ARTAXEEXES BUTTERFLY. 3 'j 5 



"But what I send a line for just now is to say that I 

 wish you would give an hour now and then to the parr 

 question ; that is, ascertain whether a great preponderance 

 of the larger ones in the river at this time are males. A 

 man in England writes me that he can reconcile the adverse 

 theories of one and two year old smolts, by the fact that 

 all the female parr ' smolt ' soon after the completion of 

 the first year, the males not till after the close of the second. 

 I remember being often struck by the precocity of the 

 male autumnal parr, and by the scarcity or undeveloped 

 condition of the females. If they are all off to the sea- 

 bathing some months before, of course we can scarcely 

 expect to find them in fresh water." 



TO ADAM WHITE, ESQ. 



" Woodvixle, 14th December 1855. 

 " Can you give me any precise information as to the 

 literary history of our Arthur Seat butterfly, Pol. Arta- 

 xerxes 1 All its transformations have been now made out, 

 but a friend of mine asks me where it was first described. 

 Fabricius mentions the only specimen of his day as being 

 in the cabinet of Mr Jones of Chelsea, who also seems to 

 have published and given a figure of it. Who was tins 

 Mr Jones of Chelsea, and where are his figure and descrip- 

 tion to be found? I remember, before you were born. 



