-tail, Orange-tip, Brimstone, Green-veined White, Clouded Yellow, Common Blue, Wall, Speckled Wood, Painted Lady, Eed Admiral, Large Tortoise-shell, Small Tortoise-shell, Peacock, Silver Spotted Fritillary, and the Silver Spotted Skipper. One of the most remarkable works of the century we are upon was pub- IV. lished at Liguity in the year 1603, by Casper Schwenckfield, a physician of Hieschberg, under the title of " Theriotrophium Silesise." This was probably the first attempt at a fauna that ever was made. In it animals are divided into quadrupeds, reptiles, birds, fishes, and insects. In 1667, Christopher Merrett, M.D., one of the earliest Fellows of the Koyal Society, published at London, his " Pinax rerum Naturalium Britanni- carum, continens Vegitabilia, Animalia, et Fossilia, in hac Insula reperta inchoatus." It is the first publication which gives any account of British insects exclusively ; and contains among other things, a brief catalogue of such as Dr. Merrett knew to be indigenous, each accompanied with a concise descriptive sentence, by way of a name. There are twenty-two descriptive sentences of butterflies ; which, according to Mr. Haworth in his " Review of Entomology," published in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, for the year 1812, belong to the following species : — Large White, Black-veined White, Small White, Speckled Wood, Comma, Einglet, Brim- stone, Wall, Green-veined White, Small Tortoise-shell, Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Wood White, Purple-edged Copper, Green Hairstreak, Common Blue, Large Heath, Brown Skipper, Dark Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Small Heath, and the Silver Spotted Skipper. Mr. Haworth goes on to say " That Merrett should have been acquainted with the Purple-edged Copper is indeed singular ; but his words, " Externis purpurascentibus," by which I understand externis marginibus, &c., absolutely and pointed agree with it; and as absolutely and pointedly disagree with every other known British species." At page 197 of the Pinax, we read exactly as follows: " Papilio, vel diurnus, a Butterfly, vel nocturnus, a Miller, qui phalsena dicitur cujus species sequuntur. Phalsene major ? Exigua argentea nigris maculis rotata, a Moth." Amongst other insects Dr. Merrett mentions Staphylinus, the poisonous caterpillar; Formica, Ant, Emet, or Pismire; Gryllus, Cricket; Locusta Grasshopper ; and Cicindela, a Glowworm. In 1662, Goedart published in Middelburg his "Metamorphosis et His- toria Naturalis Insectorum," which was done into English and methodized with the addition of notes by Martin Lister in ] 6c85. Goedart is stated to have spent forty years of his life in attending to the proceedings of insects. The improvement he effected in the drawing and engraving of them was great, for his figures, though sometimes incorrect, were far superior to those of his predecessors. He appears also to have been the first author who gave any figures of the caterpillars and chrysalides. The British butterflies he figures $re the Peacock, Large Tortoise-shell, Small Tortoise-shell, Painted Lady, Large White, Small White, and Red Admiral. To the general work Martin Lister added a short appendix on British spiders. A very inferior book of nature belonging to this century is that by Hollar, published in 1674. In it he gives figures of such fabulous animals as a Flying Dragon and a Griffin. There is also a scanty mention of insects in Nehemiah Grew's "Rarities of Gresham College/' published in 1681. Science received a vast impetus by the establishment of the Royal Society, which, from a small beginning at Oxford about the year 1645, made rapid advances when removed to the metropolis in 1662. This learned body bestowed great attention from the begining upon the physiological part of natural history. The names of Boyle, Evelyn, Hook, and Needham are among the first members of this society. Mr. Willoughby, also, was one of the original fellows, although his friend Ray was not admitted till the year 1667. Dr. Lister, the great conch ologist, was very early associated with it, as well as the vegetable physiologist, Dr. Grew. Many similar institutions were set on foot throughout Europe, as the Imperial Academy Naturae Curiosorum, begun in 1652. An academy was instituted at Paris, in 1666, and another some years after at Montpellier, very similar to the Royal Society of London, with which the greatest men in Europe have always been proud to be associated. One of the most important events of this century was the complete exposure and refutation of the absurd doctrine of equivocal generation, which had maintained its ground in the schools of philosophy from the time of Aristotle. Our own immortal Harvey was the first who dared to controvert this irrational theory : and his dictum — Omnia ex ovo — was copiously dis- cussed and completely established by two of the ablest physiologists that Italy has produced, Redi and Malpighi. The works of Swammerdam also are full of curious information, and will sufficiently reward those whose patience is not to be exhausted by his tedious heavy style. Towards the end of the century appeared two great naturalists, our country- men, Willoughby and the illustrious Ray. John Ray, the son of a blacksmith, was born in 1628, at Black Netley, in Essex. He was bred up to the Church, and finally became one of the brightest ornaments in the history of our science. He was the author of many invaluable works on divinity, morality, and botany. At the advanced age of 75 he began his work on insects, the celebrated "Historia Insectorium/' for which he had been accumulating materials from 1690 to 1700, but being snatched away from his labours by the hand of death on the 17th of January, 1705, the work, which w^s nearly ready for the press, was published post- VI. humously by his friend Dr. Derham, at the command of the Royal Society, in 1710. To it is subjoined " A.ppendia de Scarabseis Britannici, auctore M. Lister, F.R.S., ex. M.S.S. Mussei Ashmoleani," It appears from Ray's letters that his friend Willoughby drew up a history of insects and worms, which probably formed the ground work of the " Historia Insectorium," con- cerning which he says, " The work which 1 have now entered upon is indeed too much for me, I rely chiefly on Mr. Willoughby 's discoveries and the con- tributions of friends." The principal of these were Dale, to whom he bequeathed his collection of insects ; Yernon, who in a letter from Mr. Brume to Mr. Rawlins, June ]4th, 1735, in the Bodleian Collection, is stated to have followed a butterfly nine miles before he caught him ; Petiver, Jezreel Jones, Antrobus, and Dandridge. The descriptions given in the " Historia Insectorium/' especially considering the dark ages of this science in which they were written, are masterpieces of clearness and precision, and such as, in general, render it tolerably easy to ascertain the articles they belong to ; although unaccompanied with figures : but with respect to the arrangement and distribution of its materials, the work is in both these essential points, unquestionably very far inferior to that of Linnaeus ; and indeed, in some particulars, is not much superior to its predecessors. For, like them, it also incongruously blends the Linnsean class of Yermes with the genuine and natural one of insects. He estimates the number of butterflies observed by him and his friends in England to be fifty. The species he describes are : — Swallow-tail, Scarce Swallow-tail, Brimstone, Clouded Yellow, Large Cabbage White, Small Cabbage White, Green-veined White, Marbled White or naif- Mourner, Bath White or Greenish-marbled Half-Mourner, Lesser Tortoise- shell, Greater Tortoise-shell, Comma, Silver-streaked Fritillary, Greater Silver- spotted Fritillary, Queen of Spain or Lesser Silver-spotted Fritillary, Light Pearl-bordered or April Fritillary, Dark Pearl-bordered or May Fritillary, Glanville Fritillary, Marsh Fritillary, Duke of Burgundy or Mr. Vernon's Small Fritillary, Painted Lady, Peacock's Eye, Wall or Golden-marbled Butterfly with black eyes, Meadow Brown, Hedge Brown, Small Heath, Small Copper, Small Skipper, Red Admiral, Purple Emperor, White Admiral, Speckled Wood, Black-eyed Marble, Ringlet, Purple Hair-streak, Brown Hair-streak, Common Blue, Heath Blue, Chalk-hill Blue, Azure Blue, Mazarine Blue, Brown Skipper, Spotted Skipper, and Green Hair-streak. He also adds a few exotics found in the museums or cabinets of the curious in and about London. In a letter to Mr. Derham, bearing the date of 1703, Mr. Ray writes " I have for some years together been a diligent searcher out of Papilios, vu. diurnal and nocturnal, and though I have found and described near upon 300 species, great and small, within the small compass of four or five miles ; yet came I not to the end of them. Now, the genus of beetles is as numerous as that of the Papilios, if not more. The flies (so at present I call all insects that have naked and smooth, not farinaceous wings), both bipennes and quad- ripennes, are in a manner infinite, nor has their history been with diligence prosecuted by any man that I know of, except Mr. Willoughby ; whose manuscript I hope to procure." In another letter he writes, "As for books about insects, written in, or translated into Latin, I know none but Aldro- mandus, Mouffet, Johnson, and Goedartius, except Malpighius de Bomlyce, and Dr. Lister de Araneis. The best general history, or account of insects, is that of Swammerdam, written in Low-Dutch, and translated into French." One of his friends, James Petiver, published at London a variety of mis- cellaneous zoological, botanical, and other treatises, illustrated by several thousand figures, each of which is (like the items of Merrett's Pinax) explained by a concise and descriptive sentence, which served as a name. He also was the author of one work, entirely entomological, entitled "Papilionum Britan- nia Icories, Nomina, &c.," of about eighty English butterflies, being all that have hitherto been discovered in Britain, by James Petiver, F.R.8., London, 1717, folio. It is a valuable publication to the student in British lepidoptera, the figures being (for these times) well executed. The species are fifty iu number, viz : Black- veined White, Great Cabbage White, Small Cabbage White, Green-veined White, Wood White, Brimstone, Clouded Yellow or Saffron, Swallow-tail or .Royal William, Orange-tip or White Marbled, Bath White or Vernon's Greenish Half-Mourner, Marbled White or Common Half-Mourner, lied Admiral, White Admiral, Silver- streaked Fritillary, Great Silver-spotted Fritillary, High Brown Fritillary, Heath or Straw May Fritillary, Dark Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Duke of Burgundy or Vernoii's Small Fritillary, Light Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Marsh or Dandridge's Black Fritillary, Queen of Spain or Lesser Spotted Fritillary, Glanville or White Dullidge Fritillary, Great Tortoke -shell, Lesser Tortoise-shell, Comma, Small Copper, Spotted Skipper or Brown Marsh Fritillary, Brown Skipper or Handley's Small Brown Butterfly, Painted Lady, Brown Hair-streak, Purple or Bay's Blue Hair-streak, Peacock, Albin's Hampstead Eye, Black-eyed Marble or Tunbridge Grayling, Speckled Wood or Enfield Eye, Wall or London Eye, Meadow Brown or Eye, Hedge Brown or Eye, Binglet or Brown Eye, Small Heath or Silver-edged Heath Eye, Chalk- hill Blue or Pale Blue Argus, Common Blue or Blue Argus, Heath Blue or Silver-edged Blue Argus, Brown Argus, Azure or Blue Speckt Butterfly, Vlll. Green Hair-streak or Holly Butterfly, Small Skipper or Spotless Hog, and the Large Skipper or Cloudy Hog. The remaining thirty figured by Petiver, are varities or the other sex of the above. One species, Albin's Hampstead Eye, is a native of Australia, and must have been introduced by Petiver through a mistake. The additions in his work to the list of British Butterflies are the High Brown Fritillary, Heath Eritillary, Brown Argus, Large Skipper, and Small Skipper. Both Petiver and Ray gave English names to many of the species, some of which have been changed since their time. The publications of Petiver have been of essential service to zoology and botany, but they have become scarce, though a second edition of them, entitled "Petiveri Opera/' was published in 1764. His museum after his decease, which happened in April, 1718, was purchased by his worthy friend Sir Hans Sloane, for no less than £4,000 ; a great sum in those days, which at once proves the goodness of the Petiverian collection, and the affluence of the Baronet. It eventually went, along with the vast stores of natural pro- ductions amassed by Sir Hans Sloane, to form the basis of that national institution, the British Museum. Sir Hans Sloane, in the year 1725, published the second volume of his "Natural History of Jamaica/' including the insects found in that Island. In the year following was published in Holland, one of the most splendid entomological works ever published, by Madame Marie Sibilla Merian, in the "Transformations of the Insects of Surinam/' a large folio volume with finely drawn and highly coloured plates of insects, plants, and reptiles. The work which next nrrests our attention is that of Eleazar Albin, a painter of no small ability, \vho in the year 1731, published at London, a "Natural History of English Insects," illustrated with 100 copper-plates, engraven from life; and of which a second edition appeared in 1749, with large notes, and many curious observations by W. Dereham, D.D., Fellow of the Eoyal Society. This is the first work with coloured illustrations of English insects, and it contains principally, but not exclusively, such lepi- dopterous insects as the author, or his friends, had reared from caterpillars ; exhibiting them picturesquely feeding on their proper plants, and in all phases, or mutations : the whole highly coloured, and accompanied by des- criptions in the English language, but without names. This last I mention as Guenee has unadvisedly given Albin as an author of names. The butter- flies he figures are the Large Cabbage White, Black-veined White, Brim- stone, Bed Admiral, Peacock, Small Tortoise-shell, Brown Hairstreak, Green Hairstreak, Painted Lady, Large Tortoise-shell, Comma, Meadow Brown, IX. Purple Hairstreak, Small Cabbage White, and the Green-veined White. Albin dedicates the plates to various different persons (a custom which has unfortunately fallen out of use in the present century), who bore the expense of the plates ; and the entire work to her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. In the preface he informs us that Mr. Dandridge employed him in paint- ing caterpillars, and that he painted a lot of caterpillars and flies for Mr. How, and likewise several things relating to natural history for Sir Hans Sloane. Also that the Duchess Dowager of Beaufort employed him in the same manner, and that she was the first to persuade him to undertake his work, and encouraged him by procuring subscriptions from persons of the first quality; amongst them Henry Bentinck, Earl of Portland, father-in-law of the celebrated Duchess of Portland. I may as well mention here that I have in my possession Albin's original drawings. He also published in 1736, a Natural History of Spiders, and other curious insects, 200 in number. In 1739, Professor Bradley published, at London, his "Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature." At page 190 of his work, he informs us that the following were very eminent collectors of insects : " the Duchess of Beaufort, who has bred a greater variety of English insects than were ever rightly observed by any one person in Europe ; Sir Hans Sloane ; Mr. Yin- cent; Dr. Ruysch; and Mr. Sebra have surprising collections, where we may observe many thousands of foreign insects ; and Mr. Dandridge, who has so industriously collected the insects of our own country." Bradley gives a few engravings of insects, but does not appear to have much advanced the science. We are now arrived at that period in the history of Entomology, in which it received that, with respect to its general outline, which has been preserved ever since. Swamunerdam had altogether deserted the system of Aristotle, and Ray mixed it with that of his predecessor. But two years after the death of Ray was born the greatest naturalist the world has ever been graced with, the immortal Linnaeus. This illustrious philosopher was born on the 24th of May, 1707, in the little village of Roeshult, in Sweden, and imbibed a taste for entomology almost as early as botany. In the first edition of his "Systema Naturae," published in 1735, and contained in only fourteen folio pages, he began to arrange the three kingdoms of nature after his own con- ceptions. But this initiatory sketch, as might be expected, was very imper- fect ; and with respect to insects, was extremely inferior to what Ray had effected; for he puts into one order, to which he gives the name of Angioptera, the Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, Hymenoptera, and Diptera. In this work, however, generic characters were first given. In successive editions he continued to improve upon this outline : in the fourth, he finally settled the the number and denominations of his orders, and also their limits. His system, being founded upon the absence or presence and characters of the organs for flight, is in some degree a republication of the Aristotelian, and may be called the Alary system. The 2nd edition was published in 1740, the" 3rd in 1740, the 4th in 1744, the 5th in 1747, the 6th in 1748, the 7th in 1748, the 8th in 1753, the 9th in 1756, the 10th in 1758, the llth in 1760, the 12th in 1766. Quite a new turn was given to the science of natural history by the publi- cation of the "Systema and Fundameiita Botanica of Linnaeus'7 in 1735. Nor were the learned world determined how they should receive these extra- ordinary productions, when in 1737 the same author, without any other support than his own transcendent merit, fixed the attention of all Europe by his " Critica Botanica/' "Genera Plantarum," " Hortus Cliffortiariurn," " Flora Lapponica," and " Methodus Sexalis ; five works, the produce of one year, each of which would alone have been sufficient to have immortalized its author, and in the composition of which a man's whole life might have been thought to have been usefully employed. But in no respect were the labours of Linnaeus more beneficial to science and zoology in particular, than when he undertook to describe the animals of his own country. His " Fauna Suecica," published in 1746, is an admirable exemplar, which greatly stimu- lated the zoologists of other countries to study their native productions. The last public exertion of Linnaeus was a beautiful oration delivered before the University of Upsala, when he resigned his office of Rector. This was in the latter part of the year 1772, in the 65th year of his age, six years before his death, which took place on the 10th January, 1778. Before his death he was elected a member of twenty academies, including the three of his own country, and in 1753 was dubbed a Knight of the Polar Star by the King of Sweden's own hand. Linnaeus had many pupils, whom he persuaded to travel all over the world ; he himself travelled over Lapland, all Sweden, part of Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, France, and England, in search of knowledge. The most useful of his works to the Entomologist are the "Fauna Suecica" and the " Systema Naturae/' In the last edition of the latter he has included more than 3000 species of insects, classed them, divided them into genera and species, described them, marked the places where 'they are to be found, the plants they feed on, their transformations, and cited the authors who have treated of them. ±1. Before the time of Linnaeus, names were given to insects somewhat indis- criminately, and, not unfrequently, they were but brief descriptions. Thus, Petiver, in 1717, called the Brimstone Butterfly " Papilio sulphureus ;3> Ray, in 1710, called the Clouded Yellow "Papilio croceus,apicibus nigricantibus" and the Bath White " Papilio leucomelanos Cantabrigiensis ; " Albin, iu 1731, called the Black-veined White "Papilio albus venis nigru" So, too, in 1769, Wallis, in his "Antiquities and Natural History of Northumber- land," called the Comma " The brown and gold butterfly with lacinated wings." Linnaeus devised a system of nomenclature that needed but two words for each species. The second of these was the specific, whilst the first showed to what germs the particular species belonged. The Lepidoptera he divided into only three genera : Papilio, Sphinx, and Phaleena. Instead of giving in every instance a fresh set of names, he adopted many from the ancients, such as Gryllo-talpa, from Aristotle, for the Mole-cricket; Cossus, from Pliny, for the Goat Moth; and Polychlorus, from Aldrovandus, for the Large Tortoise-shell Butterfly. Between the 10th edition of the " Systema Naturae" and the 12th, appeared the following, viz. : Nicole Poda's " Insecta Musei Graecensis, quae in ordine?* genera et species juxta Systema Naturae Caroli Linnaei digessit," in 1761; Sepp's " Nederlandsche Insecten," commenced in 1762, a beautiful work in which not only the perfect insects, caterpillars, and chrysalides are figured, but also the egj*s ; Scopoli's " Entomologia Carniolica Methoclo Linnaeana," in 1763, of which I possess a copy with plates; and Geoffrey's '''Historic Des Insects," in 1764. Geoffroy is principally celebrated as the author of the method generally adopted by modern entomologists, of dividing the Coleoptera into primary sections, according to the number of the joints of their tarsi. His work is further serviceable by indicating many genera not defined by Linnaeus. Scopoli, under the name of Papilio macaronius, has figured and described a Myrmelion, one of the Neuroptera. His specific names also are heavy, and where altered from the Linnaean are mostly altered for the worse. The liberty he has taken in changing names is unworthy of him, and injurious to science. Under the heading of Papilio alexis, he appears to have grouped together two or three distinct species, so that it is impossible to tell to which the name belongs. For these and other reasons, the 12th edition of the great work of Linnaeus, the "Systema Naturae," was decided upon for the starting point of our nomenclature. That this decision is wise there should be no doubt. Linnaeus was an exceptionally able man. The binomial system of nomen- clature was but an adjunct to the great scheme of arrangement and order Xll. with which he replaced the chaos of an earlier time. In giving names he knew what he was about better than we can know, and when he thought it better to alter a name he had adopted before, or that had been used by others, we may be quite sure he had good reasons for the alteration. Surely the carefully revised completion of a great work is a safer starting point than an earlier and admittedly imperfect edition. It must be borne in mind that I am referring exclusively to the science of entomology, for in the sister science of botany, plants had been divided into species and genera long before the time of Liunseus. For instance, Ray, in his " Catalogues Plant- arum Angliae et Insulaeum Adjacentium/' published in 1677, divided the perfect plants of our island* into 23 genera. In a letter to Haller, bearing the date of June 8th, 1737, Linnaeus writes : " Those who come after us, in the free republic of Botany, will never subscribe to authorities sanctioned only by antiquity, if we retain such intractable names as Monolasiocallenomenophyllum and Hypophyllocarpodendrium ; why should we therefore retain barbarous or mule names, or names distinguished only by tails. Witness : Alsine, Alsinoides of Ray, Alsinella of Dillenius, Alsinastrum of Yaillant, Alsinastroides of Kramer, Alsinastriformis of Plukenet, Alsin- anthemos of Bay, and Alsinanthemum of Kramer. I could not help laugh- ing when I saw a certain Botanist establish a genus by its tail alone, calling Convolvuloides, because it had an upright stem. Why does the termination oides displease ? Because it is the asylum of ignorance. Botanists seem to me never to have touched upon nomenclature as a subject of study, and therefore this path of their science remains still unexplained." If we turn to our own British Isles again we find that, in the year of our Lord 1742, Benjamin Wilkes published at London twelve folio copperplates of the more showy English lepidoptera, disposed in imitation of pictures ; with an engraved emblematic title, highly ornamented, dedicating the work to the Aurelian Society of that day. The English names of the insects, and often the names of the plants on which they feed, together with the times and places they are found in, are likewise engraved at the foot of each plate, but no letterpress