251 



1922.) 



Butterfiy notes from O.xford.—X few immirrrant ColUis cdum were ol.- 

 ^erved in the Oxford district durino: the spell of fine hot weather in late May 

 and early June, and one of these, a c^, T .aw niyself at CothiU on May 30th. 

 Its appearance at this time of year natnrally raised hopes of a plentiful August 

 brood, but the gloomy and ungenial character of the weather from mid-June 

 onwards certainly appeared most unsuitable to the requirements of this erratic 

 butterflv. However, on Angust 14th the f.rst newly emerged specimen was 

 spen by* me at Boar's Hill, Berks ; and the next morning I was much pleased to 

 meet with it in fair numbers and in beautiful condition, in a rough tiowery 

 field of no great extent near Ileadinpton, Oxon ; no fewer than sixteen species 

 of butterflies were noted on this occasion in little more than an hour withm 

 the limits of this field. For at least a month afterwards, specimens of C echmi 

 were observed in all parts of the district, one or two being seen m the city 

 itself. 



A hibernated example of Poh/r/oma c-album was found on the iron fence 

 of the University Tark as early as March 15th, and several were brought to me 

 from Bao-lev Wood in May, but I did not succeed in obtaimng ova from these. 

 The summer brood first appeared on July 11th, but was by no means as 

 plentiful as the succeeding generation, first noticed at Ileadmgtmi on 

 August loth. The butterfly was reported as " quite common at Boar s Hill 

 at the flowers of Bialdleia in late August, and it occasionally visited the attrac- 

 tive blossoms of this shrub in my own small garden, whenever the sun shone 

 lon^^ enough to allow it to fly. Yesterday (October loth) I boxed a perfectly 

 fVeSi specimen, the first I had seen for several weeks, off the " Mid.aelmas 

 daisies '' in the grounds of the University Museum. It would appear that t ns 

 interesting butterfly, for the time being at any rate, is fully established in the 

 Oxford district. 



In contrast with last year's experience, the second brood of Brunicia 

 ;,/,/«.«.-a fairly numerous one, but by no means so abundant as m 19.1- 

 presented no Jtriking n>odiHcations in coh:,ur or marking; the specimens, 

 indeed, being hardly distinguishable from those of the early brood except by 

 the more or less darkened costal margin of the 6, which appears to be a 

 constant character in this generation. The only noteworthy aberra ions ob- 

 served were a c? , taken by myself at Tubney on June 8th, in whichthe left 

 fore wing is entirely silvery-white, the black spots and hind margin being only 

 very faiiitly indicated ; and a very fresh $ (probably ot the thirdbrood) aken 

 on September 27th near Cowley, Oxon, by Mr. A. H. Hamm, m which are 

 combined the characters of -^h,. caeruleoprmctata btaud. and 5«W.«^« Tutt, 

 with the addition of a conspicuous sprinkling of coppery scales above the blue 

 spots, the whole giving a very pretty and unusual ocellated effect to the hind 

 wings. 



The second brood of Celastrina anjiolus was much more plentiful than is 

 usually the case, being almost as numerous as the spring emergence ; 1 saw a 

 fresh-iooking example as late as September 6th. Blebeius teams has this year 

 been notably scarce, and I regret to say that the sole and very restricted sta ion 

 ofA^riades corydon in our district has been practically destroyed by close 

 grazing.-JAMES J. Walker, Aorangi, Lonsdale Koad, Summertown, Oxford : 

 October lQ>th, 1922. 



