COLLECTIONS AT GI.ANYILLES WOOTTON HOUSE. 225 



the "Naturalist" for 1837, of which I will give you a few 

 extracts : 



" Glanvilles Wootton is a small country village, in a retired 

 and very lovely situation, between Sherborne and Dorchester. 

 Mr. Dale is the squire of the parish. Except in the summer 

 season, when he generally makes an entomological tour (for he 

 thinks nothing of a trip to Scotland or the Lakes in quest of a 

 rare butterfly), he is to be found at home. He has one room 

 occupied entirely by cabinets of British insects, stuffed birds, 

 and the most complete entomological library in England. He 

 has about one hundred and twenty drawers well filled with the 

 insects of our islands, to a number that I am almost afraid of 

 mentioning. They are all scientifically arranged according to 

 the excellent classification of Mr. Curtis, author of 'British 

 Entomology.' It would be an endless task to enumerate the 

 rarities which enrich Mr. Dale's cabinets. His brilliant dis- 

 coveries in the Stylops are well known, and any person, whether 

 entomologist or not, will receive a hearty welcome and have the 

 gratification of inspecting the collection, which he has been 

 upwards of thirty years amassing, and in the completion of 

 which he has spared neither time, trouble, nor expense. 



The neighbourhood of Glanvilles Wootton is well wooded. 

 Mr. Dale used to take the Swallow-tail about twenty years ago, 

 on a rather high and dry hill, and elsewhere, but he has never 

 seen it since, which is very remarkable, as he did not take all the 

 specimens he saw, and the butterfly continues to appear every 

 year in the fenny counties in which it is found. Z. Act's, or the 

 Mazarine Blue, was at one time taken, in great numbers, on the 

 same hill as the Swallow-tail, but is now only occasionally met 

 with, and on the low grounds Plusia orichalcea, or the scarce 

 Burnished-brass Moth, was formerly abundant on the honeysuckle 

 in his garden. 



Mr. Dale, in a letter lately received, informs me of a white 

 woodcock, a dusky one, and another with white wings, in the 

 collection of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart. A nest was also 

 found on Middlemarsh Common in April, 1836. He also informs 



