88 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



SALE OF THE LATE DR. HARPER'S LEPIDOPTERA. 



The sale of a portion of this remarkable collection of 

 Lepidoptera took place on the 20th and 21st of March last. 

 The late Dr. Harper had amassed a very large number of the 

 choicest varieties of moths and butterflies, and consequently the 

 competition was spirited, and the prices paid were probably 

 higher than have ever previously been given for Lepidoptera. 

 The greater portion of the first day was occupied by the disposal 

 of the Diurni. A fine variety of Papilio machaon, bred by 

 Mr. Kay, of Bury, realised £± 5s. ; the series of the genus Colias 

 reached .£24 9s. ; one specimen of Vanessa io, with obliterated 

 ocelli, sold for £4 10s. ; and a black variety of Limenitis Sibylla 

 for £3. The total of the sale of butterflies alone amounted 

 to about £220. 



Among the Nocturni, the rarer clearwings caused a sharp 

 competition; and a Sesia vespiformis, from the Waring collection, 

 reached £3 5s. The Shetland series of Hepialus humuli var. 

 hethlandica, forty-nine in number, went for £10 10s. Perhaps, 

 with one exception, the highest prices paid for a single series was 

 that of Chelonia caja, sold in fifteen lots, which reached a total of 

 £92; and two varieties of C. villica went for £5 and £4 10s. 

 respectively. Orgyia ccenosa were sold at £7 7s. for a series of 

 thirty. 



It was amongst the Geometraa that the highest prices were 

 obtained, both for series and individuals, during the two days' 

 sale. The single specimen of Nyssia lapponaria, unique as a 

 British species, was purchased by Mr. E. G. Meek for £13 13s. 

 It would probably have been sold for a much larger sum, had not 

 one of the competitors understood that it had been knocked down 

 to him, and so ceased bidding. The series of Boarmia repandata 

 went for £6 18s. ; the var. sodorensium being eagerly bid for. In 

 fact all the varieties, of even, common species, taken in the 

 Orkneys, Shetlands, or Hebrides, commanded high prices. 

 Great interest was shown in the crowded room when Abraxas 

 grossulariata was reached. These were divided into twenty lots, 

 containing many remarkable varieties. There were amongst 

 them about a dozen of the banded variety (fifth figure in 

 Newman's 'British Moths';; and these were distributed, with 