appears to accompany them. The butterflies are the Peacock, White Admiral, Swallow-tail, Red Admiral, High Brown (or more properly) Silver- spotted Fritillary, Large Tortoise-shell, Ultramarine or Common Blue, Purple Hair-streak, Marmoris or Marbled White, Darkened Green or High Brown Fritillary, Comma, Painted Lady, Rock Underwing or Black-eyed Marble, Purple Emperor, Small Pearl-border or Dark Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Great or Silver-striped Fritillary, Clouded Yellow, Small Tortoise-shell, Lady of the Woods or Orange-tip, and the Orange Field Butterfly or Hedge Brown. Xlll. This appears to be the only English entomological work during a period of twenty years, the minds of the men of science being wholly occupied with the theories and views of the celebrated Sir Isaac Newton. We next arrive at a name memorable in the annals of British entomology, that of Moses Harris, who has contributed more, perhaps, than all our entomologists who preceeded him, towards 'the knowledge and natural history of British insects. He was also one of the first who endeavoured to form an Aurelian Society in this country, for the purpose of recording and diffusing the knowledge he had acquired, and of which he was chosen to be the secretary. The first of his works — " The Aurelian or a Collection of Butterflies and Moths and the Plants on which they feed and are found, Delineated and Coloured, with an Explanation thereof/' was published in folio, at London, in the year of our Lord 1766. The butterflies in the work are 21 in number, viz : The Comma, Small Tortoise-shell, Purple Emperor, Red Admiral, Peacock, Black-veined White, Purple Hair-streak, Painted Lady, Marmoris or Marbled White, Grand Surprize or Camberwell Beauty, Glanville Fritillary, Little Gate-keeper, Green Fly or Hair-streak, Dark Green or Silver-spotted Fritillary, Dishclout or Greasy or Marsh Fritillary, High Brown Fritillary, Clouded Yellow, Wood White, and White Admirable. The Camberwell Beauty is an addition to the British Fauna. > ow comes a very important period, that of the introduction of the Lin- IIJEAII system into England, for in 1769, John Berkenhout, M.D., published in English, in small octavo, the first volume of his " Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain/' containing the animal kingdom; and amongst other things, as many insects as he could ascertain, arranged according to the Linnsean system, amounting to about 600 species. The butterflies he includes are as follows : — 1, Machaon, Eoyal William or Swallow-tail; 2, Podalirius-, 3, Cratagi, White Butterfly, with black veins; 4, Brassica, Great White Cabbage; 5, Rapes, Small White Cabbage; 6, Napi, White Butterfly, with green veins ; 7, Cardamines, Orange-tip ; 8, Hyalc, Spanish Butterfly, more properly Edusa, Clouded Yellow; 9, Rhamni, Brimstone; 10, Hyperantus, Brown-eyed or Kinglet; 11, lo, Peacock; 12, Mara, Great Argus, more properly Megara, Wall; 13, JEgeria, Wood Argus or Speckled Wood ; 14, Galatkea, Marble; 15, Semele, Black-eyed Marble; 16, Jurtina, Meadow Brown; 17, Cardui, Painted Lady; 18, Iris, Emperor of the Woods or Purple High-flyer; 19, Antiopa, Willow Butterfly or Camberwell Beauty; 20, Polychlorus, Great Tortoise-shell ; 21, Urtica, Small Tortoise-shell; 2£. C-album, Comma; 23, Atalanta, Bed Admiral; XIV. 24, Lucina, Small Fritillary or Duke of Burgundy ; 25, Maturna, Heath Fritillary, more properly Athalia ; 26, Cinxia, Plantain or Glanville Fritil- lary; 27, Paphia, Great or Silver-striped Fritillary; 28, Aglaia, Great Fritillary with silver spots ; 29, Lathonia, Less Silver-spotted Fritillary or Queen of Spain; 30, EupJirosyne, April or Light Pearl-bordered Fritillary; 31, Betula, Brown Hair-streak; 32, Quercus, Purple Hair-streak; 33, Argus, Blue Argus, moie properly learns-, 34, Argiolus, Azure Blue; 35, Pamphilus, Small Heath or Little Gate-keeper; 36, Rubi, Green Hair-streak ; 37, Phlaas, Small Golden Black-spotted Butterfly or Small Copper ; 38, Comma, Chequered Hog or Pearl Skipper; 39, Malva, Grizzle or Brown Marsh Fritillary, moro properly Alveolus or Spotted Skipper. In 1770, the following year, John Eeinhold Forstei, published at Warring- ton, a " Catalogue of British Insects." This was a mere catalogue of Latin names, but the most extensive yet made, amounting to a thousand species. In 1772, "The Naturalist and Traveller's Companion," by Dr. Lettsoin, was published at London, giving directions how to collect and preserve all sorts of natural productions, and is a very useful book especially to beginners. We now come to a year fertile in the produce of entomological works, for in 1773, Yeats, published at London, his "Institutions of Entomology, being a translation of Linnseeus' ' Ordines et Genera Insectorum : " or systematic arrangement of insects, collated with the different systems of Geoffroy, Schaffer, and Scopoli." This is an excellent publication for its time. Jn it, Yeats writes : The division of the butterflies into families, from the circumstances chosen by Linnaeus, seems liable to many objections : the family of the Plebeii, in particular, is very inaccurate, and contains insects very different from one another. Scopoli and Geoffroy have divided this genus into different families from the number of their feet; a method which cannot easily be pursued in cabinets where exotic butterflies are admitted, these parts being generally destroyed before such insects reach Europe. The other circumstances from which Geoffroy has taken his divisions into families, viz., the form of the caterpillars, is totally impracticable, except where the collector admits no other butterflies into his cabinet, but such as he himself possessed in the caterpillar state, Geoffroy has, besides changing the orders of the Linnsean system, formed from the different families of Linnsean genera many new genera, some of them very judiciously, others perhaps without sufficient grounds. Schseffer, in his ' Element a Entomologise/ printed at Ratisbon, in 1776, has followed Geoffrey with very few and inconsiderable variations. I should have been glad to have given some account of the system of Poda, a Jesuit, a work much praised by Scopoli, but have not XV. been able to procure it, nor learn how or in what he differs from Linnaeus/' In 1773, appeared the splendid work of Benjamin Wilkes, entitled, "One hundred and twenty plates of English Moths and Butterflies." The insects are figured after the manner of Albin, but far more sumptuously: and are accompanied by English descriptions of the caterpillars and chysalides, but not of the perfect state; and are entirely destitute of Latin, generic, and specific names, and references to the inestimable works of Linnaeus. The butterflies figured are the Swallpw-tail, Brimstone, Black-veined White, Small Garden White, Green- veined White, Large Garden White, Orange-tip or Lady of the Woods, Marble White or Marmoris, Meadow Brown, Wall or Great Argus, Speckled Wood or Wood Argus — a foreign species of Skipper feeding on mallow, figured in mistake for the Grizzle or Spotted Skipper, Red Admiral, Peacock, Painted Lady, Great Tortoise-shell, Small Tortoise-shell, Comma, Great Silver -striped Fritillary, Glanville or Plantain, Heath Fritillary, Willow or Camberwell Beauty, Small or Marsh Fritillary, Great Silver-spotted Fritillary, Purple Hair-streak, Brown Hair-streak, Green Hair-streak, Com- mon Blue, and the Purple High-flyer or Mmperor of the Woods. Wilkes, in his " Preface," informs us that he has been greatly assisted by that well-known and ingenious naturalist, Mr. Joseph Dandridge; to whose noble collection he had free access to during his lifetime, and also the liberty of making what use he thought fit of his curious remarks on those subjects, which were the fruits of no less than forty years experience : and that he must also acknowledge that he has made use of the drawings of some cater- pillar and flies which were published in 1746, by ,1. A. Kosel, at Nuremburgh, in Germany. Wilkes also has introduced a fresh system of classification built upon the caterpillar state. The butterflies he has divided into four classes, viz: 1, Smooth caterpillars; 2, Having little hair; 3, Armed with spikes 4, Shaped like wood-lice. At the same period Dr. Drury published a beautiful work on " Ento- mology," containing comprehensive descriptions in English and French, with an index of Linnasan names at the end, and a great many coloured upper- plates of such interesting exotic insects, as had not before been, or were insufficiently figured. The icons were executed by Moses Harris in his best style, and are far superior to any of their predecessors in Britain. Mr. Drury 's cabinet was one of the most extensive hitherto made, and is said to have contained, in species and varieties, the number of 11,000 specie?. He spared no pains or cost in getting them together, and like Petivcr, sent printed instructions, in various languages, all over the world for that purpose, by captains of ships and others. Soon after his death, in 1810, his collection XVI. was sold by auction, and produced £650 : one single butterfly selling for no less than twelve guineas. The above mentioned Moses Harris has contributed more than all the Entomologists who preceded him, towards the knowledge and natural history of British insects. In 1775, he published the " Aurelian's Pocket Companion," containing a catalogue of four hundred English Moths and Butterflies, the food of their respective caterpillars, the time of changing into chrysalides, appearance in the winged state, and places were they are usually found, together with a concise description of each, and their dimensions, in inches and quarters; also the Linnean names in the last column with the number annexed to each species, as it is numerically placed by Linnaeus in the 12th edition of the " Systema Naturae." The Linnean names given are : Camilla, Atalanta, Argiolus, Rhamni, Jurtina, Rubi, C. album, Virgaurea, Iris, Paphia, Adippe, Aglaia, Euphrosyne, Maturna, Lathonia, Cinxia, Lucina, Semele, Megara, Pamphilus, Cardui, Cardamines, Io, Hyperantus, PolycJiloros, Urticee, Comma, Tages, Betula, Quercus, Antiopa, Machaon, Brassica, Rapes, Cratagi, Napi, JEgeria, Galathea, Mara, and Hyale. Of these, Camilla, Virgaurea, Maturna, and Mara, are not British, and are simply given in mistake for Sibylla, Phlaas, Athalia, and Tithonus. The English names stand in the first column, and are in alphabetical order, thus : — Admirable White, Admirable, Blue Azure, Blue Common, Blue Argus, Blue Clifden, Blue Chalkhill, Blue Silver-studded, Brimstone, Brown Meadow, Bramble or Green Fly, Comma, Copper, Emperor Purple, Fritillaria Silver-wash, Fritillaria High Brown, Fritillaria Dark Green, Fritillaria Pearl Border, Fritillaria Pearl Border Likeness, Fritillaria Greasy, Fritillaria Queen of Spain, Fritillaria Glanville, Fritillaria Duke of Burgundy, Fritillaria vmali Pearl Border, Grayline, Gristle or Spotted Skipper, Keeper Large Gate, Keeper Small, Lady Painted, Lady of the woods or Orange-tip, Peacock, Einglett, Tortoise-shell Large, Tortoise-shell Small, Skipper Large, Skipper Small, Skipper Dingy, Skipper Pearl, Streak Brown Hair, Surprise Grand, Streak Dark Hair, Tail swallow, White Large Garden, White Small Garden, White Green-veined, White Black-veined, White Wood, White Marbled, Wood Speckled, Wall, Yellow Clouded, Yellow Pale Clouded : 53 in all. In 1778, was published a second edition of "The Aurelian : or Natural History of English insects, namely, Butterflies and Moths," with great ad- ditions; and in 1782, Moses Harris published his "Exposition of English Insects," which is illustrated by 51 copperplates, whereon are depicted about 500 figures of insects, of all the various orders, exclusive of butterflies. He XV11. was likewise the author of a little work, without a date, entitled " An Essay, preceding a Supplement to the Aurelian, wherein are considered the tendons and membranes of the wings of butterflies," in which he ingeniously gives a method of arranging the Papiliones into natural families, from the differ- ance of structure observable in the nerves of their wings. In 1781, appeared, in English and French, "The Genera Insectorum of Linnaeus," exemplified by various specimens of English insects, drawn from nature. This was the first work which made known, by figures, the system of Linnaeus on insects, and the various genera which it contained. About this period, William Curtis, a celebrated botanist, published " An Essay on the Brown-tail Moth," " Instructions for Collecting and Preserving Insects," and a " Translation of the Fundamenta Entomologist of Linnaeus/'' illustrated with copperplates and additions, and to which is prefixed a chrono- logical catalogue of entomological authors; this latter was published in 1772. In 1785, Matthew Martyn published at Exeter, "The Aurelian's Vade Mecum," containing an Knglish alphabetical and Linnaean systematical cata- logues of plants affording nourishment to butterflies, hawk moths, and moths in the caterpillar state, collected from various authors. If we turn again to the Continent, we find that in 1766, flufnagel pub- lished descriptions of butterflies and moths in a Berlin magazine ; but as they are poor even for the age, they have been ignored by all the greatest entomo- logists as being injurious to science and likely to be misunderstood. Pallis' descriptions in 1771 are likewise bad. We next come to the celebrated De Geer, who united in himself the highest merit of almost every department of that science. Both as a systematist, an anatomist, and physiologist, and as the observant historian of the manners and economy of insects, his " Memoires pour servie it T Historic des Insectes " is above all praise. His system is contained in a posthumous volume published in 1778. We are now arrived, if its consequence be considered, at one of the most important epochs of the science. Fabricius, a pupil of Linnseus, who highly estimated his entomological acquirements, thinking that the system of his master was not built upon a foundation sufficiently fixed and restricted, con- ceived the idea of doing for Entomology what the latter had done for Botany. As the learned and illustrious Swede had assumed the fructification for the basis of his system in that science, so the emulous and highly gifted Dane, observing how happily those organs were employed as character in extricating the genera of vertebrate animals, assumed the instruments of mastication, far more numerous and varied in insects, for the basis of a new system of entomology, which from the maxillae being principally employed to charac- terise th« order, may be called the Maxillary System. XV111. * The first outline of his system appeared in his " Systema Entomologise," published in 1775, and the last in his " Supplement to Entomologia Systematica," in 1798. The -other works he published were the "Genera Insectorum," which contained the natural definitions of the species, in 1776; the "Philosophia Entomologica," in 1778; the "Species Insectorum," in 1782, which appeared in two volumes as a continuation of the " Systema Entomologica " ; and the "Mantissa Insectorum," in 1787, in two volumes, which contained more particularly the corrections and additions which he obtained on his travels to Vienna and St. Petersburg. In his " Philosophia Entomologica," drawn up on the plan of the " Philosophia Botanica," of Linnaeus, he bequeathed to the science a standard work to be studied by every entomologist. His incredible labour in depicting new genera, and describing new species, with which view he travelled into various parts of Europe, and seven times into Britain, have been of infinite service, and have placed the science upon a footing much nearer to that of botany than it had ever before attained. The principal object of his tour to Vienna was to form an acquaintance with the authors of " Lepidoptera of the vicinity of Yienna," the principal of whom was Schiffermuller, whom the Emperor Joseph had appointed director of the Northern Institute at Lenz. This Yienna Catalogue, or W.Y. as it is usually called, was published in 1775, by Denis and SchifFermiiller, two officers of the Austrian army. Eabricius died in 1810, at the age of 63. Linnseus is reported thus to have spoken of him : " When Fabricius asks me concerning an insect, I take off my hat, and I say unto him, be thou my teacher." Between the first of Fabricius' works which appeared in 1775, and the last which appeared in 1798, were published the works of Porkhausen, in 1788; of Fourcroy, on the "Entomology of Paris," in 1785; of Christian Miiller, in 1785; of Yon Rottenburg, in 1775, &c. More confusion exists as to the names given between the years 1770 and 1790 than at any other period in the annals of entomological science. Fabricius, following the example of his master, the illustrious Linnaeus, attempted to combine in some degree Natural and Civil History, by attaching the names of persons, illustrious in their day, to the butterflies, and consider- ing the matter of a year or two of no importance, adopted the name of Adonis given in the Yienna Catalogue of 1776, to that of the senseless name Bell- argus, given in " Der Naturforscher," published in 1775. Likewise he gave preference to that of Alsus, W.V., over that of the misleading name of Minima, given by Fuessli in 1775. If entomologists of more modern times only bowed to the wisdom and discretion of Fabricius, instead of following XIX. the stern and harsh rule of priority to too great an extent, much confusion would be avoided. And, after all, are the publishers' dates of any vital importance ? Is it of any real importance whether a certain name was given in 1775 or 1776? Perhaps the work published in 1776 was really written before that published in 1775, and delayed being given to the world through some error on the part of the publisher. If we turn to our own country again, we find that the Linnsean Society was instituted in London in 1788, under the direction and presidency of Dr. J. E. Smith. On the death of Charles Linnaeus, son of the great Linnaeus, in 1783, the whole of the collections of both father and son; the library, consisting of about 2,500 volumes ; and the manuscripts and corres- pondence, were offered to Sir Joseph Banks, as the most liberal and wealthy naturalist in Europe, for the sum of 1,000 guineas. Sir Joseph himself declined the purchase, but recommended it to the consideration of his friend, Dr. Smith. After some negociation the bargain was concluded, and these inestimable treasures were sent to England in twenty-six large packages. Two years previously, on the 24th of April, 1786, and thirty-seven follow- ing days, was sold by public auction, the museum belonging to and founded by the celebrated Duchess Dowager of Portland. In 1789, the celebrated Gilbert White published the " Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne; and in the following year was published the " Naturalist's Miscellany," by Dr. Shaw and Fred. T. Nodder. The next writer is Edward Donovan, who in 1792, began to publish, at London, " The Natural History of British Insects," explaining them in their various states, with the periods of their transformations, their food, economy, as illustrated by coloured figures, designed and executed from living speci- mens. It was regularly published in monthly numbers, until fourteen volumes of twelve numbers each were completed, when it closed in 1810. This work did much to forward the progress of entomology in Britain, as did that of Lewin, entitled "The Insects of Great Britain, systematically arranged, accurately engraved, and painted from nature, with the natural history of each species, from a close application to the subject, and obser- vations made in different counties of this kingdom ; as well as from breeding numbers from the egg, as caterpillar, during the last thirty years. The figures engraved from the subjects themselves by the author, William Lewin, Fellow of the Linnsean Society, and printed under his immediate direction." Vol. I., London, 1795. This volume contains all the butterflies known in the British Isles, and is a valuable publication. No others were published owing to the death of the author. The species contained in the work are 62 in number, viz :— XX. Antiopa or Camberwell Beauty, Polychloros or Large Tortoise-shell, Urtica or Small Tortoise-shell, lo or Peacock, C-album or Comma, Atalanta or Red Admiral, Camilla or White Admiral (more properly Sibylla], Cardui or Painted Lady, Paphia or Silver- washed Fritillary, Adippe or High Brown Fritillary, Aglaia or Silver-spotted Fritillary, Laihonia or Queen of Spain Fritillary, EupJirosyne or Light Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Euphrasia (more properly Selene] or Dark Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Cinxia or Glanville Fritil- lary, Lictynna (more properly AtJtalia] or Heath Fritillary, Artemis or Marsh Fritillary, Lucina or Duke of Burgundy, Iris or Purple Emperor, Semele or Great Argus or Black-eyed Marble, Janira or Meadow Brown, Nigeria or Speckled Wood, Hyperantus or Ringlet, Megara or Wall, TitJwnus or Hedge Brown, Pamphilm or Small Gate-keeper, //£/• 1838, Mr. Edward Doubleday saw the hops in a garden at Ashville, North Carolina, entirely destroyed by them ; and the roof of a long verandah was hung with the chrysalides, suspended so closely together, that, the webs by which they were attached being united, he was able to pull them down in masses of thirty or forty at a time. A large portion was attacked by their brilliant little parasite, to which Dr. Harris has given the name of Pteromalus vanessce. Vanessa c-album is a local insect in England and AYales, and does not occur in either Scotland or Ireland, Only one specimen is recorded from Northumberland, and only one locality has been reported from Cumberland, 172 It has entirely disappeared from many places where it was formerly common. The first English author to describe and figure it was Thomas Mouffet, in his " Insectorum Sine Minimorum Animalium Theatrum " published in the year 1633. It is also briefly described by Dr. Christopher Merrett, E.R.S., in his "Pinax rerum Naturaliam Brittaniarum," published in 1667, being the first publication which gives any account of British insects exclusively. It is described in Ray's " Historia Insectorum/' 1710, in the following words, " Papilio ulmaria similis, seel minor > alie lacinatis interioribus lineola alba increva notalis. Papilio lestudinarius alis laceralis, D. Petiver." Moses Harris, in his '• Aurelian," 1770, writes, "The caterpillar of the Comma Butterfly, which generally feeds on the leaves of the hop, but is sometimes found on the nettle, is very slow of motions, and may be taken from the latter end of July to the middle of August, about which time it suspends itself by its tail to the branches, or underpart of the leaves of the hop by a web, which, though very fine, is so strong that unless great care be taken in separating them, you will pull the caterpillar asunder ; it hangs in this manner about twenty-four hours, then changes to the chrysalis, in which state it remains about fourteen days, and then produces the butterfly, called Comma from a white mark on the underside of the under-wings, resembling that stop in printing. The female is larger, her colour paler, and her wings not so much indented as those of the male. This fly hides itself during all the cold season, and appears again in the month of April, much faded in its colour, when it lays its eggs on the young sprouts of the hop and nettle, which are hatched about the middle of May, go through the same changes as above, and produce a fly by the latter end of June, which lays the eggs that produce the first mentioned caterpillar." Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes: "A few of this species of butterfly, if the winter has proved mild, lie in the winged state till the spring, and appear in April much wasted in colour, with their wings broken at the edges. Others remain in chrysalis till that time, and may be easily distinguished by their perfect shape, and the brightness of their colour. It is an insect swift in flight, and difficult to take, except when feeding. It flies in lanes, by the sides of banks, on hedges, frequently settling on dry places, and against the bodies of trees/1 Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects, Vol. VI., published in 1797, writes : In colour and markings the Comma Butterfly seems at first allied to the Tortoise-shell, but the elegant scallops of the margins of the wings sufficiently distinguishes it from every other British species, indeed wings indented in this remarkable manner are rarely seen in any insects, 173 those from foreign countries not excepted. There is more than one brood in the year ; the butterflies are generally found in June, the second brood late in August. The caterpillars are sometimes found in February, but oftener in July ; they remain about a fortnight in chrysalis." Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," published in 1828? writes : " This species has become somewhat scarce everywhere within these few years. Prior to 1813, I used to find it very abundantly near Hertford, but since that period I have not seen it. It has, however, occurred during the last and present seasons in several parts of the country ; and it appears to be generally distributed over the southern half of the kingdom, and Mr. Backhouse informs me that it is abundant near York." Miss Jermyn, in her " Butterfly Collector's Vade-Mecum," published in 1837, writes: "The Papilionaceous insects, in general, soon after their emergence from the chrysalis, and commonly during their first flight, dis- charge drops of red-coloured fluid, more or less intense in different species. This circumstance is peculiarly worthy of attention from the explanation which it affords of a phenomenon often considered, both in ancient and modern times, in the light of a prodigy : viz. the descent of red drops from the air, which has been called a shower of blood ; an event recorded by several writers, and particularly by Ovid; among the prodigies which took place before the death of Julius Csesar. 11 With threatening signs the lowering skies are filled, And sanguine drops from murky clouds distilled." This highly rational elucidation of a -phenomenon, at first view so inexplicable, seems to have been discovered by the celebrated Pierese, at Aix, in Provence, where a shower of this kind fell in 1608. The common people were terrified with the apprehension of some great calamity ; but that intelligent Naturalist, enquiring into the affair with minute attention, was fully convinced that these drops were scattered by an innumerable swarm of Vanessa c~album, hovering in the air ; he preserved several of their caterpillars in a glass, which after transformation discharged these drops of blood. This discovery ruined two hypotheses, which had been supported with equal ability, one, that it was the work of evil spirits, the other, that these drops were formed from red exhala- tions precipitated again in rain/' Newman, in his " British Butterflies," 1871, writes : " A noticeable feature in its distribution is its absence from what may be called maritime lists, as those from Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, Sussex, Isle of Wight, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall; this absence from the lists is not sufficient evidence of the butterfly's not occurring there, but certainly of its great rarity. In the midland counties, on the contrary, it is of frequent occur- 174 rence, and in some of them absolutely abundant ; then again, the cultivation of its food-plant, the hop, does not seem to exercise that influence on its choice of localities that might be expected ; it abounds in the district where the Worcester hops are grown — namely, Worcestershire and Herefordshire — but it is rarely observed in the Earnham district — namely Surrey, or in the Kent district." It was very common in Dorset in 1807, but after 1816 none were seen until 1877, when a specimen was taken near Dorchester. Prior to 1813, J. E. Stephens used to find it very abundantly near Hertford, but none since that year ; and Edward Doubleday met with it at Epping, in Essex, about 1817 or 1818. A few were taken in Norfolk as recently as 1861, and also in Yorkshire and Durham ; but it appears to have almost deserted the southern counties, and entirely the metropolitan. It occurred very abundantly on the banks of the Wye in 1^58; and in Herefordshire in 1875, but the wonderful abundance of 1875 was followed by a nearly total absence of the species in 1876 and 1877, during which years Mrs. Hutchinson did not obtain a single egg, caterpillar, or chrysalis, and but one butterfly only. In 1881 it was very abundant again, both in the caterpillar and chrysalis state, and in 1883 it occurred rather freely at Llandudno, in North Wales. It appears to have been very scarce in 1884 and 1885, but very plentiful again in Herefordshire, in 1886 and 1887. In 1886, wild chrysalides were found in July, August, September, and October, the last butterfly appearing on October 27th; there apparently being three broods in that year. GENUS XIX.— AEGYNNIS. ARGN'NIS, a surname of Yenus, from the Temple erected in her honour by Agamemnon, on the death of his favourite Argynnus. — Proper IV., 6., 22. This is a genus of about one hundred species. They inhabit northern and temperate climes, about one-third are European, and nearly an equal number occur in Asia and North America. One is found in Australia, and but few in South America. One only appears to inhabit Africa, and few of the Asiatic species get so far south as India. Three occur in Greenland and one as far north as Grinnel Land. Six species are recognized as British, of which one is but an occasional visitor. The species distinguished from those of the following by the underside of the hing- wings being adorned with spots or stripes of the most brilliant silver. The colour of the upperside a bright fulvous spotted with black. The English name of Eritillaries appear to have bestowed on the species of this and the following genus from the markings on the upperside resembling those on the old fashioned chequered flowers termed " Eritillaries." 175 • The costal margin of the fore-wings is arched, and the species have a bold and graceful flight. The antennae are rather short, terminating in an abrupt pyriform club. The anterior legs of the males are fringed with long delicate hairs, and those of the three first species have the median nervules clothed with hairs and scales of a peculiar form. The caterpillars are long, cylindrical, and clothed with numerous bristly spines, arranged in whorls round the body ; each segment having a whorl of these spines. They feed entirely on the different species of the genus Viola or Violets. The genus has been divided into two sections. In the first of which the second joint of the palpi is much swollen. In the second, which contains two British -species, Euphrosyne and Selene, the second joint of the palpi is not remarkably swollen. ARGYNNIS PAPHIA. Silver Striped Fritillary. PAPHIA, Linn. Paph'ia, a surname of Venus, from the island of Paphos. This Fritillary expands, in the width of its wings, from about two inches and three quarters to three inches. On the upperside they are of a rich fulvous with a greenish tinge towards the base with longitudinal black spots and bars. The female is without the broad black borders to the veins of the fore-wings which are so prominent in the male, and the black spots are larger. On the underside the hind- wings are of a greenish shade, with silvery hind -margins, and one long and two short silvery stripes : hence the English name of silver striped is most appropriate. A well known variety of the female is not uncommon in the New Forest, and also in Dorsetshire, Sussex, and other southern counties of England. It has the usual fulvous ground colour replaced by a dark smoky greenish brown. It is spotted in the usual way, but near the tip there are a few light patches : this is known as Valezina of Esper. A worn male in the collection of Mr. Bond, is said to be the only known male of this variety. In one, figured by Hubner, the wings on the right-hand side are of this variety, and those on the left as in the ordinary specimens. A similar one to this was taken in the New Forest, Hampshire, in 1879 : and I have a very extra- ordinary hermaphrodite taken likewise in 1879, in the New Forest by Mr. Charles Gulliver; in which the two wings on the left-hand side are male, and on the right-hand side female. But the upper-edge of the fore- wing of the latter side is of the usual fulvous colour, and one-third of the lower- wing is so coloured ; so that, to use Mr, Jenner Weir's expression in the "En.- 176 tomologist," Vol. XII., p. 206., " in one insect both gynandromorphism and dimorphism existed." Specimens are not very rare in which the black spots are confluent : and stray specimens have occurred with a white spot on every wing. Another very remarkable variety is figured in the " Entomo- logist," Vol, XY. In this, the partial melanism of all the wings is correlated with the obliteration of the silvery markings on the underside, with the exception of a pearly patch at the base. A variety, without any silver stripes on the underside of the hind-wings, occurrs in Southern Europe and Western Asia, and is named Anargyra in Staudinger's catalogue. The egg in shape is like a dumpy cone, laid erect on the flattened end and rounded off at the top ; the shell with about twenty tolerably prominent longitudinal ribs, some not reaching to the top. The colour is, at first, of a pale greenish yellow and glistening, but it turns paler in about a week, with a leaden grey patch near the top. The young caterpillar, on hatching, breakfasts on the egg shell : it is short and rather stout, and of an ochreous yellow with a shining blackish brown head. On its first appearance in spring, the caterpillar is no more than one- eight of an inch long, having apparently moulted but once before hibernation. After another moult, some time between April 12th and 20th, the spines appear, they are alike short and stumpy, pinkish brown in colour, with black tips and branches. The head and body are now black, with double lines of whitish violet on the back. When full grown, it measures from about one and a half to one and five-eights of an inch in length, and is in proportion rather stout. Down the whole length of the back are two stripes of brilliant yellow separated by a black dorsal line ; these stripes are relieved by a black, velvet-like borderings of markings. The spines are now of a reddish ochreous colour, with their extreme tips and branches black. It feeds on the leaves of the common violet, and changes into a chrysalis in the beginning of June. The chrysalis, about an inch long, when seen sideways is deepest across near the end of the wing covers, and the largest projecting points. It is of a pale brown colour, with gold spots on the back, and on the tips of the prominences. On each side of the back is a row of obtuse, tapering, promi- nent points ; a larger pair at the head are suggestive of ears. Two Hymenopterous parasites, Ambly teles homocerus, Wesm., and Hemi- teles melanarius, Gran., have been bred from it. The butterfly is on the wing during the whole of the month of July and August, and is rather difficult to capture owing to its partiality to the flowers of the bramble. It occurs all over Europe, except in the extreme north, in Western Asia, 177 Siberia; and China, where at Kingiang, all the females hitherto taken strangely enough are of the variety Valezina. It is a frequenter of woods, and may be found in open places, on the outskirts of almost every extensive wood in England. It seems to be equally abundant in Ireland, but scarce in Scotland, not occurring north of Perthshire. It is first recorded as a British species in Ray's " Historia Insectorum," 1710. He calls it "The greater Silver-stroaked Eritillary," and writes : "Ostendit nobis D. Dale utrumque sexum." Wilkes, in his " English Moths and Butterflies," 1773, informs us that it is most commonly found in woods, and the fields adjacent to woods. Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain, 1795, writes: "The caterpillar of this superb butterfly is not yet discovered in England. The fly is on the wing at the end of June ; and is not uncommon on the sides of woods, and in the lanes near them. I suppose, that the old name of fritillary, given to this butterfly, and the nine following species, is from their resemblance to that flower, in their checkered markings on the upper wings. The cater- pillars are remarkable for their rough and ugly appearance, being covered with long hairy spines ; this formidable figure is their great protection from insectivorous birds ; which however fond of smooth caterpillars, do not care to touch these. They are very fearful, for, on the least motion of the plant or leaf they are on, they drop to the ground, and the spines prevent their being bruised in the fall." ARGYNNIS AGLAIA. Silver-spotted Fritillary. AGLAIA, Linn. Agla'ia, one of the three Graces. This Fritillary expands in the width of its wings from two inches and a quarter to two inches and three-quarters. On the upperside they are fulvous spotted with black, the female being the darker both in the ground colour and markings. On the underside the hindwings are greenish, and partly tawny, being splendidly studded with about twenty silvery spots ; the fore- wings have marginal silvery spots towards the tip. The wings are more rounded and not so pointed as those of Paphia. A variety differing from the type by having some of the silvery spots near the base much larger, two pairs of them coalescing, has been named and figured by Sowerby. in his " British Miscellany," under the name of " Char- lotta" in compliment to Queen Charlotte, the Consort of King George the Third. It appears to be least rare in the North of England. The Scottish specimens -are much darker than the English ; and I have a very curioas Variety taken by Leplastrier, at Dover, many years ago, in 178 which the fulvous ground colour is replaced by a milky drab, and the black spots by fulvous spots. I have also a hermaphrodite, in which the wings on the left hand side are much smaller than those on the right. Like Adippe, it also varies by the enlargement and coalescing of the black spots. The egg is very similar to that of Adippe. The caterpillar is of a dark shining violet grey, thickly marbled with vel- vety black. It has six rows of black spines, branched, with short black hairs. The spiracles are black, delicately margined with grey, and close below each spiracle is a blotch of bright orange red. The head is black, shining, and hairy. It feeds on the leaves of the dog and the sweet violet ( Viola canina and odorata), and hibernating young, feeds up in the spring. The chrysalis is of a shining, blackish brown, with paler markings ; and is very much curved in outline : on the upper surface are two rows of blunt conical projecting points. It is suspended by the tail to the underside of a leaf, the surface of which it covers, when a caterpillar, with a circular mass of silk, thickest in the centre, to which the anal hooks of the chrysalis are attached in a horizontal position, the back of the abdomen being so much curved round towards the leaf as to imitate the upper two-thirds of the letter S- The butterfly may be found on the wing in July and August, and frequents the sides of hills, coast sandhills, and heaths. It is more generally distributed than Paphia, and is the commonest of the large Fritillaries throughout Europe, and Northern and Western Asia. In Scotland it ranges as far north as Sutherland, and I have met with it in the Isle of Skye. It also appears to be common in Ireland. Some closely allied species are found in California. It is figured and described in Moufet's " Insectorum Sine Minimorum Animalium Theatrum," 1633. Petiver, in his " Papilionum Brittannise, Icones," &c., 1717, informs us that the Great Silver-spotted Fritillary appears about the midst of July. Wilkes, in his " English Moths and Butterflies/' 1773, writes : "On the 15th July, 1748, I had three eggs laid, and on the 5th of August the young caterpillars came forth. They were of a flesh colour, with rows of black spots on each joint, like the caterpillars of the Emperor Moth, and out of each spot grew hairs of a sandy colour. The eggs were beautifully fluted down the sides, were flat at the bottom, and had a glutenous mixture upon them, which occasioned their sticking fast wherever the fly chose to leave them. The caterpillars on this present ]0th of February, 1749, seem to be alive, but are very small, and, I believe, have eaten nothing all the winter, though they have had grass given them, which I take to be their proper food." 179 Sowerby, in his "British Miscellany,'' 1806, writes of the var. tharlotta, " Some years ago the Rev. Dr. Charles Abbott discovered this curious Fritil- lary in Bedfordshire; and we do not know that it has been found by any one else. The nineteen silver spots on the under part of the lower wing are very constant. It is an elegant insect, well deserving an honourable name, and comes near to Aglaia. As we have, comparatively speaking, but few Papilios in Great Britain, it is a very desirable acquisition. This gentleman first added P. paniscus to the British list." Curtis, in his " British Entomology/' 1830, figures a very dark variety of Aglaia, which he informs us were taken by Mr. John Seaman, in the parish of Nacton, near Ipswich, the 7th of July, 1827. He goes on to say : " For an intermediate variety, which was captured at Dover, I am indebted to Mr. W. Christy : it is singular that these specimens vary from the type no less in form than in colour, which is not the case I believe with CharloUa." ARGYNNIS ADIPPE. High-brown Fritillary. ADIPPE, Linn. Adip'pe. Linne says: "In Fauna, Cydippe perperam pro Adippe legitur." It seems probable that Adippe is merely a variation of Cydippe, one of the Muses, made in consequence of the latter name having been already appropriated to another species. This Fritillary expands in the width of its wings from two inches and a quarter to two inches and three-quarters. On the upperside they are fulvous spotted with black. On the underside the hindwings are of a greenish brown, with about twenty silvery spots, the silver on the marginal spots being indistinct; between the marginal and central rows is a row of small dull red spots with bluish centres, which at once distinguishes this species from Aglaia. This species varies both by the enlargement and coalescing of the black spots, and by a change in hue of the ground colour. A very beautiful specimen is in Mr. Gregson's collection, in which the greater portion of both wings is black. Mr. Stevens has one with the spots as usual, but the ground colour is a very pale drab. Others occur in which it is a rich mahogany brown, while intermediate varieties are found. Several varieties of the under side have been named. Cleodoxa, Ochr., has the usual silvery spots of the underside pale yellow or very slightly silvered. This form has sometimes occurred in England, but it is commoner in Greece and Sicily. I possess a specimen of it, which was taken near Bedford, by Dr. Abbott, and mistaken for Nio&e. Chlorodippe, H.S., is greener on the underside than the normal 180 form, and has more central silvery spots. It has been taken by Mr. Greg- sou near Windermere, in Westmoreland, but is apparently common in Spain. Cleodijppe, Stand., another Spanish variety, resembles the last, except in the want of the silvery spots. The egg in shape is conical, the base broad, having a central depression, the sides are very boldly ribbed and reticulated, some ribs being longer than others. When first laid it is of a glistening light ochreous green, but gradually changes to a dull pink. The caterpillar at first is of a brown colour, with a shining black head, and is decidedly hairy. When full-grown it is about an inch and a half long and stout in proportion, of a dingy pinkish brown minutely freckled, the spines being of a pinkish ochreous. Like the rest of the genus it feeds on the leaves of the violet, and can run at a pace quite equal to the fastest caterpillar of Arctia caja. The chrysalis is of a pitchy brown, with a row of dorsal diamond shapes of less intensity of colour, the margins of the wing-covers deep brownish ochreous, the spiky projections golden and brilliantly glistening. It has two rows of rather blunt pointed obtuse projecting spines, and the thorax is keeled (" Buckler's Larvae.") The butterfly is on the wing in July and August. The eggs apparently do not hatch before February or March, and the caterpillars change into chrysalis in June. It is a rarer species than either PapJda or Aglaia, and seems to occur both in woods and on uncultivated hill sides. It is found all over Europe, except in the Polar regions, and in Western Asia. In England it is widely but not generally distributed, but in Scotland is only found in the extreme south such as Dumfriesshire, and does not appear to occur at all in Ireland or the Isle of Man. It appears to have been first recorded as a British species by James Petiver, in his " Papilionum Britaunise," 1717. He records it with the last as appearing about the middle of July. Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes: " Yiolet Silver- spotted Fritillary. These elegant butterflies make their first appearance on the wing the latter end of June, mostly in lanes near woods in dry situations ; and are easily caught when feeding on the bramble or thistle blossoms : but as the sun advances towards the middle of the day, they are restless, sporting and flying with great swiftness, at which time they are very difficult to take, The female lays her eggs in July, on the violets that grow under the shelter of bramble, or some similar cover, or dry banks, or hilly places. The cater- pillars are produced in about twelve days, and feed till September, when they 181 spin a fine web at the root of their food, close to the ground ; and under this cover they pass the winter in a torpid state. In February or March, according to the mildness of the spring, they begin to feed again, at this time they are but small, of a dull black colour, and thick set with short -blunt spines, finely haired. As spring advances they increase in size, and in May are full-fed. The beginning of June they prepare for their transformation, suspending themselves by the tail, and in a few hours the chrysalis appear. In this state they remain for three weeks ; when the first fine morning brings them out to dry and expand their wings, ready for flight. The female differs but little from the male," J. F. Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes of Adippe : " Not quite so abundant as Aglaia, but frequently met with in the woods near London, at the end of June and through July. It is also found in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Berks, Dorset, Devon, and Hants ; in the latter county very commonly in the New Forest." An allied species, viz., Niobe, Linn., has been recorded as British. Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," writes of it: " Stewart gives this as a British species, but without any authority ; I may say, however, that among the insects purchased by Mr. Dale, from the pro- fessed indigenous collection of the late Dr. Abbot, of Bedford, was a single specimen of this species, which was considered by the Doctor as a variety of Adippe" (and rightly, J. C. Dale). Curtis, in his " British Entomology," 1830, writes : " Niole, Linn. Godart thinks this is the Adippe of Linnaeus; and the same opinion might lead Stewart to record it as a British insect. Dr. Abbott's English collection contained a specimen, which Mr. Dale now possesses ; and as it is found in Sweden and the South of France, there is nothing unreasonable in believing that it may occasionally make its appearance in this island." The next record is of a single specimen which was taken in the New Forest in the summer of 1870, by Mre Gerrard of Lyndhurst, and sold by him to the Eev. Windsor Hambrough, see " Entomologist," Yol. Y., p. 351. This was shown at the National Entomological Exhibition, held at the Westminster Aquarium, in 1878, and recorded in the "Entomologist," Yol. XL, p. 162, with this comment, " upon its correctness there seems some doubt." Another is recorded on p. 83, Yol. VIII., of the same magazine, as being taken by Mr. Gregson, in August, 1871, at the Devil's Gallop, near Winder- mere. A more extensive capture of the species was said to have been made in 1874, in a wild gorge, in Kent, between Wye and Ashford, and recorded in the " Entomologist," Yol. YIL, but the whole tale seems to have been a fabrication, see " Young Naturalist," Yol. I., p. 395. 