﻿54 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



second emergence alike are plentiful. Mr. Wheeler reports that 

 where he has collected on the Continent the species does not 

 occur in quantities flying together (' British Butterflies,' Tutt, 

 vol. iv. p. 228, note), in the Chilterns my experience is entirely 

 to the contrary. Mr. B. C. S. Warren speaks of it in the second 

 brood {in litt.) as, "apart from the common 'Whites,' quite the 

 commonest butterfly I ever saw there ; a very small form, but 

 very well marked. Even in tiny males the orange lunules on 

 the upper side of both wings were always complete." He, too, 

 presents a lucid account of the local variation of the species 

 in the second emergence ; the costal spot being absent in all 

 cases ('British Butterflies,' Tutt, loc. cit., p. 233). In the 

 eighteen years that I have collected in this neighbourhood I 

 have observed no decrease in the relative abundance of the two 

 emergences, except in very wet or otherwise uncongenial seasons 

 when everything else has been equally affected. 



Earliest seen, cjen. vern., May 22nd, 1914; cjen. cest., August 

 3rd, 1899 ; latest, September 27th, 1913, a female ovipositing. 



[Pleheius argus, L. (= cegon, Schiff.). I am quite at a loss 

 to account for the absence of argus in the heath and gravel 

 districts which border on the chalk towards the south of the 

 Chiltern range. My correspondents have been no more success- 

 ful than I in locating the species hereabouts. On the hills 

 themselves also I have searched carefully each season, but 

 so far I have been unrewarded. But it is a butterfly very 

 easily overlooked among other " Blues," even by experienced 

 collectors.] 



12. Celastrina argiolus, L. I did not consider the Holly Blue 

 at all a common insect in the Chilterns until the spring of 1912, 

 when I found it in numbers flying over the dogwood bushes in 

 a deep chalk lane. Since then I have observed it in May and 

 August plentiful at the same spot, and in many other localities 

 on the south slopes towards Great Missenden where there is 

 holly. Mr. Peachell {in litt.) reports it at High Wycombe, 

 " usually very fairly common, especially in the spring brood." 



EarHest seen, gen. vern., April 20th, 1912 ; latest. May 29th, 

 1912 ; gen. cest., earliest, August 9th, 1913. On September 

 27th of that year I saw a male, of what I believe to be a third 

 emergence, flying in the road at Aston Clinton. 



13. Callophrys rubi, L. One of the commonest Chiltern 

 butterflies in favourable seasons. Affects the fresh green foliage 

 of the hawthorn and young oak, the males often flying high and 

 fast. Ab. immacidata, Fuchs, is by no means rare. No trace 

 of a second emergence has ever been detected by me. From 

 High Wycombe (Peachell) to Drayton-Beauchamp (Rothschild). 



Earliest seen, April 20th, 1912 ; latest, June 29th, 1909. 



14. Zejjhyrus querciis, L. I myself have never come across 

 this Hairstreak in the district. It is reported by Mr. G. C. 



