388 



may capture there remains to be proved. They were in very different condition to 

 those that I took a fortnight back, near AiTindel. How is it to be accoimted for — the 

 extraordinary appearance of this insect in so many and distant places this season, and 

 none of C. Edusa? (at least I have not hear9 of any being taken). — Samuel Stevens ; 

 38, King St., Covent Garden, August 29, 1842. 



My dear Sir, — I received your note, and according to your request I have sent 

 you what infonnation has come to my knowledge of Hyale. My son took nine spe- 

 cimens at Darenth on the 21st, in a bit of lucerne, in about an hour, and saw about a 

 dozen more : three were taken at Snaresbrook on the forest, I am infoimed, the same 

 day ; and my friend Mr. Desvignes has sent me the enclosed letter, which he has gi- 

 ven me the liberty of forwarding to you, thinking its contents may be interesting to 

 some of your readers, should you deem it worthy a page in 'The Entomologist.' — Wm. 

 Courtney ; 6, Charles Court, Hull Street, St. Luke''s, August 30, 1842. 



Dear Courtney, — I have received yours with No. 23. Now as to the " pale cloud- 

 ed yellow," you may safely state that it only appears every seven years (perhaps one or 

 two may be seen in the interim). You very well know that I have, ever since I took 

 them near Brighton in 1835, foretold that it would be taken in 1842, which turns out 

 to be true. I made this conclusion from seeing a iew with a Brighton collector when 

 I was down there, and asking him how he came to know they would be out that year ; 

 he told me he took them seven years previously, and was certain they would be taken 

 that year ; and from this I concluded they would be found again in seven years from 

 that time. The time of its appearance is from the 15th of August to the middle of 

 September, but I recollect seeing some specimens with Johnson, that were taken in 

 June by Leplastrier of Dover. There is no doubt of the caterpillar feeding on the lu- 

 cerne, from having taken specimens just emerging from the chrysalis, that is, with the 

 wings quite limp, and watching the lucerne field from 10 in the morning till 3 in the 

 afternoon for four days together, during which time I have generally taken five or six 

 every day ; the hotter the weather the greater certainty of finding them. They are very 

 much pursued by the Pontia Brassica9, which appear to be continually tormenting 

 them, seldom allomng them to settle ; and should they survive the day, the following 

 day they are very much worn and even the wings chipped. I have watched two males 

 fighting and soaring in the air till nearly out of sight. They invariably settle on the 

 flower of the lucerne, on which I should say they deposit their eggs, and which have 

 been introduced into this country with the seed originally imported from Switzerland. 

 In 1835 I took fifty specimens in several fields near Brighton ; and this year twenty- 

 two in only two, lying near a village called Wikken, in Northamptonshire, and proba- 

 bly the most inland county in England where C. Hyale has been captured. From 

 the attention I have paid to the economy and habits of this insect, you may depend on 

 the foregoing being as accurate as my observations have allowed me to assert. — Tho- 

 mas Desvignes ; Stoney Stratford, August 25, 1842. 



My dear Sir, — I have delayed replying to your note of the 1 9th instant until near- 

 ly the last day, as I expected farther intelligence respecting C. Hyale. I have cap- 

 tured seven specimens at Riddlesdown, near Croydon, Surrey. Upwards of forty spe- 

 cimens, these included, have been captured by Mr. Joseph Standish and myself, at 

 this locality ; generally found in the red clover fields, but solitary specimens vvere met 