182 AEGYNNIS LATHOMA. Queen of Spain Fritillary. LATONA, Linn. Lato'na, the mother of Apollo and Diana. The name is variously spelt — Latona, Latonia, Lathona, and Lathonia. This is the rarest as well as the most beautiful of our British Fritillaries. The colouring of the upperside resembles that of the rest of the genus, being fulvous spotted with black. Underneath, the fore-wings have nearly the same markings as those on the upper surface, but near the tip is a group of silver spots. The hind-wings are buff, varied with reddish brown, with numerous silver patches of different sizes and shapes, and of which there are about fourteen between the base of the wings and a row of seven dark brown eyed spots with silver pupils, between each of which and the margin of the wing is a large silvery patch resembling mother-of-pearl. It will be observed that the form of the front wings differs from the rest of the N Frittillaries, the outer margin being concave in its outline. The inner corner of the hind- wings also is more sharply angular. The width across the wings is from an inch to an inch and a half. There does not appear to be any variation to speak of in English caught specimens ; but on the Continent it varies much in size, and the black spots on the upper surface are larger, or smaller in different specimens. The Indian form is called Issaa, but it scarcely differs from the type. The silver spots on the underside also vary in size, and sometimes are so large that they become confluent. This is the variety Valdensls of Esper. A beautiful specimen of this variety from Norway, the upper-side being likewise melanic, is figured in the " Entomologist," Vol. XIV., p. 25. The egg, caterpillar, and chrysalis have never been found in this country. The caterpillar is blackish grey, with a whitish stripe down the back, and two brownish yellow lateral lines. The spines are short and of a pale yellow. It feeds on Viola tricolor. The chrysalis is anteriorly dull brown, posteriorly greenish, sprinkled with gold and silver spots, and has a white streak at the end of the wing-cases (J. F. Stephens " Illustrations.") The butterfly is rather later in emerging than the rest of the Fritillaries, not appearing before August, and continuing on the wing till quite late in the year, several being recorded in October, and one as late as the 4th of November. In Petiver's time it was not very rare in Gamlingay Wood, Cambridgeshire, in May ; but all the recently recorded British examples have occurred in the autumn. 183 In Kirby's " European Butterflies " it is also said to occur in May and June ; whence it would appear to be double-brooded. Godart, however, tells us that the last autumnal specimens hybernate and re-appear in the spring —an anomalous event amongst the Eritillaries, thereby approximating in habits to the Vanessa. The caterpillars are said to hybernate small, as do others of the genus, and to feed up in the spring. Argynnis latJwnia is widely distributed in Europe, Northern and Western Asia to the Himalayas, and North Africa. It does not extend to the Polar regions but is common in Sweden and Norway. It frequents lanes and roads in woods, and its flight resembles that of IlipparcJim mcgara, but is more rapid. It sometimes settles on the pathway, and has been seen in clover fields, In England it is a very scarce species, appearing at uncertain inter- vals, and generally in places on the coast of Kent, leading us to the conclu- sion that, like Pieris daplidice, it is but an occasional visitor. A stray specimen was taken near York, and another near Scarborough, which are the most northerly records for Britain. A single specimen was taken on August 10th, 1864, at Killarney, in Ireland. The first record we have of its being a British species is in John "Ray's "Historia Insectorum," published in 1710, as follows: " Papilio Eigensis aureus minor, maculis argenteis subtus, pubelle notatus. The Lesser Silver- spotted Fritillary. Species est pulchra, et ab aliis congeneribus satis dis- tincta. A. D. David Kreig Eiga transmissam primb accepit D. Petiver, postea etiam a D. Vernon, D. Antrobus, et aliis circa Cantabrigiam inventa est." James Petiver, in his "Papilionum Britannise," records it as being observed about Cambridge. Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian's Pocket Companion, 1775, names it the Queen of Spain, and records it as occurring in Gamling Gay Wood, near Cambridge. Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes: "With the natural history of this rare English insect we are not in the least acquainted, and we have only two or three instances of the butterfly's being taken in this country. Mr. Honey, of the Borough, has a good specimen in his extensive collection of English insects, taken by him in his garden in the month of August. The figure of the caterpillar, with the description, I have added from the elegant and correct work of Sepp : ' The eggs of this butterfly are ribbed and oblong; the broadest end being fast glued to the plant on which it is laid. The female lays them not in clusters, but separate ; and it is re- markable that she lays only in the sun, ceasing whenever she is by any means 184 shaded. Prom the eggs, which the butterfly began to lay on the 10th of June, the first caterpillars appeared on the 18th. They were of a yellowish grey colour, with black heads ; and their bodies were covered with fine short hairs. On the 27th, they changed their skins for the first time, and then acquired spiiies, beset with long hairs ; the colour of the caterpillars was now nearly black, with a light stripe on the back. On the 7th of July they changed their skins a second time, on the 15th a third time, and on the 24th or 25th the fourth and last time. The spines, which after the first change appeared with fine and long hairs, acquired their stiff ones after the last change. In a few days after the fourth change, the caterpillars had attained their full growth/" Haworth, in his " Lepidoptera Britannica, 1803, writes : " Habitat Imago prope Cantabrigiam, etiam prope Londinum, et etiam prope Wisbeach, f, Mai. : Sept. sed rarissime." In the Preface to the above work, Haworth also writes : " Since the body of this work was printed, my friend the Kev. Dr. Abbott, of Bedford, has informed me that he took in May last, near Clapham Park Wood, in Bedford- shire, a specimen of Papilia podalirius in the winged state ; and that he also took in June last, in White Wood near Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, the Papilio daplidice (in a faded state), and likewise Papilio lathonia. These are three extremely interesting species, and there is not a British specimen of any of them now extant, except the above. (All now belong to J. C. Dale.) " As to the Gamlingay Lathonia (the Queen of Spain Fritillary), it is, in my estimation, the most interesting insect we have in the whole genus ; be- cause it is not only extremely rare and beautiful, but, if it is the same as our London Lathonia, it is likewise double-brooded, and that in a very singular and unusual manner : that is, a brood of it flies in May at Gamlingay, but not near London ; and another separate brood of it flies in September near London, but not at Gamlingay ; and never contrarywise. And this is still further extraordinary, as no other Fritillary we possess in Great Britain, was ever known to breed more than once in the same season, and that in the months of May, June, or July. " Lathonia was not very rare in Gamlingay Wood, Cambridgeshire, in the days of Petiver. It has also been taken at Wisbeach, and my friend, Dr. F. Skrimshire, assures me he has seen a specimen of it in some picture, which was taken many years since in his father's garden at that place. "My friend Mr. Hatchett, of Kingsland, knew an old London Aurelian, of the name of Shelfred (nume inter beatos), who was so much attached to Aurelian amusements, arid so much enamoured of the beautiful and rare Lathonia, that he absolutely determined upon, and accompanied by his daughter, successfully performed (in postchaises) a journey to Gamlingay, in. 185 0 pursuit of that charming Papilio, which he had the good fortune to meet with and secure ; but his specimens are not now extant. Our London Lathonia is infinitely more rare than the Gamlingay one ; there have only been seen five individuals of it, all in different and distant years, and all in the month of September. Every one of these I have examined ; but the Gamlingay Latonia never." Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes, " The effulgent metallic brilliancy of the silver spots which adorn the posterior wings of this beautiful insect beneath, renders it pre-eminently conspicuous in our collections ; and its peculiar rarity contributes to the value of its acquisi- tion. Previously to the year 1818, few cabinets possessed even a single specimen ; and from the very few known instances of its capture (six only according to Mr. Haworth,) there is reason to believe that some of the speci- mens at that time placed in collections were foreign ; but in the above re- markable year for the appearance of certain papilionaceous insects, this species occurred simultaneously in several, and very distant parts, having been taken in August, by Mr. Haworth, at Halvergate, in Norfolk ; by Mr. Yigars, in Battersea fields ; by myself at Dover, and during that and the following month near Colchester ; Birch Wood, Kent ; and Hertford, in plenty by others. At the latter place I saw several specimens, but was not fortunate enough to secure any. In Petiver's time it was not very rare in Gamlingay Wood, Cambridgeshire, in May; but all the recently recorded British ex- amples have occurred towards the autumn, a fact which is apparently cor- roborated by the captures of 1818. The first specimen (a female) I caught on the 12th of August, sporting at the foot of Shakspeare's Cliff, was in a very faded state, and had evidently been " winging its way " for many weeks ; a pair which I took on the 14th, in the Castle meadow, Dover, were also in a faded condition, whereas the specimens taken near Birch Wood, at the end of September, were remarkably fine." Newman, in his "British Butterflies," 1871, writes: "This common Con- tinental species has always been considered, and still remains, a great rarity in this country ; the English localties are rather numerous, but the number of specimens is very small ; the maritime position of most of the localties suggests the idea of the specimens having migrated from the Continent : Dover, Ramsgate, Folkestone, Yentnor, &c., seem to support this conclusion ; while others, such, for instance, as the celebrated locality in Birch Wood, are so truly inland that we cannot hesitate to believe that the specimens have been bred on the spot where they were captured. I think we may conclude that, like many of our resident birds, such as the goldfinch or skylark, of which thousands of dozens are annually captured on their arrival 011 our 186 southern wastes, that accession to the number of Lathonias take place every year. Mr. Birchall informs ine ' that a single specimen was taken at Kil- larney, in Ireland, on the 10th of August, 1864, in a lane leading from Muckross to Mangerton, near a limestone quarry on the left of the road " — a very important and interesting fact, since no doubt can now be entertained of the species existing in the Killarney district in a perfectly natural state, although the constant humidity of the atmosphere may interfere with its appearance on the wing. From Scotland I have no report of its occurrence." Dr. Knaggs, in his " List of the Macro-Lepidoptera occurring in the neighbourhood of Folkestone," 1870, writes of Lathonia'. "Two or three examples have been secured in the Warren. It used not to be scarce in some seasons in lucerne fields, at the back of Dover Castle." Messrs. C. J. and James Paget, in their " Sketch of the Natural History of Yarmouth," 1834, writes, "Lathonia — a single specimen taken this year, August 2nd, by Capt. Chawner, near Caistor rails." In the " Zoologist," Yol, II, both Daplidice and Latkonia are recorded as being captured in Roseberry Wood, near Exeter, by Mr. Dawson, in the year 1836, and were by him presented to Mr. Thomas Leighton. In 1839, twelve specimens were captured by Mr. Pierce, in woods in the parish of Shoreham, and recorded in the "Zoologist," Yol. Ill, p. 945. In 1842, a couple were taken by Mr. George, in Suffolk, on the 3rd September. In 1846, two good specimens were taken in October, at Harleston, near Norwich ; and three near Dover. In that year Antiopa was much commoner than usual, as also were the rare Sphinges. In 1851, a couple were taken on the race course near Ipswich, and two or three pairs at Jagger, near Colchester. In 1852, a couple were taken by Mr. Reeks, at Swanage, in Dorsetshire. In 1854, the Rev. W. H. Hawker recorded in the "Zoologist," Yol. XIII, the capture of six specimens by himself in the Forest of Bere, Kent. In 1856, one is recorded in the " Intelligencer " as being taken near Chesham, Bucks. None appear to have been met again till 1864, when one was taken near Eamsgate, on the 17th of September; and another at Killarney, in Ireland. In 1865, a specimen was taken at Blandford, in Dorsetshire (twenty miles from the sea), and others at Dover and Folkestone, in Kent, and also in Norfolk, Essex, and the Isle of Wight. No less than five were taken in the Isle of Wight, at Sandown and Yentnor, on the 20th, 21st, and 24th of October, and the 4th of November. In 1868, the great year for Colias hyale, no less than thirty specimens of 187 Lathonia were taken in Kent, Suffolk, and Essex, and one as far North as Scarborough, in Yorkshire. That year had a summer almost unprecedented for the duration and intensity of its heat, and which was followed by an exceedingly mild autumn. Pieris daplidice also occurred that year in Kent. None appear to have been seen in 1869, and but one in 1870, and oiie in 1871. In 1872, there were no less than nine of Lathonia, four of Daplidice, and two of Antiopa, taken at Dover by different persons, all three species being unusually common that year. Specimens of Lathonia were captured besides at Folkstone, Ramsgate, Canterbury, Felixstowe, Ipswich, Yarmouth, Deal, and Yentnor, in the Isle of Wight. It was also common in Jersey. Mr. Poingdestre, in recording it in the " Entomologist," Vol. VI., p. 235, writes, " I took Lathonia rather plentifully on the 1st of April and the 1st of June, on some sandhills near the sea shore : few were on the wing during July and August, but in the middle of September they again appeared. The April specimens were evidently just out of the chrysalis : they were smaller than the autumnal ones." In 1876, one was taken at Hastings, in Sussex, on the 14th of August. None appear to have been met with again till 1880, when eighteen speci- mens were recorded by Mr. Sydney Webb, in the " Entomologist " for that year, as being taken in and near Dover. In 1882, twenty-five were recorded by Mr. Sabine, in the " Entomologist " for that year, as being likewise taken in and near Dover : the Queen of Spain thus proving herself a brilliant exception to the general entomological poverty of that year. In 1883, six specimens were recorded by Mr. Sabine, in the "Entomolo- gist" for that year, as being taken in the Dover district; and a couple more were taken in a clover field near Salisbury, by Mr. Penruddocke. In 1884, one was taken near Canterbury, in August, and another at Ash- ford. In 1885, one was taken on the Brighton racecourse, on the 3rd of August, and another at Kingsdown, near Deal : but none appear to have occurred in either 1886 or 1887. It will thus be seen that the most favourable years, for the Queen of Spain, were those of 1818, 1839, 1865, 1868, 1872, 1880, and 1882. 188 ARGYNNIS EUPHROSYNE. Light Pearl-bordered Fritillary. EUPHROSYNE, Linn. Euphros'yne, one of the Graces. This Fritillary expands in the width of the wings from one inch and tbree quarters to nearly a couple of inches. On the upperside they are fulvous, spotted and marked with black. On the underside, the hind-wings are of a dull yellow or ochreous, with brick-red blotches, a row of silver semi-circular spots at the hind margin, a large oblong silver spot in the centre of the wing, and a smaller one at the base. It varies similarly to others of the genus. The black spots become larger until they coalesce, sometimes forming bands, &c. A very curious variety is in the collection of Mr. Yaughan. It is of the ordinary form in all respects, except that the spots on the upperside are silvery or rather leaden in colour, instead of being black as usual. A specimen in Mr. Brigg's cabinet has the base of the hind-wings entirely black : it was captured at Folkstone, in 1876. In Mr. Bond's collections are specimens of a buff, orange, or almost white ground colour. Stephens, in his " Illustrations," gives the following. Var. b. With the marginal fascia of silvery spots on the posterior wings wanting. Yar. c. With the basal half of all the wings above, black spotted with fulvous ; with large black spots on the anterior wings beneath. Var. d. With the ground colour of all the wings of a pale fulvous yellow, both above and below. (This is Euphrasia, Haw. M.S.S.) Yar. e. Wings above pale fulvous, irregularly spotted with black : anterior beneath pale varied with yellowish and ferruginous towards the tips, with some obsolete black or dusky spots on the disc : posterior wings variegated with ferruginous, yellow, and green, with the pupil of the ocellus very large, the discoidal silvery spot produced to the hinder margin, and the usual mar- ginal spots lengthened inwardly ; the usual fasciee are obliterated, but the silvery spot at the base is somewhat apparent. The latter is the Thalia of the old " Entomological Transactions/' pub- lished in 1812; but the Thalia of the continental writers is referred by Ochsenheimer and Godert to Selene. However, it is the Thalia of Hubner. Mr. Haworth in recording it writes : " I have an English specimen of this rare and beautiful insect ; which is, perhaps, a very extraordinary variety only of P. euphrosyne" Thalia, Hub., occurs more frequently in Sweden and Norway ; and another named var. Fingal, Herbst., is also found in the more northerly parts of 189 Europe. This, like many other boreal specimens, is smaller and darker than the type, the spots coalescing into bands. The egg is of a blunt conical shape, with its lower surface, which adheres to the leaf, flattened, its sides are ribbed ; at first it is of a dull greenish yellow colour, but turns afterwards to a brown. Towards the end of June the caterpillar is hatched, being then of a pale greenish tint, but after the first moult it becomes of a browner green, and about the middle of July it attaches itself to the plant and ceases to feed. (W. Buckler.) The caterpillar, when full-grown, is black, with bluish white stripes on the sides, and a few white spots on the back. The spines on the back are yel- low, with black tips, head and legs black, claspers dull. It feeds on the leaves of the dog violet ( Viola canina), but is rarely met with, and Mr. G. F. Matthew informed Mr. Buckler that they are seldom seen on their food- plant, but generally on a dead leaf in its immediate neighbourhood, or a twig above it. Mr. Buckler records its pace when walking as being very rapid ; and that sometimes it fed for a while on the dog violet leaves, and that it sometimes rested quite still basking in the rays of the sun ; when these were withdrawn it retired to the underside of a leaf and there remained, apparently without motion, till the hour (viz. : 2 p.m.) of the next day which brought the sun round to the window in which its cage was placed, and then at once it came forth and walked actively about, feeding and basking as before. On May 5th it had changed to a chrysalis, suspended by the tail to a circular mass of silk spun upon the side of the glass cylinder, hanging about three- quarters of arid inch from the earth. The chrysalis, five-eights of an inch in length, is moderately stout and rather sharply pointed, much curved in outline, and warty : it is grey brown in colour, with a few dots of a paler shade ; the wing cases are long in pro- portion and dull brown in tint. The butterfly emerges at the end of April (Lewin saw it flying once as early as the 12th), but more frequently in May, and continues on the wing during the earlier part of June. The caterpillar is hatched at the end of June or begining of July, but does not as a rule feed up till spring in this country. Sometimes, however, it does so, and the butterfly appears in September, but the instances are few and far between. M. Yandover has published in the "Ann Soc, Linn.," Paris, September, 1827, some curious observations upon the lethargy of the caterpillars of Dia and Euphrosyne. Some caterpillars reared from eggs of the latter, when about a month old, fell into a lethargic state at the end of June, in which they remained until the following spring : a few, however, revived in August, and became butterflies the same autumn. The same experiment made upon 190 the caterpillars of Dia produced the same result. Hence appears the reason why those butterflies, and Selene likewise, are so common in spring and early summer, whilst so very few are found in autumn. Argynnis Euphrosyne is one of the commonest of the butterflies attached to woods, and occurs all over Europe, except the extreme south, such as Spain and Portugal, Southern Italy, Sicily, &c., and is also found in Northern and Western Asia. It has never been recorded from Ireland, but is one of the very commonest of wood butterflies throughout England. It swarms in the London district, as in Darenth and Birch Woods, and is equally abundant in Northumberland and Durham. It seems to be more common in the northern than in the southern parts of Scotland, especially in Rosshire, but does not occur in Caithness. It is not a common species in Perthshire, but is found in the Scone Woods and at the Bridge of Allan. The first record we have of it as being a British species is in Hay's " His- toria Insectorum," published in 1710. Ray names it the April Fritillary, and after describing it, ends with these words : " Hane speciem mini primum ostendit, D. Dale." Petiver, in his " Papilionum Britannica Icones," published in 1717, writes, " April Fritillary with few spots. This has but one oval silver spot in the midst of the wings beneath. Frequent in Cain Wood." Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, "This butterfly is very plentiful in all our woods, and is the first of the Fritillaries that makes its appearance on the wing in the spring of the year, I have seen it flying as early as the I2th of April. The caterpillar is unknown." ARGY1NNIS SELENE. Dark Pearl-bordered Fritillary. SELENE, Fab. Sele'ne, the Greek name for Luna, the Moon. This Fritillary expands in the width of the wings from an inch and a half to a couple of inches. On the upperside they are fulvous spotted and marked with black. On the underside the hind- wings are of a dull yellow or ochreous with dark red blotches, a row of silver semi-circular spots along the hind-margin, and several other silver spots about the centre and base of the wing. It is liable to considerable variation like the last species, specimens occurring of a buff, orange, or almost a white ground colour. A very beauti- ful variety, in Mr. Webb's collection, is figured in Mr. Mosley's " Illustrations of Varieties of Lepidoptera." The forewing of this specimen has two rows of small spots at the hind-margin, and only two others on the costa behind the centre, while the hindwing is all black at the base, and the wing rays 191 are as black streaks to the margin. It is as if nearly all the black of the forewing had been transferred to the hindwing. This specimen also varies much on the underside, which is streaked with red, yellow, and silver, in lieu of the usual spots. It was taken near Ipswich in 1875. The Lapland variety Hela, Staud., is smaller and darker than the type. Four others have been named, viz. : Thalia, Esp. ; Pales, Bergst. ; Marphisa, Herbst. ; and Itinaldus, Herbst. The egg is of a dumpy, blunt, sugar-loaf shape, with a thin, soft, glisten- ning shell, which is ribbed with about eighteen ribs, and transversely reticu- lated : it is at first of a subdued pale yellow, but afterwards turns to more of drab. The caterpillar when newly hatched is of a pale olive, with a shining black head. When full-grown it is a velvety smoky pink, and has a dark brown dorsal line, which throughout its course expands and contracts twice in each segment : in front of each sub-dorsal spine, and partially enclosing it, is a velvety black spot delicately edged with white, while behind each spine is a blackish interruped streak. The spiracles are black, the forelegs pale pink with blackish brown tips, and the anterior legs are black and shining. It feeds on the leaves of the dog violet (Viola canma}, and hibernates when small. Unlike its congenor Euphrosyne, the caterpillar of Selene has an aversion to the rays of the sun, and does not at any stage care to expose itself to their direct influence, but reposes either on the undersides of the leaves, or else on the stems while shaded more or less by the leaves, and feeds while young, on the youngest and most tender leaves of the violet. (W. Buckler . "Larvae of British Lepidoptera.") The chrysalis is suspended head downwards ; it is about half-an-inch in length, thick, and obtuse in front, and much curved in outline. It is brown in colour, with metallic spots and black spiracles : the ground colour is most delicately reticulated with blackish brown. The butterfly emerges at the end of May, but more frequently in the begining of June, and continues on the wing for about a month. When the flight of Euphrosyne is nearly over, then Selene appears upon the scene ; but it is only for a short time the two bear each other company. The caterpillar is hatched in July, but does not, as a rule, feed up till spring in this country. Sometimes, however, it does so, and the butterfly appears in autumn ; small and apparently stunted specimens. Like most others of the genus, Selene is a wood-frequenting species, and occurs all over Europe, except the southern parts such as Spain and Portugal, Southern Italy, Greece, &c., and is also found in Northern and Western Asia. It has never been recorded from Ireland, but is far commoner in Scotland than JEuphrosyne, occurring as far 192 north as Rosshire, and is more widely distributed. Dr. Buchanan White observes it is a common species throughout Perthshire in marshy places, in woods, and on the hill sides, holding the same place as Euphrosyne does in England. The first record we have of it as being a British species is in Bay's "Historia Insectoruin," published in 1710, under the name of the May Fritillary. Petiver, in his rt Papilionum Britannica Icones," published in 1717, writes, " Frequent in Cain Wood." Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes, " Eupkrasia, Linn. Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. This butterfly is to be taken in woods about the middle of May, flying with the above ; and indeed they are so like each other, that a person not well aquainted with them would suppose them to be the same species. The difference of the markings on the upperside is scarcely discernable: however, the under- wing on the underside is distinctly different, so that there is not in reality any doubt of their being distinct species. The caterpillar is unknown. These are common insects, and both species of flies may be easily taken, when feeding on the different flowers that bloom at the time they are on the wing." Newman, in his "British Butterflies," 1871, writes, "In the Kentish woods, I have always found that this butterfly makes its appearance from ten to twenty days later than Euphrosyne. I have taken it on the 1st of June, but it is more abundant about the 8th or 10th. Dorsetshire : Glanvilles Wootton (but rare of late years) Puby, &c. — J. C. Dale. Essex : Colchester, but not so common now as formerly. — W. H. Harwood." In June, 1887 and 1888, Selene occurred in profusion in the Glanvilles Wootton copses, and in 1887, 1 took afresh specimen on the 15th of August, which is about half the usual size. In 1818, B. Standish met with one or two in Middlesex, during the month of September. An allied species, Argynnis diet, Linn,, is figured in London's •' Magazine of Natural History," Vol. Y. p. 751, published in 1832, by the Rev. W. Bree, who writes, " Mr. Weaver possesses two specimens, both of which were taken in Sutton Park, Birmingham ; one about ten years ago, the other not more than five or six. It differs from Selene in being rather smaller, and having the black spots and characters on the upperside of both pair of wings larger and stronger, so that the whole assumes a darker appearance than that insect ; but the principal difference consists in the underside of the posterior wings, which are of a brownish purple, interspersed with darker markings of the same colour, and numerous irregular semi-metallic spots ; a low of which 193 borders the posterior margin." The chief difference is the straight border to the upperside of the posterior wings. The caterpillar, like those of the rest of the genus, feeds on the common violet. It has also been reported as being taken in Alderlj Park, Cheshire, by Mr. Stanley (but the specimens appear to have been varieties of Selene), and a female as lately as 1872, in Worcester Park, Surrey. — See " Entomologist," Yol. IX., p. 69. Argynnis dia is common in spring and autumn, in woods, throughout Central and Southern Europe, and also in Western Asia. GENUS XX. MELIT^A. Falricius. MELIIVE'A, a town in Thessaly. Sodoffsky proposes Melintza, a surname of Venus, from Mel. honey. This genus is difficult to characterise in the perfect state, so as to readily distinguish it from the preceding; but there is one important distinctive character which has been pointed out by Drs. Adolfe and Otto Spyer, viz., that the tarsi of the middle and posterior pair of legs are not spiny on the upper surface, whilst they are so invariably in Argynnis. The hind-wings also have no silvery spots. The caterpillars differ from those of Argynnis in being shorter in proportion to their thickness, and instead of spines are furnished with short fleshy tabercles beset with short bristles. They feed on plantain and scabious, and when young, live in societies under tents of silk. Meliteza does not contain half as many species as Argynnis, only about forty being enumerated. Like it, they inhabit for the most part northern and temperate climes. Many of them are excessively variable, and some species seem to run so much into others, that their discrimination is often a matter of difficulty, which the uniform character of their markings docs not tend to simplify. Only three species are British, but though they are vari- able enough, there is no difficulty in distinguishing them. An American species, Tharos, sometimes swarms in countless thousands on Goat Island, in the midst of the falls of Niagara. MELITJ3A CINXIA. The Glanville Frttillary. CINXIA, Linn, Cinx'ia, a surname of Juno, connected with cingulus, a girdle. 194 On the upperside, the wings are of a deep fulvous, tesselatecl with brownish black, and with a row of black spots on the hind-wings. On the underside, the hind-wings are of a pale straw colour, with two fulvous bands edged with black, and have several rows of small black spots. The width across the wings is from one inch and nine lines to a couple of inches. This Fritillary is most subject to variation on the underside of the hind- wing by the enlargement or diminution of the black spots. In some speci- mens they are like larger black blotches or streaks, while in others they are almost wanting, especially on the central pale band. In others, the upper- side varies, like the preceding genus, by the enlargement of the black spots or the suffusion of the wing with black, but the variation of the underside is much more frequent. Two varieties, occurring in Sweden, have been named Fulla and Delia. The egg appears to be undescribed. The caterpillar is intensely black, being very slightly spotted with white, and has a red band and claspers, the legs being black. Each segment has eight warts, from which proceed tufts of short bristly black hairs. The chrysalis is short and stout, of a veiy dark colour and almost smooth. The butterfly emerges during May and June, sometimes being quite out at the beginning of the former month. The eggs are laid in batches during May and June on the leaves of the food-plant, the narrow-leaved plantain (Planlago lanceolata), and the caterpillars are hatched towards the end of July or in August. They feed rather slowly during the autumn months, and as the cold weather approaches, they spin a kind of tent or covering of silk among the grass stems and plantain leaves, in which they pass the winter. This tent is very compact, and almost of a globular form, the caterpillars in each mass varying considerably in number* In some there are fifty or sixty; in others not more than a dozen. The web is very ingeniously constructed, the blades of grass, as well as the leaves and flowering stems of the plantain being interwoven, and thus rendering the mass firm and compact. The cater- pillars when examined in the winter are about a third of an inch long, and directly they are disturbed roll up into little balls. Early in the spring they leave their winter quarters and feed up rapidly. At the end of April they attach themselves by the tail to plantain stems, almost close to the ground, and change into chrysalides. Melitaa cinxia is well spread over Europe, being only absent from the polar regions. It occurs also in Asia Minor and Siberia. In the British Isles it occurs in but few localities, and all of them on the Southern coast. It is or was abundant in the Isle of Wight, where it was discovered by Mr. E. Newman, oil the Undercliff', near Sandown, in 1824. It also occurred at 195 Ventnor, Newport, Carisbrook Castle, Blackgang Chine, and Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight ; near Brokenhurst, in the New Forest ; on the clifts near St. Margaret's Bay, Kent ; and very rarely in the neighbourhood of Great Bedwyn and Sarum, Wiltshire. It also formerly occurred in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. In the Channel Islands it is most abundant, occurring all round the coasts of Guernsey and Jersey ; but appears to have almost dis- appeared from England, a few only having been taken of recent years in the Isle of Wight. The first record we have of it as being a British species, is in Petiver's " Gazophylacium Naturae et. Artis," published in 1702. It is there recorded as being found in Lincolnshire, and near London in a wood at Dulwich. Kay, in his " Historia Insectorum," published in 1710, calls it "Papilio Fritillarius Lincolviensis fascius subtus pallidis," and after describing it, winds up with " Hujus capiam D. Dale nobis fecit. Nimis fretasse prolixe hanc speciem descripsus." Wilkes, in his "English Moths and Butterflies," 1773, writes, "The Plantain Fritillary Butterfly. The caterpillar hereof feeds on plantain, clover, and grass, changes to a chrysalis, within a web of its own spinning, upon the surface of the ground, at the beginning of May, and the fly appears fourteen days after. The caterpillars are sociable, and feed together. They appear of a very timorous nature, for if you move the food on which they are, they immediately quit their hold and fall to the ground, and there remain in a curled up form till such time they think the danger over. The butterfly is swift in flight, but may be taken if diligently attended, in fields of hay-grass, at the time above mentioned." Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian," 1779, writes, " The fly took its name from the ingenious Lady Glanville, whose memory had like to have suffered for her curiosity. Some relations that were disappointed by her will attempted to set it aside by acts of lunacy, for they suggested that none but those who . were deprived of their senses would go in pursuit of butterflies. Her relations and legatees subpoenaed Dr. Sloan, founder of the British Museum, and Mr. John Ray to support her character. The last named went to Exeter, and at the trial satisfied the judge and jury of the lady's laudable inquiry into the wonderful works of the creation, and established her Will. She not only made the study of insects part of her amusement, but was as curious in her garden, and raised an Iris from the seed, which is known to this day, by the name of Miss Glanville's Flaming Iris." Lewin, in his " Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, "This is not a very common butterfly, but may be may be met with in meadows and fields of grass, in June/' 196 Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects," Vol. VII, published in 1798, writes, "This is the rarest of the British Fritillary Butterflies, if we except Paplio lathonia, the Queen of Spain. The flies appear in May. The caterpillars are black, beset with spines and tufts of the same colour : the sides are marked with a double row of white spots, the feet red." Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology/' 1828, writes, " This is a very local species, and is found in meadows by the sides of woods : in Wilkes' time it was not uncommon in Tottenham Woods; recently the places where it has been chiefly observed have been near Eyde and the Sand- droch Hotel, Isle of Wight ; in the latter place in plenty ; also at Birch Wood, and near Dartford and Dover, arid in a wood nea"r Bedford. I believe it has been found in Yorkshire ; and from Eay, it would appear to have have been abundant in Lincolnshire in his time. It generally flies in June." Curtis, in his "British Entomology," 1832, writes: "Rare in meadows on the borders of woods, from the middle of June to the beginning of July. Tottenham Wood, Wilkes ; Lincolnshire, Eay and Petiver ; Yorkshire, Dul- wich, Birch Wood, and near Dartford ; near Dover, Mr. Leplastria ; Eyde, Isle of Wight, Mr. Sparshall ; near the Sandwich Hotel and Undercliff, at the back of the island, Mr. Newman and Mr. Waring." The Eev. P. 0. Morris, in his "History of British Butterflies," 1853, writes : " This butterfly "is a very local one, so that its capture must be regarded as a great fact in the experience of by far the greater number of entomologists. J. W. Lukis informs me that this extremely interesting insect is taken, though very rarely, in the neighbourhood of Great Bedwryn and Sarum, Wiltshire. It seems to be most plentiful near Eyde and other places in the Isle of Wight, on the grassy sides of the grassy glens which run down to the sea shore." In the " Zoologist," for 1846, the Eev. J. F. Dawson gives the following interesting account of the habits of Melitaa cinxia in the Isle of Wight. " As this Eritillary is rare in almost every part of the kingdom, some account of its favourite habits and haunts may not prove uninteresting. It cannot be accounted by any means common here, being confined to a few localites only, though where it does occur, it is in general to be found in some abund- ance. It is not to be expected in cultivated districts, but breeds on steep and broken declivities near the coast, which the scythe or the plough never as yet have invaded, and in such spots it may be met with sooner or later in May, according to the season. Near Sandown, on the side of the cliff, there is one of these broken declivities, occasioned by some former landslip, covered with herbage, which slopes down to the beach. A path-way leads to the base. On the 9th of May. 1844, a hot sunny day, each side of this path- way was 197 completely carpeted with a profusion of the yellow flowers of Anthyllis vul- neraria, when I visited the spot ; and these flowers were the resort of an abundance of these Fritillaries, which fluttered about them, or rested on their corollas, expanding and sunning their wings, and presenting a most charming picture of entomological loveliness. The great abundance of the narrow- leaved plantain, which also grows there, affords food for their larvae. The spring of last year, on the other hand, was so very backward, that on visiting that locality at a date some fortnight later than the above, so far from either flowers or butterflies being visible, the larvae were still feeding, and I could discover but few chrysalides. These latter are found adhering, just above the surface of the ground, to the knotted stems of the plantain, which here con- sists of aged plants, each with but a few stunted leaves ; and occasionally on the underside of large stones, which have fallen from the cliff, and they are suspended and partly surrounded in the latter case with a fine web. They are also generally to be found in pairs. The caterpillars evidently prefer these stunted plants, for at the base of the declivity, where the plantain grows luxuriantly, not one is to be seen. They are black and spiny, with red heads and legs : being hatched in August, they pass the winter in societies, under a kind of tent, formed by a compact web, brought round and over the stems of grasses. I have found several of these societies on the 27th of August, the individuals which composed them being about a quarter of an inch long, rolled up like little balls. All these societies occurred at the base of the declivity, where the herbage grows most luxuriantly ; and when the cater- pillars have obtained sufficient strength in the spring, they are invariably seen ascending the higher parts of the slope. And herein I imagine that 1 recog- nize a beautiful instance of natural instinct, both in the butterfly and cater- pillar : the former deposits its eggs low down the declivity, where the young brood may rest most securely sheltered, and least exposed to the wintry storm, but when the caterpillars are sufficiently advanced in growth, they ascend to the higher parts of the steep to feed and undergo their transfor- mation ; were the chrysalis formed below they probably would have too much moisture and too little sun ; whereas by being formed higher up they have a sufficiency of both to bring them to maturity." This butterfly is single brooded ; but there is a succession of them, varying in duration according to the season. The earliest date on which I have met with it is May 1st, the latest in July ; but in the latter case the specimens were bred in captivity. I never remember to have seen it so late in the state of liberty, not later indeed than the middle of June here. They are very difficult to rear ; and those that I have bred, are not only disclosed much later than in the state of freedom, but are not nearly so fine and perfect. 198 They in general fly slowly and peacefully, except when alarmed, gliding gently from flower to flower. I have taken as many as two dozen without moving from the spot where T stood, as they successively visited the stems of the grasses round me. This Fritillary was much less plentiful last season than heretofore ; and in some of its former haunts has quite disappeared. It has many foes ; for besides the march of improvement in cultivation which gradually invades its haunts, the same natural causes which promote its abundance, also multiply its enemies. Two necrophagous beetles, Silpha obscura and tristis destroy the larvae, and a large ground spider, very numerous in the spots which it frequents, feeds on the perfect insect ; it lies in wait till the butterfly alights upon the low plants, or on the ground, then rushing forward, seizes it by the neck, and holds it captive with such tenacity, that both insects may almost be pulled in pieces ere it will relax its grasp." Newman, in his "British Butterflies/' writes, "I had the pleasure in 1824, in company with my friends, George Waring, of Bristol, and Waring Kidd, Godalming, of discovering the now celebrated locality of Undercliff, Isle of Wight. We found the caterpillars, chrysalides, and butterflies equally abun- dant at the same time. With a feeling of triumph I recorded the discovery in the pages of " Loudon's Magazine of "Natural History," then in the zenith of its glory, now a mere memory of the past." On June 8th, 1855, the Glanville Fritillary was very common at Black- gang Chine. In 1865, several were found on the Undercliff at Folkestone, by Mr. Briggs, and recorded in the " Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," Vol. II : however, Dr. Knaggs, in " List of the Macro Lepidoptera, occurring in the neighbour- hood of Folkestone," published in 1870, records it as "not being observed of late years. In the " Entomologist," Vol. VI., Mr. Luff writes, " Hetitaa cinxia is abundant both in Guernsey and Sark. The earliest date I have of its appearance is May 8th, 1870. In 1872, I did not observe one on the wing until the 27th of May, and then they were nothing like the abundance of the previous seasons. I noticed a couple of battered females on the wing as late as the 26th of July. They are to be met with all round the southern coast of Guernsey, from Fermain Bay to Pleinmont Point, but are never found far from the sea coast." MELI'MA ATHALIA. The Heath FUillary. ATHALIA, Esp. Athali'a, the daughter of Omai, King of Israel, and wife of Jehoram, King of Judah — heroine of Racine's tragedy " Athalie." She is erroneously recorded in the " Accentuated list of the British Lepidoptera," published in ]858, as being the daughter of Ahab. Like the last species, the wings on the upperside, are of a deep fulvous tesselated with brownish black, but the black marks are broader, and the row of dots on the hind- wings are wanting : the base of the wings also is often much suffused with black. On the underside, the hind-wings are of a straw colour, with two fulvous bands edged with black, but without any row of black dots. Besides the absence of the distinct black dots so characteristic of the underside of Cinxia, the two species may be readily distinguished by the colour of the bands, which is very much paler in Cinxia than in Athalia. The width across the wings is from an inch and seven lines to two inches and two lines. This Fritillary varies much both on its upper and under surface. The upper surface varies by being suffused with black scales to a greater or lesser extent than in the normal form. In some specimens the wing is nearly all black; in others there is scarcely any black at all. The underside sometimes has the straw-colour covering the greater part of the wing, while in others there is more black than usual. Stephens, in his " Illustrations," gives the following varieties, all of which are rare. Var. b. Wings black above, with alternate transverse rows of whitish and pubescent tessellations : the central band on the posterior wings beneath composed of one row of yellowish elongate spots. Yar. c. Wings black above, with the two rows of fulvous tessellations towards the hind margin of the anterior wings united. Var. d. Wings black above with very small fulvous spots, those on thQ outer margin wedge shaped, and the bases of all the wings above nearly immaculate. Besides these there is the var. Eos, of Haworth, now in Mr. Stephen's collection, and is said to be unique, but Mr. Bond has one very like it. The upperside has a darker border on the hind margin, and the inside of the wings suffused with the two colours : within the hind margin of the hind-wings is a series of fulvous lunules, and a single fulvous lunule in the centre of each hind-wing. The underside of the fore-wings has the black concentrated in the middle, and the hind-wings have a broad pale band running across the 200 underside. It was taken at Peckham, in June, 1803, by Mr. John Howard of Kingsland ; and was named by Mr. Haworth in his " Lepidoptera Britannica," after Eos, the Goddess of the morning. Both the upper and the undersides are figured by Stephens in his " Illustrations/' under the name of Pyronia Hub. Varieties of Athalia occurring on the Continent have been named Cory- thalia, Hub., Navarina, De Selys., Caucasica, Staud. ; all of which appear to be dark forms. Melanius, H. S., Altheria, Hub., Tarquinius, Cort., and Orientalis, Men,, which has white spots on the underside. Papilio tessolata, serotina, Subtus straminea, as the Straw May Fritillary of Petiver is also a variety of Athalia. In Petiver's time, it was pretty common in Caen Wood, where Athalia also occurred. It is of a paler shade on the upper surface than the type, and the fore- wings are more fulvous underneath ; the hind-wings beneath are entirely straw coloured with black veins ; a broad curved fascia of straw yellow runs across the middle of the wings, edged with black, and with an irregular black line running through the middle of it ; this is suc- ceeded by a row of black lunules, and the margin is straw yellow with a black vandyked line running along it. Newman, in his " British Butterflies," figures four varieties from the collection of Mr. Bond. The second appears to be a melanic variety with a fulvous band near the hind margins. The caterpillar, when full grown, is about an inch in length and moderately stout, and is of a black hue with white spots. The spines are of an orange colour, with white tips on the back, and all white at the sides ; the spines, bristles, head, and legs being black. Mr. Newman points out the protective resemblance of this caterpillar to the flower of one of the food-plants — the Narrow leaved Plantain, and noticed that his specimens always crawled up the flowering stems in the middle of the day. The food-plants appear to consist of the narrow and broad leaved plantains (Plantago lanceolata and major), wood sage (Teucrium scorodonia) , Germander speedwell (Veronica chamcedryas), and cow wheat (Melampyrum pratense), which latter was a discovery of Mr. Harwood, in May, 1871, and was considered by Mr. Buckler to be the principal food-plant in most of the English habitats of the species. The chrysalis is half-an-inch in length, very plump, with the usual angles much rounded off; the colour is creamy white, variegated with black and orange. Ichneumon culpator, Schr., is said to have bred from this species, but not so far as we know in this country. The butterfly may be found in open places in woods, and heathy localities, during June and July. On the Continent, it as said to fly from May to August. The caterpillars hatch in about a fortnight after the eggs are laid, and after 201 feeding for a short time hybernate at the roots of the food-plants till the following spring, when they feed up quickly. Like the last species they are fond of basking in the full rays of the sun. It does not occur in Scotland or the Isle of Man, but is abundant at Killarney in Ireland. In England, it seems to be most plentiful in the more southerly counties, and is very rare in the midland, not occurring north of Staffordshire. It is rare near London, but abundant in some parts of Devonshire, Cornwall, and Sussex ; it also occurs in Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, and Staffordshire. It is spread generally over Europe, but only occurs in the northern and western parts of Asia. It was first figured and recorded as a British species by James Petiver in his "Papiliorum Britanicse Icones," published in 1717, under the name of the Straw May Fritillary, and as being very common in Cain Wood. Wilkes, in his "English Moths and Butterflies," 1773, writes, "The Heath Fritillary Butterfly. I found the caterpillars of this fly feeding on common heath in Tuttenham Wood, about the middle of May, 1745. Six or seven of them were feeding near to each other, I observed their manner of eating, which was extremely quick, and when they moved it was at a great rate. I fed them with common heath for three or four days; at the end of which some of them changed into chrysalis, in which state they remained about fourteen days, and then the flies came forth. This butterfly is very common in most woods, but its caterpillar is very rarely found." Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes, " It may be taken in June, flying in the open parts of woods and dry places, near which heath grows. In some summers it is tolerably plentiful, and in others scarcely to be met with ; just as the winter has proved more or less favourable to the caterpillars." Curtis, in his " British Entomology," 1832, writes, " M. atJialia is found on heaths, marshes, &c., the end of May; in Coombe Wood ; Hartley Wood, Essex ; Apsley Wood, Bedfordshire ; Dartmoor, and near Bideford, and in Bradley Wood, Devon, by Capt. Blomer, as late as the 10th of July. It used to be frequent in Cain Wood, and at Faversham. The P. tesselata of Petiver was formerly pretty common in Cain Wood, the begining of May, where M. athalia was common also ; 1 suspect it is only a variety of that species." The Rev. F. 0. Morris, in his "History of British Butterflies," 1853, writes, " The late Capt. Blomer used to take this very interesting insect plentifully in Devonshire ; Ford Wood is one of the localities there for it, and Dartmoor another ; it is taken also in Cain Wood, Middlesex ; Bagley Wood, Berkshire, near Oxford ; Apsley Wood, and near Bedford ; near Deal, Faversham, Canterbury, and at Coombe Wood, Kent. It occurs near Fal- mouth, but rarely; W. P. Cocke, Esq., has taken it there ; also not very uncommonly near great Bedwyn and Sarum, Wiltshire, as J. W. Lukis, Esq., informs me ; and at Langham Lodge Wood, plentifully ; as also in Hartley Wood and Maiden Wood, near St. Osyth, and in the High Woods, near Colchester, Essex, it has also been taken at Peckham, Surrey, near London." Stainton, in his " Manual of British Butterflies and Moths," 1857, writes, " Mr. Tress Beale gives the following account of the habits of Athalia in the neighbourhood of Tenterden: chief locality, Knock Wood. They are generally congregated in one particular spot — an open heathy place, where the undergrowth is of about one or two years growth. The metropolis is mostly changed each year ; for instance, I could point out four different places which have been occupied during the last four years. Stragglers are of course to be met with in other parts of the wood. They are fond of bask- ing in the sun on thistles. When in the net they generally feign death, close the wings and contract the legs." MELIT^A AURINIA. Marsh Fritillary. AURINIA, Rott. Aurin'ia, a Prophetess held in great veneration by the Germans. Tacit, Germ. The name Aunnia was bestowed upon this butterfly by Yon Rottenburgh, in 17 75; and Artemis y the Greek name for Diana, by the author of the Vienna Catalogue, in 1776. The wings on the upperside are of a reddish fulvous, tessellated with pale fulvous and black, the hind-wings having a broad reddish band near the hind- margin. On the underside the fore-wings have an appearance of the mark- ings having been smudged together, and a shining surface, as if it had been greased : whence it is sometimes called the " Greasy Fritillary." The hind- wings are similar to those of the last two species ; yellowish, banded with brownish orange, the outer band of which bears a series of black spots, each surrounded by a pale yellowish ring. The front edge of the front- wings is slightly concave in its outline about the middle, whereas it is convex in both Cinxia and Athalia. The width across the wings varies from an inch and a quarter to three inches. The Marsh Fritillary varies more generally than any other British butterfly, and though its range of varieties is restricted by the three colours of the type, it is surprising what changes of appearance are produced. The Irish specimens, Hibernica of Birchall, are the most beautiful, the colours con? 203 trasting more, the paler shade being paler than the type, the red bands and spots being brighter red, and the black deeper. I have a small specimen from Carlisle similar to the Irish. The Scotch form, Scoiica, of Buchanan White, is smaller and scarcely so densely scaled, the red and yellow not so distinctly different, and the black duller in hue. Both this and the Irish form often have the inner half of the red band near the hind- margin of a pale straw colour. In the north of England the insect is like the Scotch form, but as we approach the south the specimens are usually larger, the red and yellow markings still nearer each other in shade, and the black marks and veins are browner. Specimens occur not unfrequently with little or no black on the underside, while Dr. Gill had one with the upperside quite obscured with smoky black. Two somewhat similar examples are figured in London's " Magazine of Natural History," Vol. VI., p. 378. The first differs from the type by the absence of the red band, which is replaced on the lower wings by a row of black dots in straw coloured rings : there is also a reddish patch running from the middle to the inner-margin of each. This curious specimen was taken by J. C. Dale at Enborne, in Berkshire, on June 16th, 1810. The ocelli on the under-wings give it somewhat the appearance of Cinxia. The second was found at Haverfordwest by Capt. Blorcer. In this speci- men, the upperside is much obscured with smoky black, thus rendering the reddish band very conspicuous. Both of these varieties are females. In another I have, there is a large smoky black patch at the base of the lower- wings. Stephens, in his " Illustrations," gives the following varieties. Var. b. With the base and posterior margin of all the wings tessellated with fulvous and whitish. Var. c. With the wings similar to the last at the base : the anterior with three oblong fulvous spots near thecosta towards the middle; then a fulvous fascia composed of very narrow elongated longitudinal stripes : a waved band composed of quadrate fulvous spots ; and a black marginal band bearing lunulated fulvous spots beneath, similar to the first described. Var. d. Posterior wings beneath, with the irregular basal band totally obliterated : the central band not edged with black externally. Var. e. The posterior wings beneath with the basal half fulvous, the exterior half ochraceous, with an obsolete row of black spots. The variety Provinciate, Boisd., occurs in the south of Fiance, £c., and is a large insect with scarcely any perceptible difference between the red and yellow bands, the divisions between them and the wing rays being brownish black. The French type differs considerably from the south of England form, 204 but these differences, though clear to the eye, are difficult to describe in words. Merope, Prun. is an Alpine form and appoaches the Scotch or North of England specimens, but it is much less densely scaled and has a semi-trans- parent look, sometimes it is all black and straw colour, except the outer red band on the hind-margins. The variety Sibiriea, Staud., occuring in Siberia, differs from most north- ern specimens, for it is paler than any other, while northern forms are generally dark. Sibirica is the same as Desfontainesii, Evers. The Spanish and African form is called Desfontainesii, Godt., and is the same as Desfontainesii y Boisd. and Herrich-Schaffer. It is more uniformly fulvous than any other. The Turkish specimens are paler on the under, and more varied on the upperside, and are called Orientalis, H-S. An allied species Cynthia, Hub., bearing a close resemblance to the var. Hibernica, Bir., occurs on the higher Alps. The egg is of an ovate shape, truncated at the top, and slightly flattened at the bottom, and is ribbed from the top for about half the length, the rest of it being smooth : it is of a shining pale brown colour. The eggs are laid in clusters of a hundred or so, on the face of a leaf. The caterpillar is of a velvety black with black spines, short and blunt tipped, with short, radiating, black, and pointed hairs, and with numerous white dots, in three not very clearly defined rows. The spines are branched, and most numerous from the fifth segment. The head and legs are black, the claspers smoke coloured. It feeds on the Devil's-bit Scabious (Scabiosa succisa), and also on plantain. The chrysalis is short and stumpy, and of a pale stone colour, spotted with black, turning brighter as the time of emergence approaches, when the red and black markings may be seen through the skin. The butterfly is on the wing from the middle of May till the latter end of June, or sometimes even later in the more northern localities. The cater- pillars are gregarious when first hatched, and draw the leaves down together, while they live under shelter of the tent thus formed, and devour the under- side of the leaves only. They feed but slowly during summer, and pass the winter low down among the leaves of the food- plant, or other herbage, which are drawn together as described. On the approach of warmer weather they leave their hybernaculum, and feed quite exposed, being apparently as fond of the rays of the sun as the rest of the genus. When full-fed they seek the underside of a leaf, or similar shelter for their final change, which takes place in the latter end of April, or the beginning of May. Two species of parasitic Hymenoptera have been bred from it, Apanteles Bignellii, Marsh., and spurius, Wesmael. 205 Newman, in his " British Butterflies/' states, that nine out of ten of his caterpillars were infested with a species of Microgaster, varying from ten to twenty-six in each caterpillar. They emerged in similar manner to the well- known parasite of Pieris brassicte, spinning small silken cocoons outside. Probably they belonged to one or the other of the above mentioned species. The Marsh Fritillary frequents damp meadows, or similar places. Where it occurs it is often exceedingly local, frequenting perhaps one corner only of a field, and after changing its head- quarters, quite disappearing from the place where it abounded one year, and being as abundant the next year in another spot not far away. It occurs in every English country and in several parts of Ireland and Scotland below the Caledonian Canal. It is generally distributed over Northern Europe and Siberia, but does not occur in the polar regions. It scarcely reaches the countries bordering on the Mediter- ranean, though one variety occurs in Turkey, and another in Spain (Andalusia) and in Barbary in Africa. It is first described as a British species in Kay's " Historia Insectorum," published in 1710. Petiver, in his " Papilionum Britanicse Tcones," 1717, calls it " Dandridge's midling Black Fritillary," and that Mr. Dandridge observed it in Cain Wood and the Oak of Honour Woods near Dullidge, about the end of May and beginning of June. Wilkes, in his " English Moths and Butterflies," 1773, writes, " About the 10th of April, 1741, I took upon the ground upwards of one hundred of these caterpillars, in Cain Wood. I gave them to eat a variety of growths which I gathered on the spot where I found the caterpillars, but they were so restless and uneasy under confinement, that they seemed in continual motion, neither would they eat any of the food I give them. On the 18th of April, ten of the caterpillars fastened themselves up by the tail, in order to change into chrysalides (the rest being gone away or dead), and on the 3rd of May following the flies were bred. This butterfly is to be taken in woods and grass fields adjacent to woods, in the month of May." Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian." 1766, writes, "They ara generally found on the side of a hill that rises with an easy ascent, and fronts the east, by which they have the sun most powerful in the morning, and avoid the too scorching heat in the afternoon. It was said that they fed on plantain and grass, but I found that to be a mistake, having often endeavoured to feed them with both, but my endeavours were always fruitless, and accordingly on the ISth of April, 1760, I went to Neesdon, Wildsden, about seven miles from London, where I was informed they were in great plenty, as indeed I found them to be. Here I took great pains to watch their actions for full two hours. I paid them several visits a few days afterwards, that I might be 206 able to give a satisfactory account of them. Their food is the Devil's-Bit Scabious, which, at that time of the year, hardly appears above ground. They feed on the opening leaves as fast as they come up, which is the reason why those who found the caterpillars could never see the food. When the sun happens to be shut in by clouds they stand still, and though eating very greedily, they will suddenly cease : but on the return of the sunbeams, they run nimbly over the tops of the grass, and descend into every vacancy in the grass they can find in search of this food. Nor did I ever find above two at one root, although the field appeared to be covered with the caterpillars. When in their last skin they appear to be very black, and thickly set with sharp spikes ; and their back and sides are powdered with white specks. The preparation they make for the preservation of their chry slides is much to be admired. When one is ready for his transformation, his first business is to draw several pieces of blades of grass across each other toward the top. These he fastens together with his web, and then beneath the centre, where the blades of grass intersect each other, he hangs himself pendulous by the tail, and changes to the chrysalis. This method they have of providing for their safety while in the chrysalis state, is a strong proof of the amazing instinct of these little creatures. They are not only securely hid from the sight of birds, but defended from the damage they might otherwise sustain in boisterous and windy weather ; for, as the grass is drawn from every side, let the wind blow which way it will, one or more of the pieces of the grass immediately acts in the manner of a stay. It is remarkable in this insect that neither fly nor caterpillar will stray from the field in which they were bred, and though I have seen some thousands in the field, yet I could never find one in the meadows adjoining. In September the caterpillars may be seen in great abundance. They keep together under the cover of a fine web, which they spin to defend themselves from the inclemency of the weather, and under the protection of this they pass the winter months." Stephen's, in his " Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes " A local species, rare near London, but particularly abundant near Brighton, and at Enborne, in Berkshire ; it also occurs near Norwich ; in Clapham Park, Bedfordshire ; in Dorsetshire ; in Glamorganshire ; at Eriswell and Mildenhall, in Suffolk; Dartmoor, in Devonshire; and at Beachamwell, in Norfolk ; usually towards the end of May." Newman, in his "British Butterflies," 1871, writes, "In Ireland it is common, occurring in the county Wicklow, also in Galway and at Killarney ; and is abundant at Glen Lough and Cromlyn Bog, in Westmeath, where it is very highly coloured and very various in size. In Scotland it seems rare and local, but increases as far north as Forres. Scottish specimens are 207 slightly smaller and darker than English ones. In Cumberland it is abundant at the Brick House, Saburgham. The caterpillars from this bleak place pro- duce very small dark specimens, and also some beautiful varieties with large canary -coloured spots on the fore-wings." This brings to a close the second division of the Butterflies, viz. " Pen- dulse," so called because the chrysalides are attached by the tail only, and swing in the air, with the head pointed towards the ground. The third and last division is called " Involutse," from the circumstance of the caterpillars concealing themselves in a silken follicle or cocoon before changing into chrysalides. These cocoons are generally hidden in rolled-up leaves, or at the roots of grass ; some of them are even attached to grass stems. The simple structure of the chrysalis, and the habit of the caterpillar of rolling up leaves are peculiarities at variance with the general characters of the Diurni, and agreeing with the Heterocera. Family HESPEB1DJE. This is a family of butterflies generally of small size and obscure colours, and very numerous in species, probably more than fifteen hundred are known, and of this number at least half are natives of tropical America. Many fine species occur in India, and but few in Australia, Africa, and Europe. In the last named quarter of the globe there are scarcely more than thirty species. Their flight is extremely rapid, tbe eye being hardly able to follow their movements. They delight in the hottest sunshine ; and their small powerful wings, enable them together with their robust bodies to rival the hawk moths in swiftness. Their peculiar flitting movements have caused them to be named " Skippers " by our English collectors. Many of the species possess a pair of spines in the middle of the hind tibiae, which are not found in any other butterflies. In some species, Nisioniadvs tages, Tamycus zeleucus, &c., all the wings lie in a deflexed position when the insect is at rest ; but in most of the species the hind- wings are deflexed, whilst the fore-ones are more or less perpendicular. It is on this account that Dr. Agassiz regarded the Hesperidse as a lower type than the majority of butterflies (which on account of their resting with their wings in a position opposed to that which they occupied in the chrysalis state, are considered not only as higher than the rest of the Lepidoptera, but also than all other insects.) The veins of the wings offer several remarkable particulars : thus, the four branches of the postcostal vein of the fore-wings arise at nearly equal distances apart, before $he anterior extremity of the discoidal cell, closely followed by the two djs- 208 coidal veins and the branches of the median vein ; the whole forming a series radiating from the discoidal cell in so regular a manner, that Dr. Herrich- Schaffer regards this group as the type of the Diurnal Lepidoptera on this account. The more or less obsolete character of the discoidal vein of the hind-wings, and the arrangement of the basal portion of the veins are further peculiarities of the family. The peculiar distinction indicative of the sexes, afforded by the structure of the fore-legs in many of the preceding genera, is here wanting ; and it is consequently difficult, except in those species where the wings afford sexual distinctions, to determine the sexes of different individuals. In some, Tages, &c., the fore-margin of the fore-wings is re- curved in the males, the enclosed space being thickly ^clothed with pale coloured down. In others, Linea, Comma, Sylvanus, &c., there is a thickened and oblique ridge on the middle of the fore-wings. Hubner divided the family into forty-two genera or sub-genera. In Britain we have four, viz. : Cyclopides, Ilesperia, Syrichthus, and Nisoniades. GENUS XXI.— CYCLOPIDES. Hubner. CYCLOPIDES, the sons of Neptune who assisted Yulcan in forging Jupiter's thunderbolts. The genus was also named Carterocephalis by Lederer, and Sleropes by Boisduval. The species of this genus or sub-genus differ from those of the next in the differently formed club of the antennae, by having a more slender body, and especially by the want of an oblique black patch across the middle of the wings of the male, and the identity of colouring in the sexes. A more important character, however, consists in the posterior tibia? possessing only a pair of spurs at the tip. There are only a small number of species known, four of them occurring in Europe. PANISCUS. Chequered Skipper. PANISCUS, Fab. Panis'cus, diminutive of Pan, the God of Shepherds ; also named Paltemon by Pallas, which latter name is sometimes adopted. This pretty species is generally about an inch and. a quarter in the expan- sion of its wings, which on the upperside are of a rich dark brown colour, chequered with orange tawny spots. The underside is similar but paler. The spots differ in size in different specimens, but otherwise it does not appear to vary, nor is there any material difference between the sexes. The aiitennjje are of a bright fulvous yellow beneath, and annulated with black and yellow above. The width across the wings is from an inch and one line to an inch and two lines. The egg is of a hemispherical shape, with flat base, and is of a white and shining colour, resembling porcelain. The caterpillar when newly hatched has a largish and uniformly cylindrical body, which is velvety white ; the head is black and shining, and there is a shining black linear plate on the second segment. After feeding a couple of days, the colour of the body changes from white to a very faint tint of bluish green. When full-fed, the ground colour is a pale orange white, with a pale reddish brown dorsal line, and a yellowish sub-dorsal line. The chrysalis is long, slender, and nearly cylindrical, with the head blunt and the eyes rather prominent and a sharp spike between them. The anal end is rounded, with a flat spike set at the tip, with a dozen or more curled spines of different lengths. The colour on the back is a creamy white, with a very dark brown central line, a sub-dorsal of pale buff bordered with red- dish brown ; the wing-cases are of a pale flesh colour faintly tinged with dark brown. (Rev. J. Hellins, in " Buckler's Larvse.") The butterfly is on the wing in May and June. The caterpillars are hatched in June, and feed on the wood brome grass (Brachypodium sylvaticum .) They draw the tips of the leaves together, so as to form little cylindrical retreats, which they make secure by spinnings of silk. When they out-grow the tubes they make fresh ones. Mr. Buckler writes, "On the 10th of October, one had spun itself up by drawing a leaf round itself as it lay on the underside. The leaf not being broard enough, the two edges did not quite meet, and the interstice had been well covered with whitish silk, forming a complete cylindrical silk-lined hybernaculum ; other caterpillars seemed ready to follow this example. They leave their hybernaculum in March, feed up quickly and then turn into chrysalides." Cyclopides paniscus is common over a good part of Central Europe, and in Russia extending to Finland and Siberia. In the North-west of Europe, it is a very local species, and is met with in open places in woods. It does not occur at all in either Scotland or Ireland, and only in a few midland and southern counties of England. It appears to occur most plentifully in the counties of Huntingdonshire. Northamptonshire, and Nottinghamshire, and mere rarely in Suffolk, Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, Hampshire, and Dorset- shire (one specimen.) The first account we have of it as being a British species is in the "Transactions of the Linnean Society," Vol. V., Nov. 6th, 1798, "The Rev. Mr. Abbot, F.L.S., informed the Society of his having taken the Papilio paniscus in Clapham Park Wood, Bedfordshire." He observes " that this 310 Papilio is most easily taken in May and June, when the P. lucina, or Duke of Burgundy Fritillary, is out ; but the term of its existance seems to be longer, as some specimens have been caught, in good condition, a full fort- night after the Lucina has disappeared. It is to be found from 7 to 9 o'clock in the morning ; very often playing in pairs just after sunrise, or at least as soon as the morning fog has evaporated. Its flight is extremely short, very near the ground. It delights to settle on the blades of very long grasses or Carices, and is far from being a timid insect. " Mr. Abbott wishes to name it the Duke of York Fritillary. With its caterpillar and chrysalis he is unacquainted." The first specimens were taken by Dr. Abbott on May 8th, 1798. Ha worth, in his "Lepidoptera Britannica," 1803, writes, " Habitat imago sylvaticis May : rarissima, sed prope Bedfordium frequentius capta et ad me missa amico meo C. Abbott, D.D." In the end of June, 1802, Dr. Abbott took faded specimens in White Wood, Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire. It was next taken in great plenty in the Hanglands, Milton, near Peterboro, on May 1st, 1823, by Mr. Henderson, Lord Milton's gardener; and in the same place on June 6th, 1826, by J. C. Dale. Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology/' 1828, writes, " Generally reputed a scarce, but merely a very local species ; it occurs in great plenty in several parts of Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire at the end of May. Between Woodstock and Enstone, Oxon — Rev. W. T. Bree. Near Dartmoor, Devon — Miss Jermyn." In the "Entomologist " for 1841, Mr. Doubleday records it as being in profusion in Monk's Wood and in a wood near Oundle, Northamptonshire. In the " Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer," for 1857, Mr. Harvey writes, " I have great pleasure in announcing that this year I have taken this rare insect at Netley Abbey, near Southampton : and Mr. Sturgess writes, " I have much pleasure in stating that this very local insect has been taken very freely in the neighbourhood of Kettering duriug the past month." In the "Entomologist," Vol. XV., for 1882, the Eev. W. Fowler writes, " In a wood about seven or eight miles from Lincoln, while hunting for Coleoptera on June 2nd, I saw Hesperia Paniscus, evidently not uncommon in one locality. On two subsequent occasions I visited the wood, but each time a thunder storm, followed by heavy rain, came on just as we reached it, and stopped our operations ; we, however, took one specimen each time, showing that it was still out, and I have no doubt that the insect was fairly plentiful." GENUS XXII.— HBSPEBIA. Latreille. Hes'peria, an ancient name for Italy. The short thick club of the antennae, terminated by a short slender recurved hook, and the minute size of the last joint of the labial palpi, are the chief characteristics of this genus, in addition to the velvety oblique streak in the wings of the males of many of the species. The general colour of the wings is either tawny orange marked with brown, or brown strongly marked with orange ; the colour being generally so disposed as to leave a row of spots near the apical margin of the fore-wings ; the colours of the female, moreover, are brighter than those of the males. Over three hundred species have been described; of which four only are found in the British Isles. HESPERIA COMMA: The Silver-spotted Skipper. COMMA, Linn. Com'ma, thus named on account of the mark of the fore- wings. The wings on the upperside are of a rich brown, blotched and spotted with fulvous ; the spots towards the tips of the fore- wings being of a whitish fulvous : on the underside greenish, with square white spots. The width across the wings varies from an inch and two lines to an inch and four lines. There is a black streak on the fore-wings of the male. Like all the Skippers it is remarkably constant to the type. One form is named Catena, Stgr., having the hind-wings greenish. It occurs in Lapland. Two fine varieties are figured in Mosley's "Illustrations." One from the collection of the late Mr. Alfred Owen, has the usual pale spots nearly white. The other which was taken at Newmarket, and is in the rich collection of Mr. Bond, has the spots and markings of the usual hue, but the other por- tions of the wing, which are generally darker, are all of a pale greenish drab. The egg is dome shaped, with a small circular depression on the summit, the surface being apparently smooth. "When freshly laid it is of a creamy white colour, but afterwards becomes darker with the faintest possible tinge of bluish green. In size it is about -^ of an inch wide, with rather a flattened top, about ?V of an inch across, and is ^ of an inch in height. (Rev. J. Hellins.) 212 The caterpillar is of a dull green mixed with red ; second segment white ; head black ; there are also two white spots near the bottom of the tenth and eleventh segments. It feeds on the bird's foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and other papilionaceous plants. The chrysalis appears never to have been described. The butterfly emerges in July and continues on the wing for more than a month. The caterpillars are hatched in April and turn into chrysalids in June. Hesperia comma occurs throughout Europe and Northern and Western Asia, on heaths, downs, &c. It is unknown in Scotland, Ireland, or the Isle of Man, and is a very local species in England, occurring on chalk downs. It is common in the counties of Kent Sussex, Surrey, and Cam- bridgeshire, and rare in those of Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, Gloucester- shire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Yorkshire. It appears to have been known in Britain as long ago as 1667, for Dr. Christopher Merrett, in his " Pinax rerum Naturalium Britannicseum," gives the following description of a butterfly : " Alis conchatis, et clavatis : ex albo et obscure rubente varias." Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian's Pocket Companion," 1775, records the Pearl Skipper as being found in swampy ground on briars, Hanwell Heath, near Ealing, on August 25th. Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes, "This butterfly is said to be out on the wing in August, and to have been taken on the swampy ground on Hanwell Heath, near Ealing, in Middlesex. The specimens of this fly that I have seen lead me to think, that it is not a distinct species, but merely a variety of the Large Skipper." Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects," Vol. IX., published in 1800, writes, " In the begining of August, 1772, a brood of these insects were taken near Lewes, in Sussex, by the late Mr. Green ; and we believe no other specimens have been taken since that period. It is not very unlike the Papilio sylvanus of Fabricius, but may be readily distinguished from it by the square spots on the underside being perfectly white." Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes, " A local species occurring in plenty on Eiddlesdown, near Croydon, and on the chalky downs of Sussex, especially near Lewes. It used formerly to be taken on Hanwell Common, Middlesex, but I have not heard of recent cap- tures near that place : it appears towards the end of August. Discovered in -considerable abundance towards the middle of August, 1825, on the Devil's Ditch, between the running gap and the turnpike ; the specimens remarkably 313 large and fine.— Rev. L. Jenyus, Old Sarum, Wilts., ] 826.— J. C. Dale." The Rev. P. G. Morris, in his " History of British Butterflies/' 1853, writes, " This species is plentiful near Newmarket, and at Gogmagog Park, near Cambridge ; Mr. Dale records the neighbourhood of Hull as another locality for it ; Barnwell and Ashton Wild, and the neighbourhood of Pole- brook, Northamptonshire ; near Dover, Kent ; Old Sarum, Wiltshire ; Croy- don, Surrey ; Lewes and Brighton, Sussex, are also its habitats, and Blan- ford also. HESPERLY SYLVANUS. Large Skipper. SYLVANUS, Fab. Sylva'nus, God of the winds, Yirg. Georg. The wings on the upperside are of a rich brown, blotched and spotted with fulvous : on the underside of a greenish brown, indistinctly spotted. The male has a black streak on the fore-wings. The width across the wings varies from an inch and two lines to an inch and four lines. This butterfly varies a little in hue, and in the extent or clearness of the paler markings, but is still very constant to the type. A fine variety is figured in Mosley's "Illustrations." It has the wings of an orange yellow, paler towards the hind-margin, which is dark brown ; there is also a dark brown spot on the costa, near the tip. The egg at first is of a dull white, being afterwards tinged with yellow, and is of a globular shape, with the base flattened : the shell is dull and finely granulated, and covered all over with extremely faint blunt hexagonal reticulation, with fine reticulation just on the top. The caterpillar, when young, is of a pale yellowish colour, with black dots set with exceedingly short bristles, and a large smooth brilliant jet black head. At the end of three weeks or so, the colour changes to a dull green, and it spins together the edges of the grass blades, and makes an opaque web, not much bigger than itself for a hiding place. After hybernation in May, the colour is a pale green, the skin being thickly covered with very fine short dark brown bristles, the head of a dirty white, with dark brown stripe. It is of a cylindrical shape, and feeds on various grasses (Holcus lanatus, Luzula pilosa, &c.) The chrysalis is of a chocolate brown colour, slender in shape, and is en- closed in a folded blade of grass. The butterfly appears on the wing in the end of May and June, and also in July and the beginning of August. Hesperia sylvanus is found all over Europe, except the extreme north, and in Northern and Western Asia. It is widely distributed and common in England, but scarcer in the north, and apparently unknown in Northumber- land. In Scotland, it occurs only in the south, and is not common. It is also a scarce and local species in Ireland, but more common in the Isle of Man. It was first described and figured as British by James Petiver, in 1717, in his " Papilionum Brittannise Icones, Nomina, etc.," and recorded as occurring at Hampstead, under the name of the " Cloudy Hag/' Moses Harris, in his "Aurelian/, 1778, writes, " The caterpillar of this fly has never yet been discovered in this country. The moths delight to fly in woods, and lanes near woods : their actions are somewhat remarkable, and not unworthy of notice, for whenever they settle, which is very frequent, as they are never long on the wing, they are sure to turn half-way round, so that if they settle with their heads from us, they turn till their heads are toward us, and sometimes till they have turned quite round. When on the wing, they have a kind of skipping motion, which is effected by reason of their closing their wings so often in their passage, and whenever they settle they also close their wings. They are found in the months of May and August, as there are two broods a year. The male is much the less." Lewin. in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes, "This is a very common butterfly. There are two broods of them in the summer : the first makes its appearance the middle of May, and the second is on the wing in August. It frequents, woods, heaths, and lanes. Its flight is very short ; but when on a bush or shrub, it is almost constantly in motion, skipping or leaping from leaf to leaf. From this habit, common to all the flies of this section, it derives the appellation of Skippers." Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects," Vol. VIII., published in 1799, writes, " Fabricius has no reference to any author for a figure of this species, nor is it described by Linnaeus ; this is the more remarkable, as the species is found in great abundance in the months of May and June in this country, and is not uncommon by any means in Sweden and Germany." An allied species Vitellius, Abbott and Smith, Lep., Georgia, 3 f. 17, is stated by Mr. Haworth, in the "Entomological Transactions," 1812, to have been caught in Bedfordshire by the Rev. Dr. Abbott, although he added that he possessed specimens of the same from Georgia, in America. Of the female two specimens were taken at Barnstaple, in Devonshire, by Mr. W. Eaddon (or supposed to be), and communicated to Mr. Stephens, who published a figure of this presumed species in his " Illustrations," in 1828, and gave it the name of Bucephalus, or the Large-headed Skipper. Mr. Stephens, after describing it goes on to say, " Taken in the neighbour- hood of. Barnstaple, in Devonshire, by W. Eaddon, who possessed two speci- mens of the insect, which he assures me were captured by himself in the 215 above locality sereral years since. I have therefore on his testimony ad- mitted the species ; but I cannot help surmising that its origin is questionable, and that the specimens were probably imported in one of their earlier states, among the timber or other stores which Mr. Eaddon acquaints me came direct from the North American continent to Barnstaple. I am induced to say this much from the circumstance of the section of the genus to which this insect belongs, being without any other exception exclusively found in America." A specimen was also stated to have been taken by Mr. Newman near Godalming, in Surrey. J . C. Dale had one of the above Bucephalus from Mr. Raddon, who had placed them as the females of Sylvanm, not having the true female, evidently a mistake. J. C. Dale had also Dr. Abbott's specimen of H. vitellius. It is possible that Dr. Abbott received it from the American Mr. Abbott, to whom he was supposed to have been related. HESPEEIA LINEA. Small Skipper. LINEA, W.V. Li'nea, named such on account of the line on the fore-wings. It has also been described by Hufnagel under the name of Thaumus, but that name was applied by Fabricius to an American species from Phila- delphia. The wings on the upperside are of a rich fulvous shaded into brown at the borders. The male has an oblique blackish line near the centre of the fore- wings but they are not clouded with brown, as are those of Action. On the underside the wings are unspotted, the hind-wings being of a greenish tawny, the fore-wings of a dull tawny. The width across the wings is from one inch and a line to an inch and three lines. It is but rarely known to vary. A male of the pale or bone coloured form is figured in Mosley's " Illustrations," and Mr. Bond has the same form in both sexes, as have a few other collectors. In those specimens there is no change in the markings. The egg is not at all like that of H. Sylvanus, but is considerably smaller, of a long oval figure, half as long again as wide, the shell glistening, devoid of ribs or reticulation ; at first white, then turning dull yellowish, and at last paler again, with the dark bead of the caterpillar showing through. — (Rev. J. Hellins.) The caterpillar when young is of a pale dull yellow, and is slender, cylin- drical, with a very smooth skin, and no bristles except on the second and thirteenth segments, and some very short ones on the head. When full-grown it is ten lines in length, and is of a tender and delicate grass green colour, 216 without any gloss, with a dorsal stripe of a darker and bluish green, having a stoutish line of paler green running through the middle, and bordered out- side in stronger contrast by a stout line of green still paler than the ground : the head is of rather a deeper green than the body, and rough with minute points : there is also a transverse path of white on the front of the ventral surface of the eleventh and twelfth segments. It is cylindrical in shape, but tapers towards both extremities. It feeds on soft-haired grasses, Holcus lanatns, Brachypodum sylvaticum, &c., and spins little ropes of silk across the blades of grass, making little web coverings. When ready to turn into chrysalis it encloses itself within two or three leaves of the grass, joined together longitudinally by lacing or spinning with white silk. The chrysalis is of the same light green as that of the caterpillar, of which the paler lines can still be faintly traced. It has a pointed head-case, and is very sharply tapered towards the tail, much resembling in form that of H. action. The butterfly appears on the wing in July and the beginning of August ; the egg is laid on the food-plant, and the caterpillar hybernates quite small, feeding up in the spring, and assuming the chrysalis state in June. Hesperia linea is found all over Europe except the extreme north, and occurs also in Asia Minor, Persia, and North Africa. It is generally distri- buted in England, but most abundant in the south. It does not appear to frequent either Durham or Northumberland, nor has it been taken in Scotland or the Isle of Man, but Mr. Birchall has taken it in Ireland at Powers-court, and near Cork, arid it probably frequents many other places in the Emerald Isle. It was first described as a British species in Bay's " Historia Insectorium," 1710, and recorded as appearing in pastures in the begining of July. Petiver, in his " Papilionum Britannicse Icones," 1717, calls the male the " Spotless Hag," and the female the " Streakt Golden Hag/' In his " Gaz. Nat/' he records it as being taken by Mr, Dandridge. Moses Harris, in his " A urelian," 1778, writes, "Small Skipper. The caterpillar of this fly is also undiscovered. The moth flies in woods, and its actions are also similar to the above ; but there is only one brood a year and they appear about the middle of July/' Lewin, in his " Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, " This minute fly is met with on heath, common, and lanes, in most parts of England. It is first out on the wing the beginning of July, and may be readily taken ; as it flies but little, and frequently settles, and skips from leaf to leaf on low bushes, rather than take wing when disturbed. The caterpillar of this species is likewise unknown/' 217 Donovan, in his "Natural History of British Insects/' 1798, writes, " A very generally diffused species, but not common ; it is similar to the Papilio sylvanus of Linnaeus, or He&peria sylvanus of Fabricius, which is in the greatest abundance in the skirts of woods in summer." Stephens, in his "Illustrations," 1828, writes, "Less common than the P. sylvanus, but nevertheless pretty abundant ; it frequents the borders of woods and shrubby places, towards the end of July." Newman, in his " British Butterflies," 1871, writes, "In England it is generally abundant, more particularly in the southern and midland counties, but has mysteriously disappeared from many places where it was formerly common ; in Essex, it occurs in open swampy places that are covered with rushes." It is a very abundant species in Dorsetshire, both on the coast and inland. HESPERIA ACTION Lulworth Skipper. ACTION, Esp. Actse'on, a hunter, who seeing the goddess Diana bathing in a fountain, was changed by her into a stag, and then was pursued and devoured by his own hounds, who took him for a real stag. — Ovid. Met. The wings on the upperside are of a dull rich brown, shot with fulvous, and with a narrow dark hind-margin. The male has a black line from the cen'tre of the wing nearly to the base of the inner margin. The female has a curved row of rather pale fulvous spots. On the underside, a greenish tawny is the prevailing colour. The width across the wings is from an inch to an inch and two lines. The only varieties, I have seen or heard of, are a couple of females with- out the spots, in my own collection. The egg does not appear to have ever been described. The caterpillar is of a cylindrical shape, but tapers somewhat towards both the head and tail. It is of a pale greyish green, with two yellowish longi- tudinal lines down the back, the space between them being rather darker than the ground colour, and a yellowish line at the sides. The ventral area is marked on the tenth and eleventh segments with a snow white patch, which appears to be a peculiarity of the whole genus. The colour of the head is brown in the young caterpillar, pinkish green in the old ones, with two lines down the face. The spiracles are of a pale flesh colour, and the legs are very short and of a green colour. It feeds on grasses, Brachypodium gylvaticum, Triticum repenst Calamagrostis epigejos, &c. The habit of feed- ing is as follows : ascending high up the blades of the grass, it eats out a 218 wedge-shape portion from the side, which cuts off the pointed top, leaving an oblique edge above, and proceeds to eat away large wedge-shaped pieces from the side of the blade ; when tired of feeding it moves lower down the blade, and spins a coating of white silk from one side to the other, causing the two edges of the blade to draw together a little, and then in a silk lined hollow rests awhile, and then comes out again to feed. When full-grown it seeks for a retired shelter, which it finds between some leaves, of which it forms a spacious habitation by spinning, in the open parts, a thin wall of whitish silk web, with large and very irregular meshes j the resting place being thickly covered with whitish silk, but most thickly where the tail of the caterpillar is to rest. In four or five days it changes into a chrysalis. The chrysalis is very slender, and is three-quarters of an inch in length, with two lines across the arched thorax, and has large prominent eyes ; the top of the head is a trifle flattened, and has a beak-like process projecting forwards, of a flattened triangular shape ; the tail ends in a prolonged and blunt flat- tened tip, furnished with a circlet of exceedingly minute recurved hooks. 1 he wings, antennae, and legs are plainly developed, and the proboscis is ex- tended at full length down the body, from which it lies wholly free towards its extremity. It is of a very pale and delicate yellowish green colour, on which all the stripes of the caterpillar, though faint, are to be seen. Just before the emergence of the butterfly, the colour changes to a purplish black. There are apparently two broods of the butterfly, the first appearing in June, the second in August, but specimens may be met with all through the summer. In 1833, the butterflies appeared as early as the 31st of May, and in 1888, worn examples were still on the wing as late as the 13th of Septem- ber. The eggs are laid in June, July, and August. The caterpillars hatched from the earlier laid eggs feed up before winter comes on, and hibernate probably in the chrysalis state. Those from the later eggs hibernate small, and feed up in the spring. Being full-fed in the middle or end of June, they remain about a fortnight in the chrysalis state. Hesperia actaon is a very local species, though abundant where it occurs ; and is found in central and Southern Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa, also in the Mauritius and the Canary Islands. At Meseritz, in Austria, the caterpillars were found by Professor Zeller feeding in June, on the wood small reed grass (Calamagrostis zpigejos), chiefly under the shade of fir trees. In Britain, it is exclusively confined to a very few restricted localities on the. south-west coast, chiefly in Dorsetshire, where it frequents places along the coast, from Swanage to Preston, near Weymouth, and also the line of chalk hills from Swanage to Upaney. It has also been taken on the cliffs east of Sidmouth, and at Torquay, in Devonshire ; and near Falmouth, in Cornwall. B19 The principal localities, though, are Lulworth Cove and the Burning Cliff, on the Dorset coast, where they may sometimes be found in plenty, settling on the wood brome grass (Brachypodium sylvaticum), on which the caterpillars feed. This interesting addition to our meagre list of British butterflies, was made by my father, on August 15th, 1832. On that day he captured no less than three species new to Britain, viz. : Eesperia Aclaon, Habitophagus Curtisii, and Eucyrtus Mirabilis, The middle one belongs to the interesting and curious order of bee parasites, to which the Eev. W. Kirby gave the name of Strepsiptera. It is one of the rarest of our British species, there being only two specimens in existence, and both captured by my father. The last is one of the parasitical Hymenoptera. Hesperia action was first figured and described as a British species on the 2nd of March, 1833, by John Curtis, in his " British Entomology," and the name of the " Lulworth Skipper " bestowed upon it, accompanied by the following letterpress : " The insect at the top of the plate is the male, the other flying the female ; the male at rest is represented of the natural size; We cannot often hope to record the addition of a butterfly to our British Fauna, but this species was discovered at Lulworth Cove, in Dorsetshire, last August, by J. C. Dale, Esq., through whose liberality it now ornaments most of our cabinets : it was found upon thistles, and was very local." The exact place where the first specimen was captured is called Durdle Dove, and is situated to the west of Lulworth Cove. Stephens, in his " Illustrations " — Appendix — published in 1834, writes, "I am indebted to the Rev. J. Lockey for this species ; it was found by him in plenty near the Burning Cliff, in Dorsetshire : it has also been previously taken at Lulworth Cove, in the same county, in August/' Messrs. Humphreys and Westwood, in their " British Butterflies," 1841, writes, " This extremely local species was discovered in August, 1832, by J. C. Daley Esq., near Lulworth Cove, in Dorsetshire, in considerable num- bers, frequenting thistles. It has since been found by the Key. J. Lockey, near the Burning Cliff, in Dorsetshire, in plenty." Mr. S. Stephens, in a communication to the "Zoologist/' Vol. V., 1847, writes, "This Skipper, which has been so scarce for the last eight or ten years, I had the pleasure of taking on the 2nd of August last in plenty under the Burning Cliff, on the coast of Dorsetshire, between five and six miles from Weymouth; I found a few on the flowers of the thistle and ra'gwort, but most on the flowers of a carex, which grew in clusters close to the beach. The insect was extremely local, being confined to a space of about one hundred yards. Mr. Dale, who kindly told ine the locality whilst on. a visit to his place, has 220 been to Lulworth (the original locality for the insect) for. the last five years, and twice to this, without success, and it is now twelve years since he found it in plenty. 