﻿THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XLVIII.l SEPTEMBEE, 1915. [No. 628 



SOME EEMAKKS ON THECLA ^SCULI, Hb., CHIEFLY 

 IN THE SOUTH OF FEANCE. 



By H. Eowland -Brown, M.A., F.E.S. 

 (Plates IX. and X.) 



If successful this year (1915) in rearing the two Theclids 

 with which this paper is principally associated, I had hoped to 

 write a life-history of both species from personal observations, 

 assisted by those of my correspondents Mr. Harold Powell, of 

 Hyeres, and Mr. Charles Morris, of Le Cannet. Unfortunately 

 the war has put an end to ail foreign travel for the time being, 

 even if opportunity served to bring the matter to a definite con- 

 clusion. The following notes were already put together before 

 August, 1914 ; and Mr. Eayward, to whom Mr. W. G. Sheldon 

 kindly communicated some of my specimens for making pre- 

 parations of the appendages, reported them ready soon after 

 that date. The excellent photographs by Mr. E. M. Montgomery 

 were then submitted to Dr. T. A. Chapman for his opinion, 

 which follows with his notes, and thanks to him also I am 

 enabled to present the accompanying line drawings further to 

 elucidate Mr. Eayward's studies by comparison with the struc- 

 tures of another member of this particular group. 



So far as I am concerned, the life-histories in contemplation 

 will have to wait until western Europe is again open to the 

 British field naturalist. The scientific value of these remarks, 

 therefore, rests entirely with the reports of the gentlemen who 

 have so ably carried out the examination of the respective male 

 appendages. 



Hitherto, collectors at home and abroad do not appear to 

 have realized that in Thecla (or, as Tutt insists, Nordmayinia) 

 ilicis and T. (bscuU we have two distinct and separate species. 

 This is all the more strange when we refer to the early authorities, 

 and find them almost unanimous on the subject. Nor is it 

 until the German writers of the later nineteenth century that 

 the confusion begins which has existed ever since. 



I notice that Mr. B. S. Curwen in his interesting account of 

 "Early Summer in the Yalais and North Italy" ('Ent. Eecord,' 



ENTOM. — SEPTEMBER, 1915. S 



