46 



It is notorious that in the early part of June worn specimens were 

 common enough, and there is Uttle doubt that the fresh specimens 

 of late July and August were their progeny, but it seems incredible 

 that any of the June individuals could have lingered on so late as the 

 Wannock example of July 25th, or that any of the summer emer- 

 gence could have assumed so battered a condition in so short a space 

 of time. The solution of the question must, I think, be looked for 

 in some other direction. It is now generally conceded that we are 

 indebted to immigration from a district having a warmer climate than 

 our own for the June imagines. In such a district the species would 

 complete its metamorphosis more rapidly than it would here, and it is 

 possible that some examples of a later brood might also reach our 

 shores. In this suggestion I think we may probably find a reason- 

 able solution of the matter. 



Cynthia cardui was also common in June, — indeed, in my own 

 experience it was somewhat more frequently seen than V. atalattta, 

 yet during the whole time that I was at Eastbourne I saw but one 

 example. In two species so similar in their habits one is at a loss to 

 know why, under apparently identical circumstances, the one should 

 produce abundantly and the other fail. This is a point to which I 

 wish to call particular attention, in the hope that some of our 

 members may be able to produce evidence that may throw some 

 light on it. 



Curiously enough, V. atalanta has been sufficiently common, even as 

 far north as Moray, to attract special attention, but I hear no report of 

 C. cardui from that quarter. Vanessa urticcB is often very common 

 in the Eastbourne district, but this summer I met with it very 

 sparingly ; Vanessa io was not seen. 



On more than one previous occasion I have commented upon the 

 apparent decline in the number of the " Blues " met with around the 

 downs adjacent to the town, and I ventured to express an opinion 

 that the species were suffering by reason of the increased and con- 

 tinually increasing traffic over their haunts. What, then, was my joy 

 at finding both Lycczna corydon and L. icarus in their former profu- 

 sion ! Nay, I think I may fairly say that I had never seen the 

 former species in such abundance before. L. icarus was perhaps not 

 seen so thickly about the town gardens and parade slopes as it used 

 to be when the town was of smaller area ; but when one walked 

 through the long grass that grows so thickly in the little hollows 

 under the downs after the sun had sunk below the hills, the two 

 species rose in a cloud that quite bewildered one ; but so far as I was 

 able to ascertain, the percentage of individuals among them showing 

 any marked variation from the type was even smaller than usual. A 

 few LyccRna astrai-che were among them, but Lyccena bellargus was 

 not out. I hear, however, that it fairly took the place of L. corydon 

 later on. Lyccena argiolus was met with almost everywhere in the 

 town where there was any considerable growth of either ivy or holly, 

 but not in large numbers at any one spot, and ova were found depo- 



