150 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



LEPIDOPTERA IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 

 By the Rev. F. A. Walker, D.D., F.L.S. 



In reference to the article on this subject (Entom. xx. 63), I 

 must take exception to the writer's statement that " the Island of 

 Sark, although under four square miles in area, contains, we were 

 informed, nearly the whole of the insect fauna of Jersey and 

 Guernsey." In comj)any with my father, the late Francis Walker, 

 I spent nearly seven weeks in the Islands in the summer of 1860, 

 also visiting the neighbouring Norman town of St. Malo, during 

 which period we explored the Islands all pretty thoroughly, in the 

 following order : — Guernsey, Sark, Herm, Jethou, Jersey, Alderney. 



In the 'Zoologist' for 1864, in "Notes on the Distribution 

 of Insects in the Channel Islands," by my father (pp. 9373- 

 9276), the following passage occurs : — "Jersey has a much more 

 extensive insect fauna than is afforded by all the other Islands." 

 My own experience goes to confirm this statement, as Jerse}'^ is 

 at once larger, warmer, and more southerly than any of the 

 rest. Both my father and I preserved journals of the whole of 

 our tour; mj father's journal having special reference to the 

 comparative entomology of all the places which we visited, 

 including notes on all orders of insects. Only Arachnidse are 

 specified in the volume of the ' Zoologist ' above mentioned ; and, 

 in addition to the insect fauna recorded as personally observed, 

 there is also a MS. catalogue of the Coleoptera, Diptera, 

 Hymenoptera, and Orthoptera in the collection of Mr. Piquet, a 

 well-known entomologist, botanist, and chemist, of St. Helier's. 



I subjoin some notes on the Lepidoptera of the Islands, as 

 observed May 26th— July 10th:— 



Guernsey. — May 28th, at Fermain Bay and Moulin Houet 

 Bay : Theela ruhi (abundant), Polyommatus pJilceas, Lyccena 

 argiolus, Pararge cBgeria, Bomhyx quercus (2 larvae). May 30th, 

 Vale Castle : Vanessa cardui. June 1st, towards Rocquaine Bay : 

 Vanessa atalanta. June I5th, at Petit Bot Bay: MellUea cinxia ; 

 singular dark variety of P. megara at La Moie Point, above Le 

 Gouffre, or the " Abyss," named by me sarniensis. 



Sark. — June 4th, neighbourhood of Dixcart Bay : Lyccena 

 icarus, Euchelia jacohcece, Plusla gamma. June 8th : Pieris 

 hrdsslcce, P rapes. 



