NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 13 



I sincerelj'- hope that the energies of real entomologists will, 

 ere long, be devoted to the preservation rather than the 

 extinction, of rare and beautiful species. — W. J. Hermann 

 Newman ; 15, Park Crescent Oxford. 



[It would appear highl}' imiDrobable that collectors of insects 

 see all the specimens of rare species in any one season, or that 

 they even have opportunity of observing a thousandth part of 

 what appears each year. — J. T. C] 



Hermaphrodite Lyc^na corydon. — On Saturday, 30th July 

 last, I captured at Blandford a distinctly hermaphrodite Lyccena 

 corydon. The right pair of wings and half the body are male, 

 the left female. I may mention that the insect has been inspected 

 by several entomologists in the neighbourhood. — C. B. Smith ; 

 58, Eectory Road, Stoke Newington, London, N. 



Lyc^NA CORYDON AWAY FROM Chalk. — In a note under this 

 heading (Entom. xx. 265) Mr. J. Jenner Weir shows that 

 L. corydon, although almost entirely confined to chalky soils in 

 England, is by no means so particular on the Continent. An 

 exactly parallel case occurs in Helix pomatia (the edible snail), 

 which in England occurs onl}' on the chalk, but in more southern 

 latitudes is found on all sides, and in Germany is all-prevalent, 

 to the exclusion of the commoner species in this country, 

 H. aspersa. This fact has been said to be due to the greater 

 amount of heat absorbed by limestone, and the consequent 

 suitability of this soil for species in the most northern part of 

 their range, while in hotter climates no such influence would be 

 necessary. Whether this is so, and whether it holds good also 

 in the case of the Lyccena, I cannot tell, but call attention to the 

 similarity of the two cases with a view to furthering the solution 

 of the problem. — T. D. A. Cockerell; West Cliff, Custer Co., 

 Colorado, U.S.A., November 2, 1887, 



Lyc.ena corydon away from the Chalk. — When collecting 

 as a lad some twenty-five years ago, I used to find Lyccena 

 corydon on the great oolite formation in a few localities : one of 

 these I visited not long since, and was pleased to find this 

 butterfly still in existence there. There is no chalk anywhere 

 near for many miles and not in the same county. The spots are 

 somewhat isolated and the area restricted, and the insect 

 apparently has never extended its range. All entomologists who 



