1884.1 107 



IN THE PEOBABLE EXTINCTION OF LYC^NA ARION IN BRITAIN. 

 BY HEEBEET GOSS, E.L.S. 



During the last five and twenty years, Lyccena Ario7i has been 

 gradually disappearing from its known localities in this country, 

 ^his species was certainly extinct in Barnwell Wold, Northampton- 

 hire, when I first visited that locality in June, 1865 ; and I was 

 aformed by the late Eev. W. Whall, then resident at Thurning, in 

 hat neighbourhood, that it had rarely, if ever, been seen in the Wold 

 luce the wet summer of 1860. 



I have not seen Z. Arion in Gloucesterhire since June, 1877, nor 

 ave I heard of its occurrence in that county since 1878 ; and now we 

 )arn, from Mr. BignelFs note in the last number of this Magazine, 

 f the disappearance of this species from its head-quarters on the 

 Duth coast of Devon. It seems highly probable, therefore, that in 

 le course of a few years, " the large blue," like " the large copper," 

 ill be numbered amongst the extinct butterflies of the United 

 kingdom. 



In the last week of June, 1876, 1 spent a few days in Grloucester- 

 lire, and on the 26th of that month I first had the pleasure of seeing 

 '. Arion on the w ing. The scene of this event was an old disused quarry 

 I the Cotswolds, not many miles from Stroud, and at an elevation 

 I over 700 feet. Although there was a considerable extent of wild 

 nd in the locality to which I am referring, on the same geological 

 )rmation, and with an identical flora, L. Arion appeared to be confined 

 ) a space of about an acre or less ; but within this limited area it 

 as not uncommon, and in the course of an hour I netted upwards 

 " a dozen specimens. On the hill-sides in this locality wild thyme 

 as most abundant ; and in addition to Lotus corniculatus, Sippocrepis 

 mosa, and other common Lef/uminosce, there were occasional patches 

 : the local Astragalus Jiypoglottis, together with the sweet-scented 

 :tle musk orchis, Serminium monorchis. 



After spending an hour or so on the hill-sides, and in the old 



larries, I entered a beech-wood at no great distance, and having 



aversed it for more than two miles I arrived in some open sunny 



ades, where there was an abundance of flowers, especially wild 



■ }yme. Here L. Arion was far more plentiful than on the open hills 



i f in the quarries, and was, moreover, not confined to such a limited 



,' ifea, specimens being met with over an extent of ground more than a 



^ Ale in length. 



In the open glades of this old beech-wood as many as three or 



