112 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



all times difficult to rear in captivity, and I regret that I was unable 

 to keep the insects alive sufficiently long to learn much of their habits 

 and life-history. I hope Mr. Horrell may be more fortunate. — E. J. B. 

 Sopp; Liverpool Road, Birkdale, March 15th, 1905. 



The Mason Collection. — A portion of this historical collection of 

 British Lepidoptera, accumulated by the late Philip Brookes Mason, 

 Esq., M.R.C.S., F.L.S., &c, of Burton-on-Trent, was dispersed at 

 Stevens's Auction Rooms on March 14th and 15th last. Besides the 

 extinct and rare species and numerous interesting aberrations that it 

 contained, there were types and other specimens from the collection of 

 Adrian Hardy Haworth, author of ' Lepidoptera Britannica,' and 

 editor of the first volume of ' Transactions of the Societas Entomo- 

 logical which was founded in London in the year 1806. Also some 

 types and examples of many species from other collections that were 

 formed in the early part of the last century. 



The attendance was good, but perhaps not quite so numerous, 

 especially on the second day, as we have seen on other occasions when 

 notable collections have come under the hammer. The bidding for many 

 of the lots could hardly be described as competitive ; in fact, it was some- 

 times found necessary to combine two and even three lots before any 

 desire to make an offer was evinced. The majority of the specimens 

 were on white pins, and without localities, &c. ; possibly, in these days 

 of black pins and full data, this may have somewhat influenced prices. 

 Altogether there were 538 lots put up during the two days, and we 

 believe that the amount realized was somewhere about £550. In the 

 following notes only the most important details of the first day's sale 

 are referred to : — ■ 



Butterflies. — Pieris daplidice, eleven specimens, averaged 11/- 

 each. The specimen mentioned in Newman's ' British Butterflies ' as 

 having been reared from one of the eggs laid by a female captured near 

 Dover was sold for 1G/- ; a pair, one of which was a female captured 

 in the Isle of Wight in 1867, 30/- ; one example taken at Folkestone, 

 and another without data, 26/- ; three specimens (two from Sydenham), 

 27/6. There were sixteen examples of Colias edusa var. helice ; these 

 averaged 2/6 apiece, and seemed to be not dear at the price. A speci- 

 men of Arijynnis niobe (Canterbury), together with a long series each of 

 A. euphrosyne and A. selene, only made 8/-. Of A. latonia there were 

 no less than sixteen specimens, and these sold for four guineas, or at 

 the rate of 5/3 each. They were in four lots of three specimens, and 

 one lot of four specimens, the price per lot ranging from 14/- to 24/-. 

 Ten examples of Vanessa antiopa produced £9 8s. altogether. They 

 were put up singly, and the prices each were 26/- (3), 22/- (1), 18/- 

 (2), 16/- (1), 14/- (2), and 8/- (1). Several of these were ancient 

 examples from the Haworth and E. Shepherd collections, but those that 

 brought the highest price were two from Horning, Norfolk (1872), and 

 one taken by the late Mr. J. Sang at Darlington. An example of 

 Anosia (Danais) ple.vippus, L. (archippus, Fabr., erippus, Cr.), the com- 

 mon milk-weed butterfly of the United States. Apparently this species 

 had not been noted as migratory previous to 1870. However this may 

 be, its first visit to Britain seems to have been in 1876, and between 

 that year and 1896 several specimens have been recorded, chiefly from 



