THE GRADUAL DECADENCE OF LYCAENA ARION. 123 



Gatcombe writes : — "Two years since, when with some friends, we 

 caught several dozen of that species, and about a fortnight since many 

 were taken in that locaHty (Bolt Head) by a friend of mine " [Ent., 

 vol. iv., p. 301). Following this up is a further communication from 

 Mr. Bignell (1870), which is quoted by Newman as follows : — " From 

 the Bolt Head to Bolt Tail. One year I took it, wasted, on June 14th ; 

 but the following year it did not make its appearance until July 7th." 

 Then comes the following information — Kingsbridge Road (by rail), 

 Kingsbridge (by coach), Salcombe (by steamer or boat), then two miles 

 walk to Bolt Head. This was followed by a series of visits of the 

 fraternity who lived at a distance, two or three being located year after 

 year at the King's Arms, Salcombe, and then, at last, appeared the 

 inevitable note from Mr. Bignell : — " I feel quite certain that the 

 haunts of Lijcaena arum at Bolt Head must be looked upon as a thing 

 of the past." There is the usual reference to " the destructiveness of 

 the elements," as if the seasons have never had their counterparts 

 in the ten or twenty or hundred thousand years that have elapsed 

 since our Lijcaena arion were separated from their relatives on the 

 other side of the Channel. 



Then came Gloucestershire, when Mr. Marsden {Ent., iii., p. 314), 

 Mr. Merrin {Ent., vol. iv., p. 105), and Mr. Watkins {Ent., vol. iv., 

 p. 120) told the world their localities. Following on this came 

 the usual irruption of the collector tribe — " brother entomologists 

 from distant parts of the country" — to exterminate the local species. 

 Aided as the immigrant collectors were by the locals, who 

 collected the insects in the bad seasons, the process of extermination 

 was rapidly carried on. Again, the weather was to blame, as 

 may be seen by the following note by Mr. Herbert Marsden 

 {E.M.M., 1885), who writes :— " It was on June 17th, 1866, that I 

 first saw the species alive, when, in the course of a long ramble, I 

 captured it in a narrow valley amongst the Cotswold Hills. The 

 early part of June, 1867, was dark and cold, and I only secured some 

 12 or 15 examples. The season, May and June, 1868, was hot and 

 brilliant, and L. arion appeared on June 5th, which is the earliest 

 date I ever heard of the species being out ; but, although rather more 

 plentiful than the previous year, it was still rather scarce. In 1869, 

 another fine or partially fine season, it was more abundant, and I find 

 from my diary that on June 19th I took 10 at rest about sunset. The 

 year 1870, however, is the one to be marked with a white stone 

 by the lovers of Li/caeniilac, and L. arion appeared much more 

 widely distributed than in any other year I know of, either before 

 or since. It would, I am sure, have been possible for an active 

 collector to have caught a thousand specimens during the season, for, 

 in a few visits, I secured about a hundred and fifty, not netting half of 

 those seen, and turning many loose again. During the next few years 

 L. arion continued to appear, but very irregularly as regards numbers ; 

 the best seasons since 1870 being those of 1876 and 1877, the latter 

 especially, but on no occasion has it been nearly so abundant as in 1870. 

 Now come the dark days. The latter part of June, 1877, was damp 

 and broken, not at all the bright warm weather which L. arion loves. 

 In dark, cloudy weather, they are always still, and I believe they will 

 only deposit their eggs when the sun is warm and bright. In 1878 

 the weather was worse, there being hardly a fine day in the month. 



