220 THE entomologist's record. 



one being- of the extreme form in which the central row of spots is 

 entirely wanting on the fore- as well as the hindwings, and also several 

 well-marked examples of ab. xemi-reih-ae : I also took a lovely little 

 example of ab. iiirlora in which both fore and hindwings are of the 

 form cnsta-jinirta. 1 took two good specimens, J and $ , of Aihcita 

 (jeriji^i on the 26th, but saw no more. Deneholm and Castle Eden 

 Dene are entirely in possession of the military, and quite inaccessible; 

 moreover, just now the inhabitants of Blackball Colliery Village — at 

 any rate the boys — are spy-mad, and my sister-in-law. Miss Swaine 

 (well-known to many entomologists), being taken by them for a 

 German spy, was, during my absence at the far denes, stoned for 

 nearly half a mile along the beach with missiles as large as one's 

 fist ; fortunately, however, their aim was a bad as their manners, and 

 she escaped unhit. We remained a week at Blackball, and on Friday, 

 July 30th. left for Kinghorn on the coast of Fife. This is also in the 

 hands oi;' the military, and admission to the shore, on the way to which 

 is the best place for A. merlon var. arta.rer.rea, is only to be gained bj' a, 

 pass, which I was unable to secure till 8 p.m. on Saturday, which was 

 very unfortunate, as the only sunny hour was latish on Saturday after- 

 noon. It Avas not till my last day there, the following Wednesday, 

 that I had a chance of trying again ; on that day I took five — all I 

 saw — but they were rather past their prime. This was remarkable, as 

 the Fife coast is generally about a fortnight later than the Durham 

 localities. Mr. Harrison, who kindly furnished me with plans of the 

 Kinghorn localities also, warned me that I should be late at Durham, 

 but just right at Kinghorn, whereas almost all the Durham specimens 

 were absolutely fresh, while all 1 saw at Kinghorn were the worse for 

 wear. At Kinghorn I also took a few^ I!i(uii<ia ji/daeas, and one or two 

 other common species, but the great catch of this locality consists of 

 the magnificent race of ricris nain', which was very common even on 

 bad days and mostly very fresh. These are rather large and very 

 heavily marked, having streaks of black from the spots of the forewings 

 to the outer margin, like I', manni var. rossii, the 2 s with heavy grey 

 sufi'asion, especially at the base and along the inner margin of the 

 forewings, yet not resembling var. hnjoniae, since the ground colour is 

 not yellow and the hindwings are without suffusion, which is also very 

 slight along the nervures of the forewings when present at all. 



I returned home on August 6th and have since taken two day 

 excursions. On August 11th, I managed to put in three hours at 

 Royston. Here two points struck me ; the vastly greater proportion 

 of S s of Agriades coridim. than I have ever seen there before, 

 amounting in some spots to half the specimens, and the number of 

 $ s which had little or no blue on them ; ab. seii)i>ii/)i;iraj)lia was there, 

 and of course intermediates, but the proportion of the latter was much 

 less than usual. Mr. G. L. Keynes, and I think Dr. J. N. Keynes also, 

 have expressed an opinion that these blue forms are commoner among 

 the later emergences. Judging from the condition of the J s, I should 

 S3,y the species had only recently appeared ; it would be interesting to 

 know whether anyone collecting there towards the end of the month 

 had found the blue forms commoner. My other expedition was on 

 August 13th when I went by train to Horsley and walked over the 

 downs to Gomshall. The second brood of Cela.strina ar<iiulnii was 

 common in the wood towards the top of the downs, P. icarus was well 



