200 [February, 



mingham district, and their absence from one small spot does not, it 

 seems to me, affect the general question. As to the common blue, 

 Lyccdtia Icarus, being extinct, or even scarce, in Sutton Park, that is 

 sheer nonsense : I see it there every season, and only last June I cap- 

 tured a fine series in that identical locality, for the purpose of 

 renewing my sets. 



Lyccena Argiolus is not confined to Sutton Park, as Mr. Bath 

 declares it to be : it still occurs at Bromsgrove Lickey, Coventry, and 

 some other places near Birmingham. 



Gonopteri/x rhamni has not yet forsaken Sutton Park, and is not 

 likely to do so I should say, judging from the number of larvae I saw 

 there during last season feeding on the Buckthorn (^Bhnmnus fran- 

 gida), which is plentiful in most of the woods. Vanessa lo, Pararge 

 Megara, Epinephele Janira, &c., are likewise neither extinct nor rare 

 in the same locality, nor, indeed, in any other part of the Birmingham 

 district, as I can vouch from personal observation. Saturnia pavonia 

 still flies at Sutton, and the larvse may be found by any one who takes 

 the trouble to hunt it up at the proper season : it may not occur in 

 equal abundance every year, but that is all that can be truthfully said 

 about it. Colias Edusa and C. Sgale are never more than casual 

 visitors here, and do not occur more frequently now than in former 

 years. The history of their appearance is in no way connected with 

 local conditions, and, however glad we may feel when they deign to 

 come amongst us, we cannot regard them otherwise than as erratic 

 strangers. 



Notwithstanding Mr. Bath's statement, I must say, as a local 

 entomologist of nearly twenty years' standing, that I know of no 

 evidence that would lead me to believe that Acherontia Atropos and 

 Acronycta alni are less rare in this district at the present time than 

 formerly. 



The fluctuations in the appearance of Vanessa cardui, Plusia 

 gamma, &c., are, I fancy, not unknown to observers, and it seems odd 

 to drag these species in as evidence of great changes going on in the 

 district. 



If Mr. Bath will become a student of entomology, on the lines he 

 himself lays down in his concluding sentences, he Avill probably be 

 more accurate and logical in his next contribution. 



214, Green Lane, Smallheatli, 

 Birmingham : 



Decemler, 1886. 



[Mr. Bath's paper, when accepted, was supposed to be a retro- 

 spect of liis own experiences. — Eds.] 



