COLLECTING LEPIDOPTERA IN THE NORFOLK BROADS. 2G1 



miniature Eddystone in the fen, so pitch black was the night. The 

 first thing to do, if possible, was to secure a series each of />. hrcrilinea. 

 On taking a division each man finally had ten examples of this 

 intensely interesting insect. l^arrett's remarks about this insect are 

 interesting, but his conclusions are surely romantic ! After giving the 

 records of capture of the insect, dating only from 1HG4 (the following 

 year it was described for the first time), he concludes that as in the 

 year 1857 not a single specimen Avas taken, while all the other now 

 known species were secured, that a nocdtii was introduced about that 

 time to the world's fauna ! Speaking about the collecting of Mr. 

 Winter at Ranworth, he says : — " There is no reason to suppose that 

 he employed a light stronger than a lantern, but he could not have 

 failed to obtain it in its rather conspicuous flight at dusk had it been 

 there." In this we are disposed to agree, as if he did not take it at 

 dusk it would most probably have come to the lantern. Then, in 1864, 

 Fenn took the original type specimen. For five years following it was 

 not seen and then afterwards only in small numbers. Barrett, con- 

 tinuing, says : — ■'■'■ In the meantime, a slight migration had apparently 

 taken place across the North Sea, and a specimen was taken in Belgium 

 . . or it may have been confined to some more remote spot in 

 Norfolk, if such a notion is credible. But to my mind it is a very 

 suggestive piece of history, and by no means confirmatory of modern 

 theories." Here, after Mr. Barrett has very probably explained the 

 " genesis," as he calls it, of the species in Britain, he goes out of his 

 way to arrive at some other conclusion. What the suggestive piece of 

 history is I should like to know, beyond what the author has already 

 related '? And how also does it not confirm modern theories '? Why 

 could not the insect have been excessively local and scarce originally 

 and then to have gradually spread over the neighbouring country '? 

 What is to be said nhont Mciiana jIaiDiiica a^ndXasria ciUalin in Wicken 

 fen ? These at one time were so rare that almost any price was offered 

 for specimens. From the opposite point of view one might point out 

 that Ladia coenom and CaUiiiinriilia (Imiiintila, once abundant, are now 

 totally absent from the fen. There are certain insects that fluctuate 

 in num])ers to an enormous extent, the reasons for which we cannot 

 satisfactorily state. Why, therefore, could not Lcucania hreciUnca have 

 been once exceedingly rare and confined in its area of distribution ? As 

 such, 40 years ago, with imperfect facilities for travel, it could quite 

 easily remain undetected. Many insects discovered even more recently 

 have turned out to be not at all rare in certain small areas. Such has 

 been the case with I'rooix (jhilndariac and, much more recently, Pliisia 

 c/ni/son, AciduUa iniiiKirata, and J. Jnniiilidta. That at the present 

 time L. brcrUiiwa should be thought to be wholly British does not 

 prove that it origiiuited in liritain. On the contrary, the specimen 

 recorded from Belgium ratlier disproves it, and in Holland, where 

 pieces of fen-land are scattered all over the country, the insect is quite 

 likely to be detected some day. As for the evidence not being " con- 

 firmatory of modern theories," there seems, to my view, no ground for 

 supposing it to weaken them, if by modern theories Mr. Barrett 

 means the " natural selection " and " environment " theories as being 

 probable factors in producing new species. The Lciteania under 

 discussion is only new to our limited (that is, since 18G4) knowledge, 

 and although the insect belongs to a specialised group of the Noctuids, 



