NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 275 



" Summer Butterflies. — This has been a great season for butter- 

 flies. Fritillaries were both early and numerous, and thei-e were plenty 

 of good takes as near London as Epping Forest and West Wickham. 

 The beautiful edasa has not been nearly so common as last year, except 

 on the North Devon coast from Glovelly to Minehead. Here it has 

 been taken freely, and also a specimen or two of helice, a very rare 

 " bleached " variety, claimed by some as a separate species. The Spurge 

 Hawk moth has been taken in Devon and Cornwall, while the atalanta 

 butterfly appears to be, this season, more common than the small 

 tortoiseshell. As the caterpillars of each sort feed on the nettle, the 

 extreme frequency of the one imago, and the comparative infrequency 

 of the other are worthy of note. The small copper butterfly is now, 

 perhaps, the commonest denizen of the open common, but we seem to 

 find, year by year, fewer and fewer hair-streaks, while the common 

 Tiger moth is certainly far less common than it was ten years ago. 

 The Black-veined White, the Mazarine Blue, and the Wood White 

 are practically extinct ; but we have to set against this more frequent 

 takes of antiope, of the Convolvulus Hawk Moth, and of the Clifton 

 Nonpareil. It is, on the whole, a most difficult thing to say if butter- 

 flies and moths are becoming scarcer or not. The growth of towns and 

 the eagerness of collectors tell against them ; but the destruction of 

 birds is in their favour, and so is the decline of agriculture, and the 

 extending area of neglected land and unoccupied farms." 



Possibly, they may not be aware that the $ var. helice, or " bleached " 

 variety of echisa, is considered by some a sejiarate species. Jumping 

 from the "Spurge Hawk Moth" to "atalanta," on to the "small 

 tortoiseshell and copper," we are informed that "Hair-streaks" seem 

 to get fewer and fewer, and that the " Tiger Moth is less common than 

 formerly." My experience of the last few years does not enable me to 

 agree with the writer, and I must differ again from him when he states 

 that the " Wood White is practically extinct," for I know of seven or 

 eight localities, in this county alone, where it can be taken in abundance, 

 and in certain seasons a second brood may be found. The " eagerness " 

 of collectors can hardly be responsible for insects becoming scarcer. 

 Man, it has been calculated, stands tenth on the list of " enemies," and 

 the deficiency caused by his destructiveness is partly compensated by 

 artificial breeding and rearing. — John N. Still, Bridestowe, Devon. 

 [It is really time that high-class papers should refuse such nonsense as 

 the above, but it only shows how ignorant certain so-called literary 

 people are, and the tendency of the age to make believe that one can 

 know and deal with every subject under the sun. An issue of the Star 

 was sent to us a few weeks since, in which was a rude cut of a beetle, 

 with some amazing information, given by an authority at the British 

 Museum, but digested by the Star man and written from his jjoint of 

 view. One statement was to the effect that the beetle had " a long 

 ovipositor," by means of which " the larvae " were deposited in the 

 holes of trees. — Ed.] 



Erratum. — Page 254, line 33, for " margceatus " read " marginattis." 



NOTES OF THE SEASON. 



Summer Collecting in North Kent. — Following up ray notes in the last 

 issue, July Gth^at Cuxton gave me a splendid day's work. The day was 



