AND DISTRIBUTE INSECT VARIETY. 5 



the purlieus was rendered painfully evident in my summer 

 rambles, by a farmer, a very Sir Oliphant, enclosing a rude slice 

 of nice damp common land, long frequented by that fast dis- 

 appearing butterfly the Fairy Artemis, and ruthlessly turning 

 its ragged resort of furze and brown fern to turnips and 

 potatoes. 



Verily it has seemed, looking back on the past, as if our 

 insect hunters of the future were doomed to a sport composed of 

 an influx of Colorado Beetles, White Butterflies, Hessian Flies, 

 and woody Oak-galls ; and that the flowery wood clearings and 

 purple heaths of our forefathers, with their basking and fluttering 

 fauna, were all to be heartlessly swept away in the present era 

 of steam and telegraphy. It is quite certain that our butterflies, 

 especially the Orange Fritillaries, are fast disappearing. In the 

 days of Moses Harris^ book, and in the good time before, the 

 Marsh Fritillary flew near Kingsbury and adorned the Wormwood 

 Scrubs; now it is even scarce at a distance from London. Mr. 

 J. P. Barrett, when preparing a county list for the South 

 London Entomological Society, writes me tenderly concerning 

 it and other of the fauna of Surrey : — 



" Dear Sir, — In addition to the sjoecies enumerated in j'our list of Diurni, I 

 am anxious to know -whether others may not occur in your district, especially 

 the Marsh Fritillary and the Brown and White Letter Hair Streaks. The first 

 occurs at Haslemere in Surrey, and Sandwich in Kent, and at a few intermediate 

 localities sparingly. I have been told it is to he met with near Leith Hill, and 

 shall esteem it a favour if you will kindly make inquiries of any entomologist 

 resident in the neighbourhood of Blackheath, near Chilworth, whom you meet 

 in your excursions, respecting- it. 



' ' The Hair Streaks are frequently overlooked in the imago state. I have no 

 record whatever of the occurrence of Betuhe in Surrey except my own. For 

 several years past I have beaten the larviB off blackthorn near Epsom, on the 

 clay ; and I therefore see no reason why it should not also occur to the north 

 of Guildford, in the London basin. TF. album occurs near Croydon on wyeh elm, 

 and Stephens records it at Ripley in the imago state, but he was ignorant of 

 the food plant of these butterflies. Should you have an opportunity of beating 

 blackthorn and wych elm about the beginning of June, I shall be very curious 

 to know the result." 



But to turn from vain regrets to inquire why the world 

 around us is so insensibly changing. Lately I revisited 

 the scenes of my childhood — where, to me, all was long lapped 

 in the realm of mediaeval enchantment, and tree and lane 



