SEPTEMBEE 177 



(Colias edusa) to Hampshire. This pretty fly, the 

 swiftest on the wing of all British butterflies, generally 

 comes in troops when it comes at all, but it is most 

 capricious. It is more permanent in the southern 

 counties than farther north, where many seasons pass 

 without the occurrence of a single specimen; then 

 suddenly, without apparent cause, as last in 1892, the 

 whole island, as far as Inverness, is besprinkled with 

 this bright and active butterfly. It is pretty well 

 accepted now that none of its chrysalides survive a 

 British winter, and that the autumn broods are the 

 offspring of parents drifted hither from the Continent 

 by the east winds of spring. 



LXIX 



Any tree or shrub that will flower freely in London 

 deserves to be mentioned with honour. At the present 

 time (September 1895) there has been for ABeautiftll 

 some weeks a fine plant of the shrubby London 

 Hibiscus (Althcea frutex or Hibiscus Syria- 

 cus) in great beauty in one of the front gardens of 

 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. It is about six feet high, and 

 its sprays are loaded with lovely white blossoms, each 

 as large as a Shirley poppy, with a blotch of deep 

 maroon at the base of each petal. Its beauty is 

 enhanced by contrast with the dark buildings around, 

 and says as plain as print to passers-by, ' Householders, 

 please copy.' Unluckily, most householders, in the 

 west end at least, have fled from London by this time. 

 M 



