392 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



of this further on, in the meantime we proceed to the 

 enumeration of our butterflies, no very difficult task as 

 the list is not long. 



The Brimstone Butterfly (Gonepteryx Rhamni) is 

 one of our earliest to leave its winter retreat, and may 

 frequently be seen abroad in sunny intervals in the 

 days of February, it is not generally regarded with 

 favour, however, at that early season, the local im- 

 pression being, we have never heard why, that we may 

 expect as many frosts in May as there have been in- 

 dividuals of this species seen on the wing in February! 



" I can call spirits from the vasty deep But will 



they come ? " Its caterpillar is found on the buck* 

 thorn during the summer months, and the perfect 

 insect is tolerably common in the autumn. 



The Clouded Yellow (Colias Edusa) is one of our 

 most highly prized and richly coloured insects, and so 

 vigorous is its flight that it has often tested the agility 

 of the young entomologist intent on its capture, and 

 succeeded in escaping the net after all. In byegone 

 seasons, when a race with a butterfly was a daily event 

 with us, we have taken this beautiful species in the 

 Park and on the Downs, and in later years we have 

 seldom failed to see one specimen at least every season 

 by the roadside near Honey Lane Field ; but it is not 

 common, and we have only once been so fortunate as 

 to capture the female, although we have several times 

 seen the caterpillar in the adjoining clover fields.* 



The Black-veined White (Aporia Cratcegi) is less 

 frequently met with here, but as the caterpillars are 

 gregarious, when it makes its appearance it does so in 



This species appears to have very much increased in numbers 

 since the racing days referred to in the above paragraph ; this 

 season especially (1877) it has been quite common. We have 

 incidentally heard of the capture, by a youthful Halting ento- 

 mologist, of as many as thirty specimens, and we saw no less 

 than seven one morning towards the latter end of August, during 

 a drive from Uppark to the Rogate and Halting Station. 



