THE LKinnOl'TKRA OF ESSEX. 89 



then were in existence not many years back. Since those times 1 

 have never met with the insect here " {£. Doubkday ; Ent. Mag. iii. 

 285 ; B.B. 51). This species has disappeared from many places 

 where it was formerly common. All the old writers record it as 

 being •' abundant near London," and many entomologists now living 

 can remember, when they were young, such was the case {S.Af. i. 

 40). One, Eastlands Wood, near Maldon {E. H. Biirnell ; M.N.H. 

 (2)i. 602). One, Mundon, near Maldon, by R. E. Stuart, in 1871 

 {Ray nor ; Ent. vi. 264). I have seen this specimen this year. 

 Colchester, two or three, but it is a great rarity {Harivood ; B.B. 51). 

 Dr. Laver has one taken by \\\ Tillaney, at Colchester. Saffron 

 Walden {Jeffrey; B.B. 51). Mr. H. A. Cole and myself believe 

 that we saw a specimen in Takeley Forest on October loth, 1890. 



Vanessa polychloros, L. Large Tortoiseshell. 



Geographical Distribution — Europe. North and West Asia (except far north). 

 Doubtful native of Scotland, absent from Ireland. 



Larva — Brown, yellow stripe on back, divided by black line, and sides ; spines 

 ochreous. Food — Kim, cherry, sallow, osier, willow, aspen. /»z«^o— July to June : 

 hibernating. 



Fairly common, and generally distributed throughout the county. 



See Mr. White's paper on a specimen of V. polychloros, bred with 

 a brood of V. urticce, feeding upon nettle {T.E.F.C. ii. 1-7). [This 

 was probably an error of observation, the larva being really V. poly- 

 chloros. — Ed.]. Mr. J. A. Tawell, of Earl's Colne, bred V. poly- 

 chloros irom nQiiXc-ictiWng larv?e in 187 1 [Ent. vi. 88). Some of 

 these specimens are still in the Entomological Club Collection. Mr. 

 Ray nor found V. iirtiae, in. cop. with V. polychloros at Hazeleigh in 

 the beginning of August, 1872 {Ent. vi. 221). 



Common in the Maldon district, but I have never found the larv^ 

 feeding on anything but elm, generally on stubs. " A brood of the 

 caterpillars fed upon a cherry-tree this year in a garden in this town 

 [Sudbury] ; after stripping the end of one branch, they were observed 

 to migrate in a body to the extremity of another, preferring the young 

 leaves to those which had been longer expanded" {]V. D. King? ; 

 F.S.J. , Dec, 1838). Larvae feeding on a low branch of a cherry-tree 

 in a garden at Brentwood, July 10th, 1888 {Raytwr ; Ent. xxi. 255). 

 ^'ery common round Colchester in i860, the caterpillars feeding 

 on elm, sallow, and osier, now rare {/Janvood ; B.B. 57). Thi.-. 



