S06 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



A summons from our chief, ou the 4th, set everything else aside, 

 and early the following morning, although the slate roofs were 

 wet, we saw the sea horizon clear and sunny again over Sunder- 

 land Point. But Flattery never smiled so fair. We soon found 

 ourselves at Carnforth Station, and met Mr. Murray as if we had 

 been dispensers of the weather. Away we went to Witherslack, 

 and beyond, through hazel dingles gay with nuts, where holly, 

 yew and juniper find a natural growth, where the hop-bine 

 climbs, and primrose and scented violet speak the glories of 

 departed spring. I had never seen Blandina on the wing, and it 

 was a treat. For there we found it in scores, fresh from the 

 chrysalis, flitting like E. iaiiira (against which it seems to have 

 considerable animosity) over grassy hillocks or in open sj)ots in 

 woods. It looks almost black on the wing. We soon had as many 

 as we could wish. The specimens captured showed considerable 

 variation. The *' chestnut antemargmal band of the forewings 

 shaped like a human footprint " varies in shape and width and 

 is sometimes prolonged to the inner margin. (My quotations 

 are from Mr. Kane's apt description of the insect in his ' European 

 Butterflies,' p. 105). The author goes on to mention "a double, 

 bipupilled, apical eye, and a second (often a third) lower down " 

 upon the chestnut band. These characters appear in the Wither- 

 slack specimens. Sometimes the additional eye is equal in size 

 with the others, especially in females which, by the way, were 

 scarce in comparison with males ; sometimes it is small and 

 without the white pupil ; sometimes, when indistinct, it appears 

 only upon one wing ; and in other examples it is not repeated on 

 the under side. The hind wings show little variation, but are 

 sepia brown like the upper, and "with an antemarginal row of 

 eyes upon chestnut patches not very conspicuous." As the 

 " eyes " are jet black and the pupils a pure white, they give the 

 butterfly a bandsome appearance. The eye-patches are usually 

 three, but females often possess four. 



We next turned our attention to Gonopteryx rhamni, which 

 was just appearing. Mr. Murray netted a fine specimen, the 

 only one captured. Since that date, however, the butterfly has 

 been on the wing in hundreds at the place. After noon the day 

 entirely changed, and, finding nothing more was to be done, we 

 made tracks for Arnside to catch the train home. Long before 

 we reached the Kent viaduct we were wet through. 



A word or two in conclusion about the drugonflies. On the 

 mosses, excepting Heysham, Libellula quadrimacidata, Sympctrum 

 scoticum and AlscJuui Juncea were captured or identified. But 

 these species do not appear in anything like the Delamere 

 numbers. Another dragonfly, which has up to the present 

 evaded capture, I believe will some day turn out to be the grand 

 Anax formosus. On the limestone, whilst netting Blandi)ia, I 

 saw a second doubtful species, of the Mschna type, but altogether 



