OBITUARY. 239 



a sycamore tree in a farmyard. Bryophila glandifera was fairly 

 common and in fine variety. The males of Lasiocaiapa quercus Qew 

 literally in thousands at the end of July, but it would be tedious to 

 enumerate the commoner species. I recorded thirty-one species of 

 butterflies, but nothing peculiarly local. The most interesting to me 

 was a Eucjonia polycliloros, which I took an hour and a half to catch ! 

 The behaviour of this butterfly was very peculiar. I may say that I 

 missed it four times, but, trusting to the inveterate habit of the 

 Vanessidifi of returning to the same spot, I sat down with a pipe 

 and waited for it to return. Although it was midday, it repeatedly 

 came down on the shady side of a tall hedge and penetrated to the 

 stem of a small elm, on which it sat for a time. It came three 

 times, after considerable absence, to the same identical spot, and I 

 can only conclude that it proposed to hibernate there, though the 

 date was July 27th. Although the butterflies were not particularly 

 striking, their distribution was. I think it has been observed before 

 that in the far south-west, species elsewhere confined to. woods are 

 found in the open. Here in bare lanes with turf walls and no tree 

 near may be found in abundance P. egeria var. egerides, and A. 

 liyperantlnis consorting with P. viegcBra and E. tithomis, as well as 

 Venilia maculata. Every copse has a few Dryas imiMa loosely 

 attached to it and roaming within a radius of half a mile. Brenthis 

 selene affects rough slopes al)ove the bay, where there is no tree 

 bigger than gorse and blackthorn, but I had noticed this peculiarity 

 soiiie time ago in West Sussex, where B. euphrosyne was found more 

 commonly inside a wood, and P. selene on the moor outside, as is the 

 case with Argynnis cydippe and A. aglaia. A. cydippe\% the only one 

 of these five " fritillaries " that is not found here. The district is 

 poor in " blues," only Cyaniris argiolus being common (double- 

 brooded) and Polyovimatus icarus. All the more generally dis- 

 tributed " skippers" and Satyrids occur freely, including Hiparchia 

 semele. Of the Vanessids Aglais urticce, Vanessa io and Pyrameis 

 cardui are very abundant ; P. atalanta is this year very scarce. — 

 E. A. C. Stowell. 



OBITUARY. 



William Francis de Vismes Kane, M.A., M.R.I. A. 

 1840-1918. 



Mr. W. F. de Vismes Kane died in April last at the age of 78. 

 As a Lepidopterist he had achieved a unique reputation. He was the 

 first of our countrymen to publish an up-to-date, accurately illus- 

 trated and compendious guide to the butterflies of the western palae- 

 arctic region. I have no hesitation in saying that this work is not 

 only a chef-d'oeiwre, but that it will survive for years to come as the 

 best possible all-round handbook for the travelling Lepidopterist. It 

 has inspired many insular collectors to wider fields, myself among 

 the number, and I, for one, owe a deep debt of gratitude to the 

 genial pocket companion of so many successful tours — from the 

 lower Danube in the east to the western Pyrenees, from the far north 



