LEPIDOPTERA ROUND ABOUT SCARBOROUG«.\V 



Lepidoptera round about Scarborough; "^ " 1^10 



By A. S. TETLEY, M.A., F.E.S.V" *^ ^ 



It is just thirteen years since I left Mid-WalesTell'3fl|iihj '"^ 

 Yorkshire, leaving a district almost unknown to the entomoTogist for 

 one that has, at least in the past, been very much better worked. 

 Glancing through my note books I feel prompted to set forth some of 

 the more interesting records therein, in the hope that their perusal 

 may encourage other lepidopterists to visit our country-side and help 

 in its fuller exploration. 



The hinterland of Scarborough falls into three natural divisions — 

 the North York Moors, which come close up to the town on the north 

 and west, the ^ ale of Pickering, which runs east and west and 

 approaches the coast just to the south of the town, and the Yorkshire 

 Wolds, which bound that vale on the south. The moors and the 

 valley are in the great Jurassic Belt, which runs from Dorset north- 

 east to Cleveland. The rocks in the main belong to the Oolitic Lime- 

 stone. The wolds, on the other hand, are part of the chalk measures. 

 The Vale of Pickering is a broad alluvial plain, bounded on its eastern 

 extremity by the marsh or " carr " land in the neighbourhood of 

 Seamer, some three miles north of Scarborough. On the north side 

 of the valley a number of little dales run up with the moors, nine or 

 ten of them in some seventeen or eighteen miles. Well wooded and 

 well watered, and sheltered from cold winds, these dales aftbrd the best 

 hunting ground in the district. Next to them I place certain parts of 

 the wolds, and hist in productiveness, but perhaps first in the interest 

 of their fauna, the high moors. 



The butterflies are very poorly represented in the neighbourhood 

 of Scarborough, but as one goes west towards Pickering, or south on 

 the Wolds, they become far more numerous in individuals, if not in 

 species. Auijiadefi sylraniis and Niso)ii(nles tai/es are generally dis- 

 tributed, and Adopea fiava is locally abundant on the Wolds. Of the 

 blues I have taken only I'dlymiimatiiH icaiiis and Aricia viedon, which 

 swarms on the Wolds and near Pickering, where I have taken a 

 specimen very near to var. salmaris. Callophri/a rnbi is a moorland 

 butterfly here, its larva feeding on bilberry. I once saw hundreds of 

 ('. riibi at the bead of Beedale, resting on stunted mountain-ash trees 

 growing among the heather. Chattendenia [Edirardsia) w-albnin occurs 

 in Sleightholmdale, to the west of Pickering, and Haiiwaris lucina I 

 have found in two localities, near Pickering and Helmsley respectively. 

 Kiicldo'e cardaiiiivi's, very scarce near Scarborough, is common at 

 Thornton Dale and further west. In all the dales Brentlm eiip/irns)jite 

 and B. selenc occur, the latter much the comiiioner and extending 

 higher than its congener. Artjyiuns ai/laia is generally distributed on 

 the moors and wolds and in the dales. Of the I'anessidi, I'ancssa io is 

 very rare. I have seen it once only, in Langdale in the spring of 

 1912. Af/lais uiticae is common, the two Pyrameids occur frequently, 

 and of F(d;/;ionia c-album. I have seen specimens taken at Helmsley. 

 Among the Sati/riilae 1 have not so far discovered either Pararye 

 aei/eria or /'. ineijaera. Hipjiarchia seiiicle used to be taken on the Castle 

 Hill in Scarborough, and is on the wolds and near Pickering. Aphan- 

 tnpux {F.nodia) /ii/pcrantiis is locally abundant, with ab. caeca and ab. 



April Ioth, 1915. 



