20 . LEPJDOPTERA. 



hedges. In 1872, after much searching, he captured one 

 butterfly, and since then it has not been seen there. It was 

 also plentiful at Chattenden, but has become extinct there 

 also. In 1857 it was abundant iti the Forest of Dean and 

 also in Somersetshire, and apparently in Northamptonshire and 

 Huntingdonshire. A few specimens were found in the Forest 

 of Dean and around Coleford about 1870, and no more recent 

 record is known from any one of these localities, in which it 

 could not well be overlooked. In 1858 it was plentiful in 

 tlie Isle of Thanet, and seems then to have made its appear- 

 ance at Ashford, Kent, and in 1859 and 1860 at Cheltenham. 

 In the New Forest it abounded in 1856, and also in 1866 

 and 1870, especially in a valley dotted with blackthorn 

 bushes. From this time until 1878 it gradually decreased in 

 numbers, and the last was taken in that year. Indeed, the 

 most careful search has only made the fact too certain that 

 from all these localities it has disappeared. Between Dover 

 and Eamsgate a few were taken as lately as 1890, and this 

 rich and favoured county of Kent seems to be its last resort, 

 the last capture recorded being of one near Eamsgate by the 

 son of Mr. T. H. Briggs. 



Tlie suggestion has been made that it has been destroyed 

 by the action of small birds, titmice especially, picking out 

 the young larvce from their hyberuacula ; but this cause seems 

 quite insufficient to explain the disappearance of so plentiful 

 a species from so large an area. It is far more lils:ely that 

 wet summers and mild winters have been the cause of its 

 destruction. There is no reason to believe that it has 

 occurred farther uortli than Northamptonshire and Hereford- 

 shire, or further west than the borders of Carmarthenshire, 

 in these islands ; but abroad it is of the widest distribution, 

 being found even in Japan. 



