INSECTS 



near Wye, and it has been reported from the Blean Woods between 

 Canterbury and Heme Bay, from West Wickham and elsewhere in 

 the county. The Queen of Spain Fritillary [A. lathonia, L.), which 

 though very rare in this country is a common continental species, has 

 been taken more frequently in Kent than in any other part of the United 

 Kingdom. Many specimens have in the last fifty years been captured 

 near Birch Wood, Darenth Wood, Gravesend, Milton, Shoreham, Heme 

 Bay, Margate, Ramsgate, Deal, Walmer, Dover and Folkestone. The 

 capture of thirteen specimens near Canterbury in 1868 has been recorded, 

 and Mr. Sydney Webb states that eighteen specimens were taken near 

 Dover in September, 1880. The number of captures of this species in 

 Kent is no doubt due to the proximity of the county to the continent of 

 Europe. The Pearl-bordered Fritillary [A. euphrosyne, L.) is generally 

 distributed in the woods of the county except in the metropolitan dis- 

 trict, where it has, in common with the majority of other butterflies, 

 become extinct or extremely rare in consequence of the extension of 

 buildings, drainage, London smoke and over cultivation. The Small 

 Pearl-bordered Fritillary [A. selene, SchifF.) has long since disappeared 

 from most of the woods near London, but it still occurs, more or 

 less commonly, in the Blean Woods, near Heme Bay, in most of the 

 woods between Wye and Canterbury, and in the southern and south- 

 western side of the county near Tenterden. That very local species the 

 Greasy Fritillary {Melitcea aurinia^ Rott.) occurred formerly in great 

 abundance in the Ham Marshes near Sandwich, but owing to the 

 rapacity of London and Canterbury dealers it gradually became scarcer, 

 until in 1888 or 1889, in consequence of the drainage of the low-lying 

 meadows, in which it used chiefly to occur, it almost disappeared, and at 

 the present time is practically extinct. I am unaware of the occurrence 

 of this local species in any other part of the county. The Pearl- 

 bordered Likeness or Heath Fritillary {M. athalia, Rott.) used to be 

 abundant in the Blean Woods near Canterbury, and in the south-west 

 of the county in Knock Wood and other woods near Tenterden, and 

 elsewhere on the borders of Sussex. It also occurred in other woods in 

 the Weald, and was abundant in Chattenden Woods near Rochester, but 

 disappeared suddenly from this locality some thirty years ago. It may 

 still occur near Tenterden and in other woods on the borders of Sussex. 

 The Small Tortoiseshell {Vanessa urticce, L.) is common throughout the 

 county. The Large Tortoiseshell ' {V. polychloros, L.) is generally distri- 

 buted and sometimes common, but is much less abundant than formerly. 



» The Granville Fritillary {Melittea ctnxia, L.) is recorded by the late Mr. W. O. Hammond as 

 having formerly occurred about the cliffs near St. Margaret's Bay and near Folkestone. I have no 

 knowledge of its occurrence anywhere in England within the last forty years except in the Isle of Wight. 

 Mr. Ullyett also includes M. aur'mia in his list of ' Folkestone Lepidoptera.' If it ever occurred between 

 Folkestone and Dover it has been long extinct. — H. G. 



2 The Comma Butterfly {Fanessa c-album, L.) is said to have been common in the hop gardens 

 about eighty or ninety years ago. Mr. Sydney Webb says that although it has now no fixed abode in 

 the county a few specimens are annually captured to the east and west of Dover. It has been taken 

 near Walmer and Alkham, and also at Shepherdswell in 1894. The specimens are no doubt immigrants 

 from the continent. — H. G. 



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