A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Weekly Hall Wood and Geddington Chase, in Whittlebury Forest, 

 Salcey Forest, Yardley Chase, Sywell Wood, and elsewhere in the south 

 and north of the county. 



The five species of the genus Thecla (the Hairstreaks) are more or 

 less common in Northamptonshire. The most local and interesting of 

 these, the Black Hairstreak {T. pruni, L.) is in some years abundant 

 in woods near Rockingham, Kettering and elsewhere ; but except in a 

 few localities in North Buckinghamshire, Huntingdonshire, and other 

 neighbouring counties, it is unknown elsewhere in the United Kingdom. 

 I have found it in some seasons in abundance in two or three woods in 

 the county. It is fond of settling on the flowers of the privet [Ligustrtim 

 vulgare) and the wayfaring tree {Viburnum lantand). Mr. Kaye says it 

 is also partial to the flowers of valerian. 



The White-letter Hairstreak {Thecla iv.-album, Kn.) — a local species 

 but much more generally distributed than the last — is not uncommon in 

 the county, and is occasionally abundant, as is also the Brown Hairstreak 

 {T. betulce, L.) which is especially common in the larval state in cer- 

 tain woods. The Purple Hairstreak (T. quercus, L.) is common in oak 

 woods, and the Green Hairstreak {T. rubi, L.) is partially distributed in 

 the county and is common in some localities. 



The Mazarine Blue {Lyccena acts, Fb.) formerly occurred in the 

 county, and Sywell Wood is mentioned as a locality by Messrs. Hull and 

 Tomalin. No specimens have been captured for many years. 



The Large Blue {Lyccena arion, L.) was formerly plentiful in rough 

 pastures adjoining Barnwell Wold, but disappeared therefrom nearly 

 forty years ago after the exceptionally wet summer of i860, and the 

 species is now confined to a few localities in the Cotswolds, Gloucester- 

 shire, and to some parts of Devon and Cornwall. 



The Duke of Burgundy {Nemeobius lucina, L.) occurs near Tow- 

 cester and in Barnwell Wold, and I have found it commonly in many 

 woods in the county. 



The Chequered Skipper {Hesperia paniscus. Fab.) — one of the 

 most local species of the Hesperiidce (the Skippers) — occurs, sometimes 

 abundantly, in certain woods about Rockingham and Kettering, and at 

 Geddington Chase, Brigstock, Whittlebury Forest, Yardley Chase, and 

 elsewhere in the county. This species is also found in a few woods in 

 Huntingdonshire, Rutlandshire and Lincolnshire, and has been reported 

 from one or two woods in Suffolk ; but it is probably nowhere more 

 plentiful than in some of the Northamptonshire woods. 



To refer in detail to all the local Nocturni, Geometra, Drepanulidce, 

 Pseudo-Bombyces, and Nocture found in the county, would occupy too 

 much space, but Captain Vipan, who is better acquainted with the 

 Macro-Lepidoptera of Northamptonshire than any one else, now living, 

 in the United Kingdom, has kindly helped to compile the following 

 list of butterflies and moths occurring in the county. 



96 



