( xxxii ) 



Mr. Goss statftd that he could confirm what Mr. ]\IcLachlan 

 said as to the disappearance of Melitca cinxia from many of its 

 old localities in the Isle of Wight. In 1873 he fomid it in 

 a cove at St. Lawrence, four miles west from Ventnor. A 

 few years afterwards it had entirely disappeared from that 

 locality, but was abundant at Mirables, some two miles 

 further west, both in 1878 and 1882. Last year, in the old 

 localities, he could not find a single specimen, but some 

 miles further west they were plentiful. A great part of the 

 ground over which they occurred in the new localities was 

 almost inaccessible, and that possibly accounted for their 

 preservation. Mr. Goss also said that in 1887 he explored the 

 Norfolk Broads in a boat, for a range of from fifteen to twenty 

 miles, landing on several fens, and found Papilio viachaon 

 extending over the whole district. He observed that in Cam- 

 bridgeshire he was afraid it might in time disappear from its 

 chief locality, Wicken Fen, but that it would linger on in some 

 of the smaller fens — such as Chippenham, where the larvae had 

 been found on AncjeUra si/ln'stris. In Soham, near Wicken Fen, 

 the children were paid by dealers to collect the pup», but only 

 ■certain parts of the fen were accessible, the three years' growth 

 being impenetrable. As to Lyccena avion, he said that, in 1866, 

 when he was staying at Oundle, in Nortliamptonshire, for 

 the purpose of collecting Tlurla pnini, he was told by the 

 Eev. W. Wall, formerly Rector of Thurning, Hunts (whose 

 Rectory adjoined Barnwell W^old) that he had not seen L. avion 

 since the wet summer of 1860. It seemed to have gone 

 rather suddenly, and its disappearance did not appear due 

 to collecting alone. Mr. Goss said that in 1876 he went 

 down to Gloucester in June, and was taken by a correspon- 

 dent to a spot eight miles distant, in the hill country, where 

 L. avion was very plentiful. In the following year he visited 

 the neighbourhood again, and found the range of the species 

 was more extensive than was supposed, extending in scattered 

 localities for about fifteen miles. He visited the locality again 

 in the middle of June, 1883, a cold, wet, and late summer, 

 but could find no specimens, and thought avion was extinct. 

 It occurred again freely in 1888, after the grand summer of 

 1887. He also saw specimens in the same localities in 1890. 

 Last year a friend of his went to the Cotswolds, on his recom- 



