I02 THE LEPIDOPTEKA OK ESSEX. 



be British I would never have given what I did for them. I got all I could, and was 

 much pleased with the opportunity of equally dividing them with you " (^H. Double- 

 day in lilt, to T. C. Heysham, March 22nd, 1836). This is all the information I 

 can find about this beautiful species, which is certainly now extinct, if ever it was 

 an inhabitant of our county, or even country]. 



{^Polyommatiis dispar, Haw. Large Copper. This equally beautiful species 

 probably never occurred in a state of nature but in the Cambridgeshire and 

 Huntingdonshire fens ; it has long been extinct. The following information of 

 its introduction into Essex is, however, interesting, and deserves notice here : — 



" Mr. Doubleday formerly had a colony of these beautiful insects in his 

 garden at Epping, and the waver-dock on which they used to feed is still 

 living " (£". Xew>7ian ; Y.E. 11 ; B.B.lli^'). Edward Newman described the larva 

 and pupa of this butterfly (^Enl. ii. 90), and says, " My acquaintance with the larva 

 and pupa was made, very many years ago, in Mr. Doubleday 's garden at Epping, 

 where the very plant oi Rttmex liydrolapathiim on which the larvae fed is still in 

 existence." Erom Sawtry, on June 6th, 1841, H. Doubleday writes, " In Holm 

 Fen, on the edge of Whittlesea Mere, I got about eighty caterpillars of the lovely 

 Lyctvna dispart In his next he says, " I hope to have some good specimens of 

 Z. dispar, as I sent Edward about 120 caterpillars." On Nov. 20th, 1841, he 

 writes, " Becker, of Wiesbaden, is now in London. He was very anxious to get a 

 number of dispar, and I gave him sixty specimens." For some reminiscences of 

 this butterfly see Entom. xvi. 129.] 



Polyommatus phlceas, L. Small Copper. 



Geographical Distribution — Europe, Asia to Himalaya and Japan, North Africa, 

 North America. Throughout Britain. 



Larva — Apple-green, with a rose-pink stripe on back and sides (sometimes 

 indistinct), spiracles flesh-colour, head dingy -green or pale brown. Food — Dock, 

 especially sorrel-dock. Image — April to October ; hibernates as larva. 



Generally distributed and common throughout the county, but 

 by no means so abundant as was the case only a few years ago. In 

 Mr. Cole's cabinet is a + specimen in which the copper-coloured 

 bands on the hind wings are reduced to a few dashes ; this specimen 

 was taken by Mr. H. A. Cole, on the roadside between the " Wake 

 Arms " and Epping, June 3rd, 1872. Mr. Dale had a similar speci- 

 men. {B.B. 115). 



Lycaena aegon, Schiff. Silver-studded Blue. 



Geographical Distribution — Europe, North and West Asia to Persia, and perhaps 

 Japan. Throughout Britain. 



Larva — Bright yellow-green, blackish-brown stripe edged with whitish on 

 back, small brown plate on second segment, greenish-yellow lines at sides, whitish 

 line along lateral ridge ; head black. Food — Common bird's-foot {Oinithopus 

 perpusillus). Imago — July ; hibernates as ovum. 



Local, and in this county apparently almost confined to one 

 locality in F^pjiing Forest. 



