176 [August. 



ON THE PROBABLE EXTINCTION OP LYCJENA ARION 

 IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



BY H. W. MARSDEN. 



In the twenty-first Tolume of the Ent. Md. Mag. four articles appeared on 

 " The probable extinction of Lyccena Arion in England," communicated by Messrs. 

 Bignell, Gross, South and myself, the second and fourth having special reference to 

 its Gloucestershire habitats. These papers being now twelve years old, some later 

 notes will be of interest. 



In my article (Ent. Mo. Mag., January, 1885) I gave a tolerably clear history 

 of what I personally knew of the species from 1866 to 1884, the narrative ending in 

 a gloomy enough fashion, and from then until now little has come to my knowledge 

 to brighten the prospect. 



During the seasons 1884 to 1889 I heard of hardly any specimens being either 

 seen or caught, and as I have continued in close contact with the Gloucester collectors 

 (mostly amateurs), my information cannot be far wrong. 



In 1889 my son was on a visit to the county and caught about a dozen, and I 

 heard from other sources of its being more common that year. He did not then 

 tell me exactly where he got his, and I was under the impression that it was some- 

 where within the district described by Mr. Goss (Ent. Mo. Mag., October, 1884), 

 this, however, was a mistake. 



From 1889 to 1895 I heard of none, or almost none, in Gloucestershire, but 

 last season my son, being home from Egypt, took about a score on the 16th and l7th 

 of June. As they were already getting worn he pinned only about half of those he 

 netted, so that in the two days about forty were probably seen by him. 



This year he had occasion to visit England again, but earlier in the year. 

 Being in Oxfordshire at the end of May, he visited the ground on his way to 

 Bristol during the first days of June. He could only stay one day, Wednesday, 

 June 3rd, and then found L. Arion more common than last year ; but even at this 

 early date some specimens were worn ; thus it must have been out before the end of 

 May ! Even considering the very warm weather we had then, this is surely an 

 abnormally early appearance. On his return, I for the first time learned the 

 locality, and found it was one quite unknown to me (so far as L. Arion is concerned), 

 and a considerable distance from the habitats formerly known to me, so I decided to 

 visit the place myself. Before doing this, however, I wished to beat up the old 

 localities, but the weather breaking I could not do this as soon as desirable. 



In the Ent. Mo. Mag., xxi, p. 188, I refer to " two or three other localities in 

 the district." The one best known to me was Dursley, where in 1866, 7 and 8, I 

 found L. Arion fairly common, but confined to a most restricted area. For years, 

 however, I have not been there, and so far as I know a net has not been seen there since. 

 On Saturday, June 6th, my son and I spent the greater part of the day in the 

 Dursley district and remained some two hours on the old " Arion " ground, but saw 

 no sign of it. L. Alsus was swarming as of old, and there were a few L. Adonis 

 and plenty of L. Icarus, most of them rather worn. The vegetation on the "Arion " 

 area has a good deal changed in a manner described hereafter. 



I could not get to the Stroud, &c., district until June 11th. As my sight is now 



J 



