1903.] 147 



HISTORICAL NOTES ON CHRYSOPHANUS DISPAR, 



BT C. W. DALE, P.K.S. 



Dru Drury in a letter to John Walcott, written on July 7th, l78fi, and published 

 in the " Transactions of the Entomological Society of London," vol ii (1837 — M\), 

 Proceodinfjs, p. 59, writes " Hippothoe is English, but oxeeedingiy scarce ; said to 

 be found in Cambridgesliire, about Tenisford, at this time of the year." Donovan 

 in 1798, stated that his specimens were met with in Scotland ; and Samouelle, in 

 his "Entomologist's Compendium " (1819) gives " near Aberdeen " as the locality, 

 but Haworth in 1803 had already considered this information to be erroneous. 

 Haworth, however, states that Hudson took the species in Wales. I think it is far 

 more likely that Hudson took it in the Fen country. 



Th.e first specimen known to have been taken at Whittlesea Mere — a female — 

 was obtained by Thomas Speeehley, an old boatnmn in my father's employment, on 

 August 4th, 1819. My father had just retm-ned from Whittlesea Mere without 

 meeting with any, and told Speeehley 1o take and send to him any red-looking 

 butterfly that he saw. When Speeehley took some more, the other boatmen 

 gathered round him and asked what he was doing? "Catching butterflies worth a 

 guinea a-piece," he replied. They said that they would like that work too. 

 Before my father's death in 1872, these butterflies were actually selling for a guinea 

 a-piece, but how astonished he would have been at the idea of their selling for £6 

 to £8. The next year my father sent l^enjamin Standish down and gave him £2 

 for his coach expenses, of which I hold the receipt. The following extracts from 

 letters from Standish to my father may be of interest— " Yaxley, Angust Sth, 1820. 

 Sir, — I received your letter on July 31st, and it brought me the £2 quite safe. I 

 started at Snow Hill, London, on Wednesday afternoon, August 1st, at 6 o'clock, 

 and arrived at Yaxley the next morning at half-past fi o'clock. That day Mr. 

 Speeehley took me to the spot where he took the Large Copper, but the wind blew 

 so very strong, and there was so little sun that we could not see any." August 9th, 

 1820. "I have the pleasure of informing you that after having been here seven 

 days, I have found out a famous place for the Large Copper, and have taken three 

 females, but they are not so fine as I would have wished. Mr. John Drake, of the 

 'Chequers' Inn, where I stayed, told me that a man lodged there who worked in 

 the fens, cutting reeds, who was the most likely person to know the best localities. 

 However, he would not tell me, and said that he did not see why he .should not 

 take them himself and make money of them as well as Mr. Speeehley. I offered 

 him two shillings a specimen for all he took, but it was of no use." 



It soon got wind among the folks at the Mere that they were worth two 

 shillings each in London, and two men, old Downie and another, came from 

 Cambridge, and secured a large quantity, which they took to London in boxes-full 

 and sold them. Mr. Bond in the " Entomologist," xol. xiii, p. 193, states that the 

 imagines were to be purchased fi-om the collectors at from 3s. to 4s. per dozen, but 

 Standish used to .sell them at 10s. a specimen. 



My father went down to Whittlesea Mere in 182fi, and took his fir.st specimen, 

 a fine male, close to Warble Pit on June 25th. He also paid other visits in July, 

 1827, and July, 1833. 



Both Curtis and Stephens give a full aecoinit of its occurrence, and the former 

 figures the larva in his 2nd edition. 



