296 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



storm. I kept it alive until October 4tli, but it proved infertile. 

 This is only the second specimen I have seen since December, 

 1877 ; the other was a worn female, found on exactly the same 

 date as this in 1879. — Edward A. Fitch. 



CoLiAS Hyale. — Not having seen any record in the ' Ento- 

 mologist' of the capture of the above species this season, I 

 thought perhaps I should be pardoned sending you the informa- 

 tion that I took a fresh specimen while staying at Deal in August 

 last, on one of the slopes at Kingsdown, on the morning of the 

 1 8th of that month. This was the only one that I saw. I did 

 not see Col'ias Edusa during the time that I was there, neither 

 did I hear from other entomologists of it having been seen. — 

 J. R. Wellman; 319, Elm Park, Brixton Rise, S.W., October 

 25, 1881. 



On the supposed extinction of Vanessa C-album. — Allow 

 me to say a few words in reply to an article under the above title 

 by Mrs. E. S. Hutchinson, which appeared in the November 

 ' Entomologist' (Entom. xiv. 250). The text taken is a statement 

 of mine (Entom. xiv. 210), which runs as follows : " Vanessa 

 C-alhiim is undoubtedly becoming scarcer in Great Britain, and 

 is perhaps on the road to utter extinction." Now at the outset, 

 as the above title shows, your correspondent has signally failed 

 to comprehend the meaning of m}^ statement. I never said, or 

 supposed, that V. C -album had become extinct ; what I did say 

 was, " that it is becoming scarcer, and perhaps will become 

 extinct." The writer should have written, " On the 'prohahle 

 extinction of V. C-album^' and would then have been strictly 

 accurate. Mrs. Hutchinson then goes on to tell of the extra- 

 ordinary abundance this year of the insect ; and what I want to 

 point out is that, by her own showing, this abundance is extra- 

 ordinar}^ and not normal, and is probably to be classed with those 

 periodical seasons of abundance which more or less affect most 

 species. The lady then warns us not to expect many V. C-album 

 next year, and in this I think her correct. It is well known that 

 from numbers of former localities the insect has now entirely 

 disappeared, and I think I may safely say that an equivalent 

 number of new ones has not been discovered. It is from these 

 considerations that the observation that " Vanessa C-album is un- 

 doubtedly becoming scarcer in Great Britain, and is i^erliaps on 



