THE ''ESTIXCT" CHRYSOPHANUS DI3P.VR. 203 



these were given to mo by the captor in 1855, it has bsen suggested 

 that I should place the details on record. In that year, accompanied 

 by the staff of the Gloncestar Journal, of which I was sub-editor for 

 26 years, in celebrating their annual " waze-goose," or outing, 

 we called upon Mr. Eaberfc Biddle, of Monmouth, a fnend of one of 

 the party. He had a large case of butterflies and moths hanging up, 

 which he had taken, and I was much struck with four specimens of 

 C. dispar occupying a central position among them. I had then only 

 recently begun to collect. On my drawing his attention to them he 

 said he took them some time previously on the lower slopes of the 

 Doward Hill, bordering the river Wye, not far from Monmouth. He 

 seemod to set no groat value upon them. My great admiration of them 

 appeared to interest him, andl was delighted the next day on opening 

 a small packet brought to the Glon-estcr Jfuirnal office by the Mon- 

 mouth coach (there was then no railway) to find two specimens of the 

 CdhparllmfX admired, which Mr. Biddlesaid, in a short note, he was 

 pleased to present to me. The appearance of these specimens, with 

 their " poker " pins and slightly damaged antenna, and the circum- 

 stances under which they were given to me, leave no doubt of their 

 British origin. It is well known that the river Wye is subject to 

 heavy floods, and that there is much marsh in and near its numerous 

 and picturesque bonds. This fact seemed to give force to the likeli- 

 hood of the species being a remanet of its brethren who have been 

 " improved" off their old localities. Moreover, the remains of ancient 

 beaches of the river, Avith caverns, and bones of extinct animals at 

 higher levels than the present waters, testify to the great geologic 

 changes Avhich have occurred in the locality. 



Some year or two after C. dupar had pleasantly filled a blank in 

 my cabinet, I made a three days' holiday tramp along the banks of the 

 Wye from Koss to Chepstow^ following its windings with the sketches 

 of an amateur and the net of a young lepidopterist. In passing over 

 the Doward Hill I reconnoitred the locality as far as I was able, and I 

 saw much marsh land bordering the Wye, but quite unsearchable, 

 unless shod with jack boots. In the hope of getting a better glimpse 

 of the lower slopes of the hill, I rang the bell at the residential gate, 

 but was politely told that as the family were away a stranger could not 

 be allowed to examine the grounds, and I had to leave, with regret, 

 'neath a broiling sun. what seemed classic groimd, and sought refuge 

 in the shady streets of old Monmouth. I have traversed the river by 

 boat, though not at the time when U. dispar ought to bo due, but only 

 remember to have seen swarms of beautiful dragon-flies sporting over 

 its surface. This method of hunting for it migbt yield some good 

 results if the numerous shoals and eddies in the river could be circum- 

 vented, and the holes in the bed avoided, in which many have been 

 drowned. 



Mr. W. F. Kirby, the well-known entomologist of the British 

 Museum, has been lately communicated with in regard to this nuitter, 

 and he writes : — "I have since heard that the insect has boon seen 

 flying in some almost inaccessil)Ic marshes, cut up by deep dykes, 

 across which it is impossible to hunt them, somewhere near the sea in 

 the West of England (I think somewhere in Cornwall). Mr. Merrin 

 could have no object in misstating the locality of his specimens, and I 

 see no reason to doubt it." 



