INSECTS 



Mr. Barrett says it is not uncommon near Haslemere. I have noticed 

 it as being not uncommon, after hybernation, about Cranleigh and other 

 parts of south Surrey on the borders of Sussex. It is also not uncommon 

 near the farmhouses on Abrook and Esher Commons between Oxshott 

 and Esher, and has been recorded from Claygate, Chiddingfold, Worcester 

 Park, Kingston, Leatherhead and West Horsley by Mr. J. G. Hewat, 

 Mr. Kaye, Major Ficklin, and Mr. T. H. Briggs. Considering the 

 amount of elm timber in the county it ought to occur plentifully, but 

 with the exception of the commonest species Surrey does not seem 

 to produce any butterflies in abundance. The rare Camberwell Beauty 

 (V. antiopa, L.) has been taken in the county. Mr. Sydney Webb 

 records the capture of a specimen at Copthorne on August 24, 

 1872, by Mr. Gilbert, who had also taken one a week earlier at Box 

 Hill, Mr. J. G. Hewat informs me that he saw a specimen near Ox- 

 shott on the 2Oth April, 1900, and Mr. Edward Saunders reports 1 the 

 capture of a specimen in August, 1 900, by a friend of his, near Woking. 

 The Peacock (V. io, L.), the Red Admiral (V. atalanta, L.) and the 

 Painted Lady (V. cardui, L.) are generally distributed throughout the 

 county. V. to is much scarcer than formerly. V. atalanta is a common 

 insect in autumn, especially in gardens, even in the London suburbs, 

 and V. cardui occurs plentifully in favourable seasons all over the county, 

 especially in clover and lucerne fields. 2 The Purple Emperor (Apatura 

 iris, L.) was recorded by the late Mr. Edward Newman as being formerly 

 abundant near Godalming. It may have been so in the beginning or 

 middle of the last century, but I am afraid it has now disappeared from 

 Surrey as it has from the suburban portions of Kent, Essex and other 

 metropolitan counties. Mr. Sydney Webb found this species about forty 

 years ago not uncommonly in a small wood near Colley Farm, Rei- 

 gate, and he also occasionally caught or saw specimens at Hightrees 

 and Redstone Wood near Redhill, but the last specimen he observed 

 was in 1864. Mr. Barrett informs me that he has only twice seen 

 A. iris in Surrey, viz. in a wood near Haslemere. Both specimens were 

 females and they were apparently looking for sallow bushes on which to 

 deposit their ova. He thinks that they were, probably, mere stragglers 

 from the Sussex woods from four to ten miles away. A tradition exists 

 that the species occurred in the early part of the last century in the 

 oak woods known as the Prince's Covers between Claygate and Stoke 

 d'Abernon Chase. The Marbled White (Arge ga/at&ea, L.), which, 

 although local, is so abundant in many localities in Kent, Sussex, Hamp- 

 shire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire and 



1 A few specimens of the White Admiral (Limenttii lybilla, L.) have been reported by Mr. H. 

 Maxwell of Surbiton, as having been taken by him in the woods near Horsley in July, 1901. I have 

 never met with the species in any part of Surrey, nor am I aware that its capture has been previously 

 recorded from any part of the county. It seems possible that the specimens of L. sybilla taken by 

 Mr. Maxwell may have been purposely introduced into the Horsley Woods in the pupal state, or that 

 they may have immigrated from the neighbourhood of Liphook and Woolmer Forest in east Hampshire, 

 where the species occurs commonly. 



* Ent. Mo. Magazine, April, 1901, p. 100. H. G. 



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