A HISTORY OF SURREY 



about Reigate, Betchworth and Dorking. I have taken a few speci- 

 mens near West Horsley, and it is sometimes common in the woods 

 and on the downs to the east of Newlands Corner. The High 

 Brown Fritillary (A. adippe, L.) has been recorded by Mr. Barrett as 

 occurring sparingly at Haslemere. Mr. Sydney Webb says it occurs 

 in similar localities to A. aglaia and also in woods. I have taken a 

 few specimens near the Sheep Leas, West Horsley, on Shiere Common 

 between Horsley and Shiere, between Mickleham and Headley, and 

 in some of the wooded valleys to the east of Box Hill. This species, 

 like A. papbia and A. aglaia, is almost entirely absent frbm the neigh- 

 bourhood of London, and even in the centre and south-west of the 

 county occurs very sparingly. The Queen of Spain Fritillary (A. 

 lathonia, L.) has been recorded by the late Edward Newman from 

 Croydon. Mr. Webb tells me that it has been also taken near Headley, 

 Betchworth and Redstone, but that no captures have been reported 

 since 1851. The Pearl Bordered Fritillary (A. euphrosyne, L.) has been 

 recorded as abundant about Haslemere by Mr. Barrett. It is also 

 recorded from Reigate by Mr. Sydney Webb, from Crohamhurst near 

 Croydon and from Leatherhead by Mr. T. H. Briggs, and from 

 Claygate and Horsley by Mr. J. G. Hewat. I have known the 

 Claygate Woods for twenty-six years, but have never seen more than 

 three or four specimens there in one season. It is not uncommon in 

 the woods near the Sheep Leas between West Horsley and Shiere, but 

 it is apparently absent from, or very rare in, the woods in the suburban 

 district. The Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary 1 (A. selene, Schiff.) 

 seems to be rare in the county. Mr. T. H. Briggs says he found it on 

 Wimbledon Common about forty years ago and at Byfleet as recently as 

 1896. Mr. Webb refers to its occurrence near Reigate. Mr. Barrett 

 also records this species as common near Haslemere, but I have never 

 seen a specimen in the county, although it is abundant in many parts of 

 the adjoining counties of Hampshire, Sussex and Kent. The Greasy 

 Fritillary (Melitcea artemis, L.) is, or was, locally common near Hasle- 

 mere. Mr. Barrett says : ' It occurs irregularly in numbers, but is 

 occasionally abundant.' It does not seem to have been noticed lately and 

 has probably disappeared from Surrey, as it has from so many English 

 counties. I have never met with the species in the county, and with 

 the exception of Mr. Barrett's record of its Haslemere locality I have 

 never heard of its occurrence from any of my numerous friends and 

 correspondents in any part of the county. The Large Tortoiseshell 

 (Vanessa polycbloros, L.) is generally distributed throughout the county, 

 but I have never seen it in abundance as it is in the New Forest. 



1 The capture of a specimen of a continental species of Fritillary, Argynnts did, was reported 

 by the late Mr. Arnold Lewis in the Ent. Monthly Magazine, March, 1876, vol. xii. p. 229, as having 

 been made by Master Wallace Smith, a relative of his, at Worcester Park in 1872. This report 

 was no doubt due to an error. A. dia has never, either before or since 1872, been recorded from 

 Worcester Park, nor do the common species of Argynnis euphrosyne and selene, or either of them 

 occur at Worcester Park. Mr. Arnold Lewis went to Switzerland every year and no doubt the 

 specimen had been caught by him on the continent and given to his young relation, who after a 

 time mixed it up with his British specimens and fancied he had caught it in Worcester Park. H, G, 



II? 



