FIERI D^E. 19 



fined itself mainly to hawthorn and blackthorn (Cratcvjus 

 oxi/acnntha and I'rioms spinosa). 



Much mystery hangs over this species. It is recorded as 

 a common garden and meadow frequenting species by our 

 earlier writers, extending back to 16G7, according to Mr. 

 0. W. Dale, whose history of the species is copious and ex- 

 liaustive ; but evidently it has always fluctuated greatly in 

 numbers, for Curtis and Stephens do not speak of it as a 

 generally abundant butterfly. It was far more plentiful in 

 the middle of the present century. Mr. Jenner Weir says 

 that it was most abundant at Keymer, Sussex, in 1838, but 

 soon afterwards disappeared. Mr. H. Goss, in a most in- 

 teresting paper in the Entomologists Monthhj Magazine, says 

 that in 1844 it was the commonest butterfly at Wye, Kent, 

 but that in 1859 it disappeared. In 1850 it was plentiful at 

 Eamsgate, Strood, Eochester, and between Heme Bay and 

 Canterbury ; in 1804 Mr. Goss explored much of this district 

 in search of it without seeing a specimen. In the former 

 year, 1856, it had extended its range into the rich and lovely 

 district whicli lies sheltered between the mountains of Wales 

 in tlie west, and the hills of the Midlands in the east, and 

 was abundant in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, as far as 

 Eos.s, and at Tintern was still common in 18G7, birt in 1877 

 had almost disappeared, while the last Herefordshire specimen 

 seems to have been taken in 1872 by Miss Hutchinson. In 

 tlie prolific year 185(3 it had become common as far west as 

 Kidwelly, in Carmarthenshire, where is a belt of warm coast 

 land, protected from the north winds by a range of low hills ; 

 and until 1868-9 was abundant in Glamorganshire, but has 

 long since disappeared. Canon Tristram found it in abun- 

 dance on a grassy slope at Torquay in 1854, but it was never 

 seen there again ; and Mr. Parfitt, of Exeter, had no knowledge 

 of its existence in the county except an old record at Moreton 

 Hemstead. Mr. Tutt says that it abounded near Eocliester 

 and Strood from 1850 to 1866, and that the larviE were most 

 abundant and conspicuous on the hawthorns in the meadow 



