no LEPIDOPTERA. 



injured by its strong dashing flight and habit of flapping its 

 wings together with a sharp jerking motion when walking. 

 So delicate indeed is the insect, that out of the eighty- 

 captured not one could be pronounced really fine, though not 

 suffered to struggle half the time necessary when an Emperor 

 net is used." The Emperor net has not been superseded, 

 however, by tJiis method of attraction, for the very good 

 reason that the latter is not always efficacious, the taste of 

 the insect appearing to vaiy according to the greater or less 

 dryness of the season. In my own experience this method 

 of capture has been a failure. In veiy hot and dry weather 

 a wet spot on the ground is sometimes appreciated ; and 

 abroad, in drier and warmer climates, this butterfly is a 

 constant frequenter of such patches of moisture. 



The female seems to have none of these vagrrant and 

 objectionable tastes. She flies comparatively little, and, when 

 seen, is generally near or among the sallows upon which her 

 eggs will be laid. Her flight is sufficiently powerful, but, 

 passing just over the tops of the imdergrowth, she is quickly 

 lost sight of. 



This species is found in all our southern and south- 

 western counties, as far west as Devonshire ; also in the 

 eastern counties, and the Midlands, wherever large woods 

 exist ; indeed, often more plentifully in the Midland counties 

 than in the south, being actually scarce in the New Forest. 

 In Wales it is found in Monmouthshire, and has been 

 reported even from Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire. Hereford- 

 shire appears to be its limit towards the north-west, but in 

 the east it is found as far north as Lincolnshire, and, as I 

 understand from Canon Fowler, in some localities not un- 

 commonly. It is nowhere more plentiful apparently than 

 in some of the great woods of Northamptonshire and the 

 " Dukeries." 



[A. ilia, Huh. — In the year 1872 a specimen of this 

 species was brought to the Britisli Museum for identification. 



