4>* AND "^/ii^ 



JOURNAL OF VARIATION. 



Vol. IX. No. 1. January 15th, 1897. 



Retrospect of a Lepidopterist for 1896. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



We had thought seriously of leaving our annual " retrospect " un- 

 written this year, but one does not like to drop an old institution 

 which appears to be eminently popular among a large section ot 

 our readers. Space, however, forbids us giving more than a very brief 

 summary of the year's work. i , • v. 



The delightful spring and summer— unbroken sunshine and high 

 temperature-after a winter of phenomenal mildness, led to some 

 strikino- features during the season of 1896. Naturally, these were to 

 a great extent local, and influenced probably by the nature of the soil 

 and the effect of the drought upon it. , ^. u .v. 



Never, perhaps, in the remembrance of many, has there been such 

 a season for the Lyc^nid^. Thechds and Lyc^nids were abundant to 

 a decree rarely witnessed in Britain, whilst the Pierids were, perhaps, 

 equally common. Species, too, were frequently three or four weeks 

 ahead of the normal time. The collector, pure and simple, recognised 

 the latter fact very quickly. The collecting of the larvae of Thecla 

 primi and T. w-album, in May, was followed by the capture of many 

 hundreds of their imagines during the following month. We heard of 

 a collector who killed and set 40 specimens of T pmni a.nd then 

 owned that not a single specimen was fit for the cabinet. Of Lycaena 

 avion 1 000 to 1,500 specimens are reported as captured, the insects 

 mostly falling to the nets of those who have been in previous years for 

 the same species. Insects like Leucophasia dmpis which produced 

 second broods, did so very early, and the abundance of the dark 

 aberrations of Limenith sibylla in the New Forest was qmte phenomenal. 

 A specimen of what was probably Anosia arcMppus {eripims) was 

 recorded in June, and another as seen in October whilst in the 

 autumn several FAtvanesm antiopa were captured, chiefly m Scotland. 

 The most remarkable take, however, was Apona crataerji near Dover. 

 We have but little doubt that this is a colony, the progeny of ancestors that 

 have been set at liberty and have eflected a temporary settlement. Ihe 

 remark that this species is confined in its new haunts "to an area ot 

 about a few hundred square yards," is inexplicable, and no one who 

 knows this insect on the Continent can seriously consider this possible. 

 Among the Sphingides, the feature of the year has been the abun- 

 danceof Acherontia atropos in the larval state. Sp}dnxcomMi,C. nern 

 and Dcilephila livornica have also been recorded. Mr. Newnham has 