1 was a fortnight or three weeks too late, I regret to say, for I met with very few fine out of one hundred and thirty that I captured in five hours." The Rev. F. 0. Morris, in his " History of British Butterflies/' 1853, writes : " In company, some years ago, with my friend J. C. Dale, Esq., late High Sheriff of Dorset, I formerly captured this, then newly by him dis- covered, insect, I mean as a British one, in plenty at Lulworth Cove, Dorset- shire— a charming place, where you will be fain to wish that you could for ever watch the glorious ocean, dashing up from its dark depths against the steep cliffs, which there presents an aspect of the utmost seclusion and the most lovely retirement. Wild must all around be in winter, but this small butterfly rejoices in the settled summer, more fortunate than some of its class, who are tempted out to woo the ' beautiful spring ' : often their re- ception is cold and chilling, and their day-dream of happiness is blighted, like the contemporary delicate flower that has peered out too soon from its shel- tered nook, and must again hide its head for a season, till the skies are more propitious, and the sun shall shine undisturbed upon it. Now it is not to be seen there, though it is still to be found at the Burning Cliff, nearer Weymouth, where my friend, the Eev. Francis Lockey, of Swanswick Cot- tage, near Bath, has taken it in plenty." Stain ton, in his " Manual of British Butterflies and Moths," writes, " A very local species : Lulworth, Dorsetshire, and Sidmouth, Devonshire." Mr. Douglas has given me the following note of his experiences of this insect in Dorsetshire: "In July, 1849, my late friend, H. H. Farr was staying at Weymouth for the benefit of his health. I stayed a few days in his company, and made some entomological excursions with him to Portland and other places adjacent. One bright sunny morning we hired a boat, owned by one of the amphibious long- shore dwellers, whom we took with us, and found he was a character, and could turn his hand and tongue to any- thing. An hour's sail across Weymouth Bay, during which we amused our- selves by catching mackeral, brought us to the desired spot, the Burning Cliff, where we had been told we should find Pamphila actaon, and there, sure enough, we found it in profusion. The spot, close to the sea, is a kind of undercliff, not very level, of no great extent, and covered with thistles and large tufts of a long coarse grass or carex, about which our prey were skipp- ing briskly. So abundant were they that I often had five or six in my net at one stroke, and in about two hours I. caught a hundred, filling my box and my hat ; and Mr. Farr had nearly as many. They were accompanied by 221 a few of the common P. linea, which, in their flight they greatly resembled." In the " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine/' Yol. I., Mr. Trovey Black- more writes, " This species seems to be very irregular in the time of its appearance. I took it in abundance, in very fine condition, in 1858, at the end of July, both at Lulworth Cove and at the Burning Cliff; whereas, the few specimens that I met with in the corresponding week this year, 1864, at the latter locality, were in a very wasted state, and had, apparently, been on the wing for some time. I met a member of the Entomological Society on the cliff, who had walked over there from Lulworth, where he had taken a few specimens in no better plight than mine/' My first capture of Action was made on the 27th of July, ] 869, when I drove over to Lulworth and captured fourteen ; also one of Linea, four of Sylvanus, two of Corydon, and several of Galatbea and Semele. Newman, in his " British Butterflies/' 1871, writes, " We are indebted to the indefatigable Mr. Dale for the discovery of this insect at Lulworth Cove, in August, 1832, as announced by Mr. Curtis in his " British Entomology/' I believe it to be extremely local — that is, frequenting particular spots, scat- tered at intervals all along the sea coasts of Dorset and Devon. The Warwick- shire localities, although confidently spoken of, are very unlooked for, and are, I think, fairly open to doubt. Devonshire. — Extremely local, frequenting cliffs and coves on the coast, more especially cliffs east of Sidmouth and Torquay. — J. J. Reading ; Mr. Hellins has also taken it near Sidmouth. Dorset- shire.—Lulworth and Burning Cliff by Holworth. — J. C. Dale/' Taken this year (1870) in two new localities, at Swanage and near Tyne- ham.—T. Parmister.— " Entomologist," Yol. 3., p. 179. In the "Entomologist," Vol. XL, is the following communication from myself: "This little butterfly has been very scarce this year (1878), but last year it was in greater profusion than ever I have seen it. The earliest I captured was on June 20th, the last on September 4th. It is more widely distributed than is commonly supposed, as I have taken it in various places on the Dorset coast, from Swanage to Preston Preventive Station, which is about two miles from Weymouth." It was also met with in 1877, by Mr. Wacey, on Kidway Hill close to Upaney. In the " Entomologist," Yol. XYI, Mr. Benson writes, " Some years back I took Hesperia actaon in some numbers near Truro, Cornwall, in good con- dition and quite unmistakable ; but have not seen it there since." In 1888, it was on the wing at Lulworth as late as the 13th of September. Hesperia action occurs at Lulworth in company with no less than four others of the Skipper family, viz. : Sylvants, Linea, Alveolus, and Tages. 222 The best place is to the east of Lul worth Cove, on cliffs facing the sea. A little further on is a minature undercliff. On this undercliff grows a iriass of Inula critAmoides, below is the clear blue water af Wey mouth Bay. In that little space, almost without moving, I have captured, or at least seen, no less than twenty-three of our British butterflies?, viz; : Pieris brassica, rapa, and napi ; Colias edusa, with its var. kelice ; Melanargia galalhea, Satyrus semele, tithonus, janira, megara, and pamphilus-, Chrysophanus phloeas ; Lycczna, corydon} adonisy alexis, agestis, and agon, and Nisoniades tages* GENUS XXIIL— SYRICTHUS. Boisduval. This genus which is called Thymele by Stainton and Hesperia by Kirby contains over sixty species, all of which are black, chequered with white spots. About fifteen of them are European, but only one British. In the folded structure of the costal margin of the fore-wings of the male, Syricthus is closely allied to Nisoniades, from which, however, they are distinguished by their strongly tesselated wings. The obtuse tip of the antennae, destitute of a hook, separate them from the other genera. SYKICTHUS ALVEOLUS. Spotted Skipper. ALVEOLUS, Hub. Alve'olus, a chess board, given in reference to the black and white appearance of the butterfly, which is chequered with some- what square spots. It is also called Malva, but the true Halva of Linnaeus is apparently another species, according to the Yienna Catalogue, Alcea, the caterpillar of which feeds on Malva. This pretty little species measures from an inch to an inch and two lines in the expansion of its wings. On the upperside they are of a blackish brown, chequered with somewhat square white spots, and with chequered fringes. On the underside they are somewhat similar, the ground colour being greyish brown. A well known variety having the spots confluent was figured as long ago as 1717, by James Petiver, in his "Papilionum Britan- nicse leones," under the name of the Brown Marsh Fritillary. Lewin also gives three excellent figures of it in 1795, and calls it Fritittum, Fabricius. He records it as being but seldom met with in England, and that our know- ledge of its manners is confined to the taking a few of them on the wing. He also goes on to say, this may not be a distinct species, but merely a variety in the white markings of its wings. It is described by Haworth as Lava- terte, and figured as such by Newman. It has been taken in Dorsetshire and other parts of the south of England, but is considered to be very rare. A still more extreme form of this variety is figured in Mosele/s " Illustrations," from a specimen in the collection of Mr. Howard Yaughan, and called Taras, Meig. Both these later names apparently represent the same form, which Kirby calls Fritillum, W.V. Both the type and the variety are subject to still other variations ; the former frequently occurs with all the spots on the anterior wings very minute, while those on the posterior are remarkably large, and vice versa. Again, the variety occurs with the upper wings nearly all whitish or cream-colouied, with a single whitish spot alone in the centre of posterior, while others have a central and marginal fascia of spots. In Mr. Stephen's collection was a specimen having the character of Alve- olus on the anterior wing, and of Lavatera on the other \ and he also pre- served a series gradually varying from the confluent to the simple spots on all the wings. Another named variety, Melotis, Dup., occurring in Syria, is larger, and has the hind-wings all white on the underside. The egg is globular, with base rather flattened ; the shell ribbed rather irregularly with about eighteen ribs, and transversly reticulated with very even fine lines : the colour is a very fine pale green all over. The young caterpillar makes its escape by cutting a large round hole through the top of the egg ; in colour it is very pale green, with a shining black head. When full-grown, the length is rather over five-eighths of an inch, the figure very stout, the head horny, globular, and stuck like a knob on the second segment, which however, is not so strikingly narrow as in Nuoniades tages ; the skin granulated in appearance, the head and whole body covered with short fine pale hairs ; the general colour a pale ochreous green, the second segment pink, the lines faintly darker than the ground colour ; the head dark brown. — (Mr. W. Buckler). It feeds on the barren straw- berry (Potentillafragariasirum}, the wood strawberry, the raspberry, and the bramble. The chrysalis is enclosed in a case between two or three leaves, similar to that in which the caterpillar lives, but fastened with stouter silk, and the openings protected by a loose pale yellow webbing. Its length is not quite half an inch, the figure thick and stumpy ; the eyes prominent ; the wing cases well developed ; the whole skin rather rough, set with short stiff hairs of a light brownish led ; the ground colour is a reddish grey, on which are 224 situated some black marks and spots ; the spiracles are ringed with black and placed within the largest dark blotches. The butterfly appears in May and June, and has been taken both in the end of April and the beginning of July. The caterpillars emerge by the end of June, and are full-fed in September. They remain in the chrysalis state over the winter. S. alveolus occurs all over Europe except the extreme north, in Asia Minor, and North Africa. It is abundantly distributed in England and Scotland south of the Clyde, and has been met with at Galway in Ireland. It was first described as a British species in Ray's " Historia Insectorum," 1710; after describing it, he goes on to say, " Maii 29 in pascuis loco palustri inneni. Quarti generis Papilionum a nobis observatarum speciei primse persimilis est quoad colores, sed multa minor." It is figured and described by Petiver in his " Papilionum Brittannicse Tcones," 1717, under the name of the Small Spotted Brown Marsh Fritillary. Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian," 1778, writes, "Grizzle. — The whole fly is of a dark lead colour, speckled all over with small square specks. The fringes are chequered black and white. The underside is similar to the upper ; but the inferior wings are paler. Eoesel says, the caterpillar is found on the common mallow, inclosed in a web ; that it lays in chrysalis eleven days, and that the fly, when it appears from the chrysalis, produces blood from the abdomen. See Linn, Papil. Pleb. 267, Malva." Wilkes, in his "English Moths and Butterflies/' 1773, figures for the Grizzled Butterfly, the butterflies and chrysalides of another species, also the caterpillars feeding on a plant of mallow; and writes : "Mr. Roesel tells us, that the caterpillar of this fly was found on the mallow, with the leaves of which he fed it till the end of June, when it spun a web amongst the leaves, and changed to a chrysalis, the butterfly of which was bred the May follow- ing. This fly is to be taken in woods and meads, at the beginning of May ; and although small, it flies swiftly, so that you must be very quick to take it." Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects," likewise figures another species, and writes " The larva of this butterfly feeds on the mallow ; the colour is greyish or yellowish, with the head black, and a black collar marked with four sulphur coloured spots. The pupa is somewhat gibbous and bluish. This insect is common in many parts of Britain in the fly state ; the larva, though known, is by no means common. The butterfly appears on the wing in May. Some collectors admit two or more varieties of the Grizzled Skipper Butterfly, while others consider them as so many distinct species : the male also differs from the female in being somewhat smaller." 886 The foregoing will show how much better it would have been for Harris, Wilkes, and Donovan, not to have copied from Fuesel : and that our species is not the Malva of Linnaeus, which now goes under the name of Alcea, Esp. Lewi 11, in his " Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, " Spotted Skipper. Malva, Linnaeus. The caterpillars of this butterfly feed on the leaves of the bramble bushes. They web the edges of the leaf together, and from this cover they come out a little way to feed ; but the least motion of the leaf they return to their retreat, and if they be much alarmed, they drop to the ground. The end of April they are full-fed, when they enclose themselves in a slight web, under cover of a leaf, and there change to chysalis. In that state they remain about fourteen days, as the fly comes out on the wing the beginning of May. The butterfly is pretty common in the dry parts of woods and heaths/' Haworth, in his " Lepidoptera Britannicse," 1803, writes of Halva, '* That it frequents pastures/' Curtis, in his " British Entomology," 1833, writes, Alveolus, Hub. — Halves, Haw. — Cardui, Goda. — End of May, beginning of June, meadows, commons, woods. Malvte, Linn. I have found at Toulon, and believe it is not British, although Donovan's figures appear to be this species/' Stephens, in his " Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes, "An elegant, variable, and far from uncommon insect ; frequenting woods, com- mons, dry banks, and meadows, about the end of May, near Newcastle common. In the fens of Cambridgeshire, plentifully. Malva has consider- able resemblance to Tages, but is easily known by its dentated wings. This species has doubtless been introduced into the indigenous fauna by Stuart, owing to the unfortunate misappropriation of the Linnaean name to Alveolus by his predecessors." In a manuscript note in my father's handwriting is " In the Linnsean cabinet are 2 Malva large and 2 Alveolus small put in as 4 Malv*» Haworth, in the old " Entomological Transaction," 1802, records another species, Orleus (The Georgian Grizzle), as being taken in Bedfordshire, by the Rev. Dr. Abbot. Evidently a mistake. GENUS XXIV.— NISONIADES. Hubner. A genus of about fifty species, of which but two occur in Europe, and only one in Britain. They are mostly brown in colour, with ash-coloured undu- lating bars. The males have the costal margin of the fore-wings double, or 226 folded, the inside of the fold being covered with fine downy hairs, as in the last genus, from which they may be distinguished by the fringe of Nisoniades not being chequered. The antennae are short, but longer and more slender than in Syrichthus; the club attenuated at the tip, not hooked. The butter- flies of this genus sleep with their wings deflexed like a moth, not erect like other butterflies. Curtis remarks on the Skippers in general, " These singu- lar insects approach the Sphingida in the extreme length of the maxillae, and the Noctuidte and Phal&nidce in their metamorphoses and doubly spurred posterior tibise. The palpi are so densely clothed with scales and so very tender, that although the relative proportions are correct in fig. 4. a., the outline may vary a little. It is rather remarkable that old specimens have have frequently lost one or both of their palpi, an accident I have never observed in other Lepidoptera, excepting a few of the Pyralidce. Boisduval bestowed the name of Thanaos a corruption of Thanalos, death, in allusion to the dark colour of the species. NISONIADES TAGES. Brown Skipper. TAGES, Linn. Ta'ges, a son of Genius, who first taught the Etruscans the art of divination. Linnaeus probably chose this name for one of the Ruri- culse, because the story is told of Tages being found by a rustic while plough- ing : hence a clod-hopper. t This, the last of our British butterflies, sleeps with its wings deflexed like a moth. It is of a dullish brown colour, with marginal rows of small pale dots ; two obscure greyish bands on the fore-wings, and one on the hind- wings. On the underside, the colour is uniformly greyish brown. The width across the wings varies from an inch to an inch and a quarter. The male is more dusky and uniformly coloured than the female. The grey markings on the wings are sometimes more clearly defined in some specimens than others : the costa also has sometimes a bright white spot towards the tip, anterior to the band of zig-zags, and a spot or two in the band : other- wise it is remarkably constant to the type. A form named Unicolor, Fu., which as its names implies is unicolorous on the upperside, occurs in Greece and Western Asia. Another, name,d Cervantes, Grael., is found in Andalusia. It is larger than the type, and is more obscurely marked. The egg is of a somewhat elliptical figure standing on end, and is pale green in colour. The caterpillar is of a yellowish green, with two yellow lines on each side, 227 and a row of black dots above them : the head, like that of the rest of the family, is large, and is of a purplish brown colour : The spiracles are very small and red. When full-grown it is nearly three quarters of an inch in length, with the back a little arched and the belly rather flattened : the body is very plump, and thickest in the middle segments. It feeds on the Bird's- foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus.} — (Mr. W. Buckler on " Larvae " by the Eay Society.) The chrysalis is smooth, without angles, the thoracic segments being swollen and of a dark green colour ; the body is tinged with rosy red ; it is conical and pointed. (Newman.) The butterfly emerges in May, and it continues on the wing till June is well in. The eggs are laid on the food-plant, and as soon as the caterpillar is hatched, it conceals itself by drawing the leaves together. In the South of England, a second brood emerges in August, and the caterpillar lives over the winter ; but there is only one brood in the North, and it passes the winter in the chrysalis state. Nisoniades tages occurs all over Europe, except the Polar regions, in "Northern and Western Asia, and Asia Minor ; frequenting dry sunny places. It is common all over England, and the South of Scotland, but occurs as far north as Invernesshire and Eosshire. It also occurs in Galway and pro- bably other parts of Ireland. It appears to have been known as British as long ago as 1667, for Dr. Christopher Merrett gives the following description of a butterfly in his " Piiiax rerum Naturalium Britannicarum, continens vegitabilia, Animalia, et Fossilia, in hac Insula repecta inchoatus," viz. : "Corpore, pedibus, capitulo, antennis, cineritiis." It is described by John Bay in his "Historia Insectorum," 1710; and figured and described by James Petiver in his " Papilionuin Britanniae Icones," 1717. Petiver records it thus, " Papilo niger fuscus Hampstediensis mar- moratus. Handley's small brown butterfly. It is brown above and paler below, and dully marbled." Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian's Pocket Companion," 1775, records it as haunting woods, heaths, and meadows. Lewin, in his " Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, "This species of butterfly is to be seen flying the beginning of May, in the dry open parts of woods, and the sides of roads and lanes. It delights to settle on the ground to sun itself. The caterpillar is not known. In the male and females flies there is little or no difference, either in colour or markings." Haworth, in his ' ' Lepidoptera Britannica," 1803, records it as frequenting woods and meadows in May ; unfrequent near London, but more frequent in in Norfolk. Ml Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology/' 1828, writes, " Not a very abundant species, frequenting dry banks, wastes, commons, heaths, and woods, about the end of May and the middle of July : rather plentiful on Hertford Heath and at Darenth, and abundant at Coombe Wood, near Dover." Curtis, in his " British Entomology," 1833, writes, "Beginning of May, June, and middle of July, meadows, dry heaths, banks, and road sides in various parts of England and Scotland." The Rev. F. O. Morris, in his " History of British Butterflies," 1853, writes, " I have taken this Skipper in plenty near Charmouth and Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire and Devonshire. It is very abundant in Raydon Wood, Essex, and, in fact, in most parts of England. In Ireland it is plentiful near Galway ; it is taken also in Scotland in different parts." Newman, in his "British Butterflies," 1871, writes, "It is particularly plentiful in flowery chalk banks in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. In England it occurs in every county list I have received." 229 ADDENDUM. Since the previous pages appeared a new butterfly has been added to the British List, viz. HESPERIA LINEOLA. LINEOLA, OCH. Resembles Linea in size and colour, but the club of the antennae is yellow, with a black tip ; the hind wings are uni- colorous beneath instead of the inner margin being fulvous. The black streak on the fore- wings of the male is shorter and quite straight, sometimes it is wanting. The caterpillar is yellowish green with fine yellow lines on the back, and a yellow line along the sides. The range of this species is more extensive than that of Linea, as it is found throughout Northern Asia, as well as in Europe and North Africa, but it has only recently been recognized in England. It occurs in meadows in July and August, and is generally commonest along paths by the side of corn-fields. It was first recorded as a British species in the Entomologist for January, 1890, by Mr. Hawes, as occurring in the County of Essex. Mr. Whittle also records it in the February number as occurring in abundance in July, on the marshes near Purfleet, close to Shoebury- ness. I have been on the watch for this species myself for years, and have come to the conclusion that it does not occur in the West of England. It is probably an Eastern not a Western species in Britain. 230 CORRIGENDA. Page xv. — Line 5. For " chysalides," read "chrysalides." ,, xviii. — ,, 36. For "to that," read "instead." ,, xxiii. — Between lines 37 & 38 insert "1795, Typhon. Lewin's Insects of Great Britain." ,, xxvii. — Line 2. Add " South of the Humber." ,, xxvii. — ,, 3. Add " South of the Humber." ,, xxvii. — ,, 23. For " South-west," read " South Coast." ,, xxix.— ,, 17. Insert "rubi." ,, xxxiii. — ,, 6. After "belonging," insert "to." ,, xxxiv.— ,, 7. For "1858," read "1868." ,, xxxiv. — ,, 30. Insert " The mean on January 6th and 7th, 1890, were as high as 49' 9" and 51' 6"." For " Napij" read "Brassier and Rap