ABERRATIONS OF ANTHROCERA FILIPENDULAE. 85 



disappeared. But in August, 1891, I came upon a piece of rough 

 pasture, not very far from the old spot, which I thought ought to pro- 

 duce something, and there I found several A. filipcndnlac on thistle 

 flowers, including a few curious pale forms. They were all, however, 

 so much worn that I did not feel sure whether the pale ones had 

 been pale originally, or whether they had become bleached by long 

 exposure to the sunshine. The next year my sons went to look for 

 larvae and cocoons. They saw no larva), but when the summer was 

 well advanced, found the cocoons in great numbers, and brought home 

 about 100 of them. These produced at first only typical forms, but 

 among the latest that emerged were two lovely pink specimens. Of 

 course I was very soon on the ground myself after this, and found the 

 species out in extreme abundance and the cocoons exposed in every 

 direction. The variation among the specimens was very great. Many 

 Avere dwarfs, the ab. cutid was common, and large numbers had one or 

 two pairs of spots confluent. Pink and orange forms were not un- 

 common, and were very conspicuous when on the wing or at rest on 

 flowers. I picked out a fine series of these, and left all the worn ones, 

 including many gravid females. Millions of eggs must have been laid 

 that year, but in 1893 there was a great drought, and not a single 

 cocoon or specimen could be found where they had been so abundant 

 in 1892. By scouring the district thoroughly, I managed to find 

 about a dozen cocoons elsewhere, and afterwards saw a few moths, 

 including three or four pale forms. Since then the type has continued 

 scarce, and the aberrations have been very rare, though in 1S9G they 

 seemed to be recovering their lost ground. Since then the property 

 has changed hands and has been quite ruined from an entomological 

 point of view. Part of it is now used for rearing poultry in large 

 numbers, and the remainder is so closely fed and trampled down by 

 cattle that the insect seems to have entirely forsaken it. Last summer 

 I found about a dozen stragglers in a small pasture in the district, all 

 being quite typical, and I now fear my chances of obtaining any more 

 of the beautiful pink and orange forms have become very slender 

 indeed. 



It is to be noted that in 1892 the cocoons were abundant high up 

 on culms of grass and in all manner of exposed situations. In later 

 years very few were found so exposed, and the majority were hidden 

 low down among the herbage close to the ground. The perfect 

 insects occurred principally in July, none appeared in June, but they 

 lasted well into August. 



British species of butterflies at Wei=hai=wei. 



By T. B. FLETCHER, F.E.S. 

 China is a country so little known that one cannot wonder it has 

 been so neglected by the entomologist. Save a few collections from 

 some of the treaty-ports, our knowledge of its entomology has scarcely 

 increased since the time of Drury, now some 120 years age. It may 

 therefore be of interest to review some of the butterflies to be found at 

 Wei-hai-wei, more especially those which have been familiar to us at 

 home, or are the far eastern representatives of British species. During 

 the past summer I have met with some 80 different species of butterflies 

 at Wei-hai-wei, nearly all of which I have come across on the island of 



