On a Hampshire Common 171 



' Small River ' up to the knees in water, and 

 it made me forget all about angling for a few 

 minutes; for there are few sensations more 

 pleasurable than that of the collector who 

 sees for the first time on the wing a scarce 

 or local insect which he has long coveted. 

 Artemis is possibly not the only interesting 

 butterfly to be found on Bransbury in due 

 season, but at the time I was there I saw 

 nothing else except small-heaths and orange- 

 tips. 



The Common boasts many elegant, refresh- 

 ing, and interesting plants. Of the orchises, 

 which grew in the greatest profusion, I 

 noticed the early, the spotted, and the fra- 

 grant. The last-named derives its specific 

 name, Conopsea^ from its somewhat fanciful 

 resemblance to the family of insects called 

 Conops by Linnaeus. The resemblance is not 

 so good as that of the odd green-man orchis, 

 which grows in fair quantity in some of the 

 neighbouring Hampshire woods, and has the 

 comical appearance of a naked figure ; nor as 

 that of the bee-orchis. Ragged-robin, of 



