iQjj [November, 



plant itself might be exterminated either by the occurrence of a land slip, or in the 

 case of an annual plant, by some animal or animals devouring it ; or the eradication 

 of the plant might be effected by the improving hand of man. 



According to Mr, Goss, L. Arion occm-red in some numbers in two localities in 

 G-loucesterslure during the years 1876 and 1877. The species was rare there in 

 1878, and from that year to the present time not a single example has been captured 

 in Grloucestershire. 



Now, on the hypothesis that the issue of the 1877 L. Arion were, all, but a few, 

 destroyed in one or other of the earlier stages by some unfavourable meteorological 

 influence, the scarcity of the imago in 1878 is accounted for. Mr. Gross does not 

 say whether the few L. Arion seen in 1878 were captured or not, but any way, this 

 would matter but little. Probably but few ova would be deposited, and the larvae, 

 if any, resulting from them would, if not entirely annihilated by the wretched spring 

 of 1879, have been so considerably reduced, as to come within a perilous distance of 

 such an occurrence. Since 1879 the ungenial nature of our springs has precluded 

 all chance of the species recruiting its numbers, but, on the contrary, has most pro- 

 bably completed the business of exterminating L. Arion from the Grloucestershire 

 localities. 



L. Arion still exists in South Devonshire (or did last year), and a few favourable 

 seasons might tend to increase the numbers of the species in its particular haunts 

 in that county ; but I am afraid that its tenure on its Devonshire estate is not a 

 very secure one, and that in the near future " the large blue " will be, as Mr. Gross 

 suggests, extinct in Grreat Britain. — Richaed South, 12, Abbey Gardens, St. John's ■ 

 Wood : Octoler loth, 1884. 



Abundance of V. cardui and other Lepidoptera in Ireland. — It may be inter- L 

 esting to record when the abnormal abundance of any species of Lepidoptera in L 

 certain seasons in England corresponds with a similar profusion on this side of the | 

 channel. 1 



Mr. Barrett last year referred to the prevalence of large numbers of Plusia JT, ^ 

 gamma, and propounded a query whether this might not indicate an immigration Jy ' 

 of that species on a large scale from the Continent. W^^ 



Now, at Dursey Island, the promontory which stretches out into the Atlantic W^^ 

 on the west coast of Ireland, between Kenmare and Bantry Bay, a locality singularly ff 

 unlikely to be thus replenished, I observed last summer a great profusion of this T 

 insect, sporting on the flowers of the thrift. And I think it likely that the cloud ofF" 

 moths which, in the same autumn, visited the lantern of the Fastnets Lighthouse P"' 

 was composed of this species, flying on a thick night from land toward the illumina-P 

 tion. Unfortunately, no specimens were preserved. | 



This summer, an abnormal abundance of V. cardui has been noticeable all over J 

 Ireland (I cannot speak of the most northern counties, except Derry), from Cork J ^»« 

 and Waterford, to Westmeath, Monaghan, and Derry ; and in the west, ConnemaraF''^i 

 and Sligo. p^jcj 



Now, last season I observed a tolerable number of this species, which is note 

 riously fitful in its apparition in this country, and it seems that the sunny season 

 has favoured its propagation. I may note that I observed its larvae feeding on the 

 giant mallow. 1 ''% 



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