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the efforts of the finest pencil. It frequents lanes where nettles abound, 

 throughout the southern part of Britain, appearing about the middle of 

 August. It is said to be very destructive to cherries and other fruits. Mr. 

 Haworth informs me that he once met with them so abundant, that above a 

 dozen might be taken within the compass of two or three square yards." 



Mr. Lukis, in recording familiarities effected with butterflies in London's 

 " Magazine of Natural History," Yol. VI., writes, " I approached a plum 

 trees, where several individuals of Vanessa atalanta were busily employed in 

 feeding on the rich juice of the ripest fruit. Whilst watching their motions, 

 I perceived several wasps and flies hovering about the fruit, and attempting 

 to light on it. This was no sooner done than they were driven away by the 

 butterfly : any resistance manifested by the wasp exasperated the butterfly, 

 which would boldly approach the intruder, flap its wings at it, and again 

 become the sole possessor of the fruit : the action of the butterfly was very 

 similar to the flapping of the pigeon's wing when feeding in company with 

 others of its kind." 



In 1845, Atalanta was recorded by Doubleday and others as being absent. 



In the " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine/' Vol. II., Mr. Frederick 

 Smith records a multitudinous host of butterflies, on the flowers of the ivy, 

 in a Devonshire lane, near Ifracombe, on the 9th of October, 1865. The 

 host consisted of only two species, Atalanta and Cardui, scores of the former 

 but hundreds of the latter. 



Miss Hinchcliffe, in recording a similar instance at Instow, North Devon, 

 in the "Young Naturalist/' for 1884, adds "Atalanta, though always con- 

 sidered common, is not an insect that as a rule appears in any great abund- 

 ance ; one sees a few specimens every spring and autumn, but that is all, now 

 it is everywhere, gardens, fields, hedgerows, &c., and not in twos and threes, 

 but in dozens, and all specimens just hatched. I caught ten in a few minutes 

 in one corner of our garden, where some rotten apples seemed rather an 

 attraction, and could have taken nearly double that number every day, some- 

 times there were five or six waiting to be taken a truly lovely sight." In 

 the same magazine, Mr. McKay writes, " In this neighbourhood, Atalanta 

 has occurred in unprecedented abundance, and Cardui has also been very 

 plentiful. The appearance of Atalanta is looked upon in this locality as 

 something very unusual, but this year (1884) one collector alone has taken 

 as many as thirty specimens. I believe it is two or three years since Atalanta 

 was last seen near Glasgow." 



It may be observing that although the three species, Atalanta, Cardui, and 

 Gamma were very common in 1884, still Atalanta was not abundant in 1879, 

 the year in which the two latter appeared in their greatest abundance. 



