( xxxiii ) 



mendation, and had very fair success with the species over an 

 extensive range of country. In South Devon, where L. avion 

 was formerly abundant, its extinction was apparently caused 

 by the burning of the herbage. As to the Cotswolds the 

 specimens there were, as a rule, smaller than those from 

 Devonshire or Cornwall, and were less brightly coloured. 

 Some persons thought the species was dying out, but he did 

 not think there was much chance of L. avion being entirely 

 extirpated, in consequence of its wide range in the extreme 

 south-west. Apovia cvata-fji had disappeared about 1882, but 

 he did not think that such disappearance could be ascribed to 

 over-collecting. It was locally abundant in the New Forest 

 in 1866, 1868, 1869, and 1870, and had an extensive range 

 in Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire, but disappeared 

 suddenly about 1882 or 1883. 



Mr. Elwes said the question seemed to him to divide itself into 

 two parts : (1) The cau.ses of the increasing scarcity and partial 

 disappearance of our butterflies, and (2) The means of pre- 

 vention. As to (1) he was perfectly ready to admit that greedy 

 collectors might cause scarcity, which, followed by inclement 

 and bad seasons, might lead to the total disappearance of a 

 species, but he believed that climate, and a succession of bad 

 seasons, had infinitely more effect than the efforts of all the 

 collectors put together. We had not had a good farmer's 

 year since 1874. With regard to the question of L. avion 

 he happened to live in a district where it was extensively found. 

 He had seen it in three or four places on his own property 

 not less than ten or twelve miles from the place where it used 

 to be most looked for ; but, on the other hand, in two or three 

 places where the species used to abound he could now find 

 none. He was firmly convinced that if the butterfly had 

 adapted itself to the climate and vegetation of the neighbour- 

 hood, its existence in these spots would soon have been followed 

 by its increase ; and the fact that it had not increased in places 

 where he knew it occurred formerly was the best possible proof 

 that something was wanting either in the climate or the vege- 

 tation. Nearly all the butterflies mentioned were very com- 

 mon, and not at all local, on the Continent. You found them 

 everywhere there in places absolutely the most unlikely, under 



