A WANDER THROUGH STAINTOn's " HILLY FIELD." 31 



it is SO different from any other as to give the impression of an aber- 

 ration amongst races ; it is very small and weak looking ; the blue of 

 the male is very silvery, more like liijlati than the usual thetiH ; nearly 

 all the specimens bear a series of minute premarginal black dots ; the 

 females are nearly all destitute of orange lunules or show three or four 

 small ones, so much so that one of them, with very little blue scaling, 

 looks exactly like an Italian female of cyllartis ; the others are very 

 blue, the underside of both sexes is very dark ; the black spots vary in 

 extent, but their white rings are very narrow ; the orange lunules are 

 very pale ; the two basal black dots of the forewings are wanting in 8 

 specimens out of 21, which is a very high percentage indeed. This 

 remarkable race is certainly worth j^ of the name of vestae, and I 

 should be grateful for information about it. « 



Agriades escheri, Hiib., race turatii, mihi. — Several races of this 

 species have already been described, but the one collected by Count 

 Turati at Salsomaggiore, in the province of Parma, is certainly dis- 

 tinct from them all; very large (mm. 38-30 of expanse) ; underside of 

 male nearly entirely white, that of female of a greyish brown and 

 displaying none of the brilliancy of the race splendida, Stef. ; all the 

 black pattern is very reduced as in rondoui, Obth. ; orange lunules 

 pallid and small, leaving a wide premarginal white space round the 

 submarginal black dots ; the latter are conspicuously pupilled with 

 scales of a metallic green, in a way that is not seen in any other race ; 

 the female has very reduced lunules on upperside ; the blue scaled 

 female form suhapennina, Turati, is comparatively frequent. I should 

 name this race turatii. 



(To be continued.) 



A Wander through Stainton's " Hilly Field. " 



By W. G. SHELDON, F.E.S. 



In the days when 1 was in my teens an acquaintance lent me 

 several odd volumes of the Intelligencer, and in these were various 

 accounts of the wonders of insect life to be found in the then famous 

 " Hilly Field," near Mickleham, in Surrey. I made up my mind that, 

 given an opportunity, I would visit this renowned locality, and in early 

 June, 1882, being then resident in London, I started for it, but not 

 until the 28fch day of July last did I actually arrive at my destination. 



The reason of my very slow progress was a question of misdirec- 

 tion. I was told to make for the Dorking end of Headley Lane, to 

 proceed up it until I reached the end of the wall on the righthand side, 

 and then to turn in on the right through a short wooded lane, and I 

 should see the " Hilly Field " in front of me. I followed out these 

 directions, and did find a " Hilly Field " which answered botanically 

 to the object of my search ; I have visited there many times since, but 

 it never came up to my expectations entomologically. 



I suppose I should have rested contented to the end that I had 

 succeeded in finding the object of my search, had I not last winter, in 

 conning over some early volumes of the Zoologist, come across an 

 article by J. W. Douglas, which gave full directions for reaching the 

 real " Hilly Field," and I saw at once that I had been " sold," whether 

 intentionally or not I shall never know. 



