A PLEA FOR PIONEER WORK. 229 



A PLEA FOE PIONEEE WOEK. 



By H. Eowland-Brown, M.A., F.E.S. 



In the ' Entomologist ' {antea, p. 214) Mr. W. G. Sheldon 

 remarks on the likely surprises awaiting the lepidopterist who 

 will work the little-known regions of the west coast of Scotland 

 north of the Clyde. I, too, have no doubt that the scope of his 

 prevision might be fitly extended to many other parts of the 

 United Kingdom. M. Dupont, writing to me a propos of the 

 identification of Anihrocera ochillefe and its recent re-discovery 

 in the British Isles, says : " There are, then, in 3'our islands 

 discoveries to be made ! I thought the whole of them had been 

 thoroughly explored years ago " — a notion prevalent among 

 most continental lepidopterists at all events. To those who 

 know our British collectors, however, the possibilities of fresh 

 fields of exploration are less surprising. 



It is really amazing how content the majority of us are to 

 confine our attentions to the time-honoured localities where 

 species considered local are known to exist. The spirit of 

 enterprise goes no further than to make sure of our captures; 

 breaking new ground, whether at home or abroad, is left to a 

 handful whose scientific ardour is not limited to the mere 

 nccumulation of series. 



Only the other day M. Charles Oberthiir raised the same 

 question in a letter to me, from which I venture to quote : "I 

 ask," he writes, " why English lepidopterists always come to the 

 same mountain places in France, in the Alps and in the Pyrenees, 

 and hitherto have always neglected the entomological exploration 

 of the plains between the Loire and the Garonne — a rich and 

 beautiful country." "But lepidopterists in general," he continues, 

 " have not yet arrived at the point of view of interesting them- 

 selves with local races of species — even the common ones. In 

 the Charentes I have discovered Lyccena escheri helence, L. bell- 

 hrgxLS, ? coelestis, L. Jtylas {dori/las), ? gabrielis, and I am a 

 long way still from a complete knowledge of the locality ; for 

 the region is a large one, and I have explored or caused to be 

 explored but a very small part of it." 



I replied that the majority of our collectors plan their visits 

 to alpine and other mountain health resorts with butterfly 

 hunting as a secondary consideration, while only a few are 

 able to make their entomology the prime and only interest. 



True, we have— I think I may say it without arrogance — 

 more amateur explorers than most countries. Their " gestes " 

 are recorded in the pages of our scientific Transactions and 

 magazines. But their work has been done abroad for the most 

 part, and it seems to me that nowhere in our far-flung battle- 

 line has an entomologist been wanting — in Egypt, in Palestine 



