Ill 



BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 

 By John T. Carhington, F.L.S. 



I well remember, on my first visit to an entomological society, 

 now well nigh twenty-five years ago, being interested in a some- 

 what acrid discussion on the merits of the claim of a certain 

 specimen of a lepidopterous insect — Catocala fraxini I think was 

 the creature — to be considered " British." Arguments were then 

 briskly used which since that time one has heard so frequently as 

 to place them amongst the group of subjects we are apt to 

 consider " hackneyed," 



The cause of my penning these lines was my accidental over- 

 hearing a recent conversation between two lepidopterists, of how 

 a certain collector of " British " moths and butterflies had made 

 arrangements for the coming season, to import certain species 

 which are considered rare and therefore valuable if captured in 

 this country. These were to be obtained, in the earlier forms of 

 the various species, from Germany or France, and deliberately 

 passed off as British subjects of her Majesty the Queen. This 

 collector's object, in committing so deliberate and contemptible a 

 fraud, was stated to be, "to bring down the prices of the dealers." 

 Amongst the species enumerated were Geometra smaragdaria, 

 Boletohia fuliginaria, and — mark the entomological knowledge of 

 our so-called entomologist — Agvotis Ashivorthii f 



Like a certain French gentleman in South Africa, of whom we 

 have heard, on hearing this conversation "I felt sad," and probably 

 for the first time began really to think what would be the effect 

 of the nefarious operations of this self-constituted immigration 

 agent, who, by the way, would not on any account sell an insect — 

 if he thought he should be found out. 



The question seems to resolve itself into this, that certain 

 Englishmen are in the habit of studying the insular insect fauna 

 of Great Britain and Ireland. Possibly because they have little 

 opportunity of obtaining, and less of observing in a state of 

 nature, the insects from the remainder of the Palaearctic region, 

 so they confine their attentions to the more limited district of their 

 native country. Probably from some points of view this is alto- 

 gether unscientific, and those who conduct their studies in this 

 manner should be classed with certain collectors known in amateur 

 art circles ; but another question arises : Have these gentlemen a 



