INSECTS 



LEPIDOPTERA 



The Lepidoptera of the county have always been a favourite study with the majority both of 

 resident and of visiting entomologists, and the workers in consequence have been numerous. The 

 earliest county lists are those of Dr. Cocks for Falmouth and of Mr. William Noye for Penzance. 

 Mr. J. J. Reading, in his account of the Lepidoptera of the Plymouth district in the Transactions of 

 the Plymouth Institute for 1 86 1, included a number of valuable data from the south-east of the county. 

 In 1882 Mr. E. P. Marquand published his 'Lepidoptera of West Cornwall ' in the Transactions of 

 the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society, and between 1884 and 1890 further con- 

 tributions appeared on the same subject and in the same Transactions by Mr. E. A. Atmore, 

 Mr. A. H. Jenkin, Mr. H. W. Vivian, and Messrs. J. C. and C. W. Dale. The Lepidoptera of 

 Scilly attracted the attention of Mr. R. Adkin, the Rev. H. Harpur Crewe, Mr. F. Jenkinson, and 

 Mr. F. Norgate, while Mr. H. Jenner Fust published some interesting records for the mainland. 

 Then in the Transactions of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society for 1894 

 Mr. W. E. Baily, in a paper entitled ' Lepidoptera of Cornwall and of the Islands of Scilly,' 

 summed up practically all the work of previous writers, added many observations of his own, and 

 incorporated the data supplied in MS. by the Rev. T. A. Marshall for East Cornwall, by 

 Mr. R. V. Tellam for the country round Bodmin, and by the Messrs. Marquand for the Penzance 

 district, along with some notes sent in by Mr. A. Rashleigh and Mr. F. Jenkinson. 



In the preparation of the accompanying list the writer wishes to express his indebtedness to the 

 late Mr. W. E. Baily and to the late Rev. T. A. Marshall for many unpublished county records, 

 and to Mr. H. Goss for notes on north coast Lepidoptera. In addition to much admirable work by 

 his pupils he further gratefully acknowledges annotated lists from the Rev. G. Lupton Allen for 

 Millook and for Launceston ; from Mr. A. Kenelm Peter for the country round Poundstock ; from 

 the late Mr. G. Marryat for Looe ; from that prince of collectors, Mr. R. V. Tellam, for Mid- 

 Cornwall ; from his colleague Mr. W. A. Rollason for the Truro district ; and from Mr. A. J. Spiller 

 for Godolphin. Specimens and notes have also been kindly given to the writer or placed at his 

 disposal by many county observers, chief among whom are Mr. J. D. Enys and Mr. Howard Fox. 



The classification and arrangement of the moths is that of Mr. Edward Meyrick in his Hand- 

 book of British Lepidoptera. 



RHOPALOCERA 



The Swallow-tail (Papilio machaon) is not a native, but various attempts have been made to 

 establish it in the county. Noye, Baily, and others have at different times set freshly-emerged 

 specimens at liberty, and turned down pupae, but in all cases the insects have quickly disappeared. 

 On 5 August, 1 905, Howard Fox saw one crossing Trebah beach on the Helford River, probably a 

 specimen accidentally introduced. Sir Charles Lemon reported an example of Parnassius apollo 

 captured near one of his greenhouses at Carclew, but suggested it had been introduced in the pupa 

 stage in a batch of plants from the Continent. Of the Black-veined White (Aporla crataegi) two 

 specimens were recorded by F. H. Davey from the Falmouth district. One of these, fresh but 

 mutilated, was brought to him by the captor in 1892 from the valley of the Kennall, near Ponsa- 

 nooth ; the other, taken in the St. Mawes district, he found in a local collection in 1894. 



The Large and Small Cabbage Whites (Pieris brassicae and P. rapae) are abundant throughout 

 the county, and occasionally do considerable damage to the different members of the cabbage family. 

 In 1899 some Honesty grown for the market near Penzance was much disfigured, and a quantity 

 of seedling wallflowers practically destroyed, by P. brassicae. Early in September, 1891, an immense 

 cloud of this species came in near the Lizard, and for the next day or two, hundreds of thousands of 

 dead insects were washed up on the beach. 



The Green-veined White (P. napi) is common on the whole, though in some districts it is 

 rather scarce. It never occurs in such quantities as to be a serious pest, the only mischief attributed 

 to it during the last six years being the partial destruction of a crop of watercress near Bodmin 

 in 1900. 



The beautiful Orange-tip (Anthocaris cardamines) is usually very common, but for some years 

 females have been unaccountably scarce. Though usually single-brooded, specimens of a second 

 emergence were seen and captured by Baily on 28 August, 1897, at Marazion. The larvae feed 

 on cruciferae, and especially on the seed pods. In 1900 it attacked the pods of some seeding broccoli 

 at Penzance, and in 1902 did some damage to seeding Brompton Stocks at Liskeard. 



The delicate Wood White (Leucophasia sinapis) is in most seasons not uncommon in the sheltered 

 partly-wooded valley of Millook, near Bude, and in the adjoining copses. It was obtained near 

 Launceston over forty years ago by Reading, and has been recently taken in that neighbourhood by 



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