140 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



long steins of a species of coarse grass in 

 exposed situations. The ground is rough and 

 broken, consisting of small quarries not in 

 use. There is a wood a short distance off. 

 The extent of ground over which they were 

 found is about half an acre C. J. Watldns, 

 "Entomologist" vol. iv., p. 120. 



Hampshire. Formerly taken on hills near 

 Winchester, by Mr. Griesbach, when a boy 

 at school there ; some of the specimens were 

 in Mr. Curtis's collection J. C. Dale. 



Herefordshire. Taken near the aqueduct 

 at Hereford, but rare F. E. Harman. 



Huntingdonshire. Monk's "Wood, in July 

 J. F. Stephens. 



Northamptonshire. The great prize of all 

 the butterflies of the neighbourhood of Pole- 

 brook, I hold to be Lyccena Arion, which, 

 if I mistake not, was discovered here by my- 

 self thirteen or fourteen years since. It is 

 confined entirely, as far as my experience goes, 

 to Barnwell Wold and the adjoining rough 

 fields, with the exception of a single specimen 

 which I once met with in a rough field near 

 Polebrook. Its flight is somewhat peculiar, 

 being different from that of others of the same 

 genus, and more resembling that of Cceno- 

 nympha Paniphilus and Epinephele Tithonus. 

 Independently of its manner of flight and 

 size, it is in most instances easily distin- 

 guished on the wing from the other blues by 

 its dark and irony appearance. Many ento- 

 mologists have, of late years, visited Barnwell 

 Wold in search of Arion; in short, a summer 

 never passes without meeting in my rambles 

 brother entomologists from different parts of 

 the country ; I rejoice, however, to be able 

 to state that its annual occurrence does not 

 appear to be diminished in consequence. Un- 

 less my memory fails me, I think Mr. Wolley, 

 of Trinity College, Cambridge, informed me 

 that one year he captured, in a few days, 

 between fifty and sixty specimens in and 

 about Barnwell Wold, though, in point of 

 weather, the days were anything but favour- 

 able William Bree, "Zoologist" for 1852, 

 page 3350. I have again this season taken 

 this beautiful insect in plenty at Barnwell 

 Wold, forty nine specimens; it is a very local 



insect, for although I have searched the Wold 

 well, I have only found it in one spot, in the 

 corner of a rough pasture under a wood ; it is 

 an easy insect to take, flying very low, and is 

 very conspicuous, settling occasionally on wild 

 thyme (Thymus serpylluni), the purple bugle 

 (Ajuga reptans), and a "dwarf thistle; but I 

 have never seen it on bramble blossoms, 

 although they are very abundant Frederick 

 Bond ; I captured a single specimen of Arion 

 near the village of Wigsthorpe, Northampton- 

 shire, between the 3rd and 20th of June, 

 1841 : it is rather a singular variety, and not 

 larger than LyccenajEgon Henry Doubleday, 

 " Entomologist," vol. i., p. 156. 



Somersetshire. I took about forty specimens 

 on the 15th June, 1833, in a situation abound- 

 ing with long grass and brambles, at Langport, 

 near Taunton; and on the same day in 1834 

 I took about twenty specimens, and Mr. Dale 

 ten John Quekett; subsequently Mr.Quekett 

 visited the same locality on several occasions, 

 and always with the same success E. New- 

 man ; hills near Bath Lewin. 



Wiltshire. Maryborough Downs Lewin; 

 Savernake Forest T. A. Preston. 



Natural Order IV. WORM-SHAPED or CYLINDRICAL 



CATERPILLARS (in science, Vermiformes or 



Cylindracei). 



The distinguishing character is that the 

 caterpillars are worm-shaped or cylindrical; 

 iu this country they are commonly spoken of 

 as grubs, and in France as vers ; generally 

 speaking, they are excessively destructive to 

 cultivated vegetables, and are a constant 

 source of loss and annoyance to the farmer 

 and gardener : they are without spines or 

 conspicuous bristles, and the skin has often 

 a velvety or downy appearance, which is 

 attributable in a great measure to the pre- 

 sence of very numerous minute warts, each 

 of which emits a hair. The British species 

 constitute three very natural families. 



Family 9. RKDHORNS (in science, Rlwdoceridce). 



The caterpillars are smooth, cylindrical, 

 and velvety : they generally feed on legumi- 

 nous plants, more particularly trefoils and 



