PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 49 



larity between its appearance and that of Pieris daplidice ; but not having any 

 suspicion that it could be any other insect, I considered it a variety, and thought 

 no more about the matter. But as in those days the capture of a Daplidice was a 

 great rarity in my entomological experience, as it still is, I was particular to 

 mark it, and another true Daplidice caught in the same locality, as my own, by 

 passing the pin transfixing the insects through labels marked " V. B., p. m. c., 

 J. W. L." i e., u Vere Britannica, propria manu capta ;" and with this note 

 attached they were transferred from the drying case to the cabinet, where they 

 remained undisturbed till, in 1851, I packed my cabinet ior travelling, when I 

 cleaned the insects, which had suffered considerably from damp and mites, removed 

 the labels above mentioned, which were stained and dirty, and, at the same 

 time, secured the insects in their places by strong braces of card-board. From 

 circumstances, which it is needless to mention, the cabinet was never properly 

 unpacked, nor the securing braces removed from any of the insects until the autumn 

 of 1853, when these two supposed Daplidices were liberated, together with the rest ; 

 but I did not replace the labels. It was not of any real moment, however, for I 

 did not, at this time, possess any insect at all resembling the Daplidice, except 

 these two. They remained in their places till the summer of 1854, when I was 

 preparing to figure the Daplidice, and, in consequence, was led more closely to 

 examine the supposed two specimens which I possessed ; then, to my surprise, I 

 discovered that the one which I had always, rather hastily, taken for a variety, 

 must be considered a distinct species, as it presented great differences from the 

 typical Daplidice; both in form, marking, and neuration of the wings. These 

 have been already enumerated in a former notice, read before the Dublin 

 University Zoological Association, so I will not now recapitulate them. Being 

 unacquainted with the insect, I referred it to Mr. Stainton, who immediately 

 informed me that it was Anthocaris belia, well known on the Continent, parti- 

 cularly in the south of France, and appearing early in summer. 



That there can be no mistake as to the identity of the specimen with the one 

 which I caught is, I think, pretty clear, as the only other specimens at all 

 resembling it (except the Daplidice spoken of above), which I have ever had in my 

 possession, were two true Daplidices, which I received a few months after the 

 capture of the former two, with the intimation that their nationality was not quite 

 unquestionable. Without losing a moment, therefore, as I had the reputation of 

 my own to defend, I marked the new ones u Query British " on labels rolled 

 round the heads of their pins, and affixed by gum ; I then placed them in a case 

 apart from the original specimens with which they were never compared, nor were 

 they even brought into each other's presence, having been laid aside in a different 

 room. Where I placed them they remained till 1851, when I found both them 

 and the whole of the insects in the case destroyed by mites and damp ; and I 

 burnt them all with my own hands the remains of the dubious Daplidices, with 

 the labels still adhering to the pins, being burnt along with the rest. I have 

 never had any other specimens whatever, and as I think I have now given a 

 clear statement of the different circumstances which befel the four specimens 

 above alluded to, I trust it will be evident that the remarkable occurrence now 

 recorded is not due to any slip of memory, or accidental misplacement of the 

 insects under consideration. 



These statements of Mr. Lea gave rise to an interesting discussion, doubts having 

 arisen as to whether the specimen might not be a Continental one which had 

 been overlooked, from the time that ensued before Mr. Lea called attention to the 

 specimen in question, and from the unlikelihood of the discovery of any new British 

 Diurnal Lepidoptera, particularly one frequenting the southern parts of Europe. 

 The chief question appeared to be, whether the Anthocaris belia had not been im- 

 ported into England in the larva, or egg state. 



Mr. Haliday did not, by any means, object to the credibility of Mr. Lea's state- 

 ment ; but thought it would be difficult to account for the introduction of the insect 

 into Worcestershire, an inland county, from the south of France, in either the egg 

 or larva state. 



Rev. .j . Greene stated his entire concurrence in the views of Mr. Haliday. A 

 new British butterfly had not been discovered for many years (Erebia melampus, 



