BRITISH Versus EUROPEAN LEPIDOPTERA. Tt 
ignorance of the fact—and a. fact I suppose it is if M. Wailly 
states it—that thousands of Atropos were so found. Surely 
M. Wailly does not base an argument adverse to Atropos being 
“a British subject” simply because it is much more numerous in 
some seasons than in others; if so, we should be poorly off indeed 
for indigenous species. Polyommatus phleas some few years ago 
had become so scarce that I heard it hinted that its extinction 
would follow that of P. dispar. V. polychloros, after being very 
common for many years, became very scarce, and is again common. 
Both Catocala sponsa and C. promissa for some years prior to 
1871 had been very scarce. Lithosia quadra larve many years 
ago appeared in countless numbers in the New Forest, with a 
proportionate number of imagos, yet in 1871 and a few years 
prior but very few were taken—now they are again common. In 
1871 again Dicycla 0o was exceedingly common, but has been 
scarce since then; and many other instances might be quoted. 
Yet few, if any, I think, would doubt that they are as purely 
indigenous British species as any can well be. M. Wailly refers 
to Sphinx convolvuli, Deilephila livornica, Cherocampa nerii, and 
C. celerio as other species of the Sphingide which cannot be con- 
sidered British. S. convolvuli larve have year after year been 
found by an entomologist, feeding on bindweed in an old gravel- 
pit. D. livornica, I am informed, can be taken regularly on the 
South Devon Coast. C. nerii is but an occasional visitor. C. celerio 
may be so also, but larve of it have been found in this country. 
Will M. Wailly name the “several species of the finest British 
Lepidoptera” which have entirely disappeared, and those “others — 
which at no very distant period may also become extinct” ? 
I will not specially notice M. Wailly’s quotations from W. J. 
Coleman’s book on British butterflies, as the book cannot be con- 
sidered as carrying any weight as a standard work. 
M. Wailly states, as regards Papilio machaon, that “it is con- 
fined within comparatively very narrow limits—the fens of Cam- 
bridgeshire ; I do not know that it is found anywhere else.” It 
seems almost incredible that anyone taking an interest at all in 
British Lepidoptera should reside here for even six months and 
not know that P. machaon has a wide range in the Norfolk fens. 
As regards extinction of species of Lepidoptera. Can 
M. Wailly point to a single species which has become extinct here 
solely from the efforts to those collectors who ransack every nook 
and corner for rare species ? 
