Lepidopterous Insect's. 261 



the sea coast of Kent and Sussex. During the last two sea- 

 sons (1832 and 1833), however, it has made its appearance and 

 has been captured, in comparative abundance, near Deal and 

 Wahner, and in the vicinity of Dover. The following notices, 

 which have been communicated to me by Miss Harvey of 

 Upper Deal, a lady whose taste has made her conversant 

 with all branches of natural history, may not be without 

 interest to your entomological readers. Towards the end of 

 July, or beginning of August, 1832, no less than fourteen 

 specimens of C. Hyak were taken near Deal, by a young ento- 

 mologist, who at the time was not aware of the rarity of the 

 insect ; two others were likewise taken, by different persons, 

 about the same time and place ; and three also by Mr. Le 

 Plastrier, in the neighbourhood of Dover : in all, nineteen 

 specimens in the season of 1832. In the beginning of August, 

 1833, four specimens were taken by the above-mentioned 

 young entomologist, near Deal, and nine by my kind in- 

 formant. Miss Harvey herself, on August 19, 20, and 22.; 

 besides three others, which were seen, but not captured : Mr. 

 Le Plastrier also succeeded in procuring four near Dover ; 

 making twenty specimens in the summer of 1833. 



The occasional, yet indeterminate, appearance of these and 

 some other Papilionidae, especially Vanessa Antiopa* and 



sotheme, if we may judge from the British specimens so called, appears to 

 be scarcely distinguishable from Edus« ; and C. Helic<? is no other than 

 a white variety of the female Edusa. Thus the well-ascertained British 

 species will be reduced to Edusa and Hjale. 



* " There is something very extraordinary in the periodical but irre- 

 gular appearances of this species (Antiopa), Edus«, and cardui. They are 

 plentiful all over the kingdom in some years, after which, Antiopa, in 

 particular, cannot be seen by any one for eight or ten or more years, and 

 then appear again as plentiful as before. To suppose they come from the 

 Continent is an idle conjecture, because the English specimens are easily 

 distinguished from all others l3y the superior whiteness of their borders. 

 Perhaps their eggs, in this climate, like the seeds of some vegetables, may 

 occasionally lie dormant for several seasons, and not hatch, until some 

 extraordinary but undiscovered coincidences awaken them into active life." 

 [On the relation of the eggs of certain insects to seasons, see Mr. Brown 

 in p. 246.] 



My lamented friend the late Mr. Haworth, from whose work (Lepi- 

 doptera Britannica, p. 28.) the above remark is quoted, once suggested to 

 me, that it might probably require two or more extraordinarily fine seasons 

 in succession to produce a British Antiopa. The theory, however, as he 

 afterwards candidly admitted, was not found to be borne out by experience. 

 Many years ago, this fine insect was so plentiful in Norfolk, that, as Mr. 

 Haworth assured me, a friend of his was able to capture it during the 

 season, even on wet or cloudy days, as it sat in a quiescent state among 

 the foliage of the oak, &c. About fourteen or sixteen years ago, the species 

 made its appearance in the neighbourhood of Coomb, near Coventry, and 

 attracted the attention even of non-entomological observers. 



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