228 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



LEPIDOPTERA IN SOUTH-EAST ESSEX. 

 By F. G. Whittle. 



T N the following remarks upon the butterflies 

 and moths of the south-eastern corner of the 

 county of Essex, I shall refer more particularly to 

 those species which I have myself captured in the 

 neighbourhood of Southend-on-Sea, where, for 

 some years past, I have studied and collected the 

 lepidoptera in the comparatively limited time at 

 my disposal. 



The region, geologically speaking, rests on the 

 London clay, with caps of gravel and sandy 

 deposits in many localities. Thus, the soil varies 

 eonsiderably, for although the clay is immensely 

 thick, the cappings are often of sufficient depth to 

 lift the upper soils far beyond its influence. As 

 an instance, it may be mentioned that the boring 

 for the well adjoining Prittlewell Vicarage, showed 

 over forty feet of surface soil, brickearth, gravel 

 and sand, before reaching the clay, which is there 

 380 feet in thickness. The district being sur- 

 rounded on two sides by sea-water, that is, on the 

 east, north of Shoebury, by the German Ocean, 

 and south by the estuary of the Thames, the 

 marine influence is evident in the flora. From 

 the meteorological aspect, South-East Essex is one 

 of those parts of Britain where there is least rain- 

 fall, and an excess over the average of sunshine. 



The particular district where most of my ento- 

 mological work has been done during the past 

 few years, extends from Canvey Island on the 

 west, to Hadleigh and Hockley on the north-west, 

 to Barling on the north-east, and Shoeburyness on 

 the south-east. Surrounding Canvey Island, on 

 the sides of the tidal creeks, are numerous salt 

 marshes, locally called saltings ; these form fine 

 collecting-grounds for the lepidopterist, as there 

 are several local species not to be found elsewhere 

 in Britain so readily as there. The same remarks 

 apply to the coast-line extending southwards from 

 Barling to North Shoebury, whence sand-hills 

 run round the point until they reach South Shoe- 

 bury Church. This latter fine collecting-ground 

 is now no longer accessible to the entomologist, 

 for it is all occupied by the Government School 

 of Gunnery. Magnificent guns are tried and 

 extensive scientific artillery experiments are carried 

 out where rarities such as Deilephila euphovbiae 

 are said to have occurred in bygone times. D. galii 

 probably occurs still, for the larvae of that species 

 was found there, not uncommonly, only a few 

 years ago by the late Mr. Cooper, of Wanstead, 

 and seen the same autumn by my friend Mr. 

 Carrington, the editor of this magazine 



The country inland is undulating, and rises to 

 considerable elevation at Hockley and behind 



Eastwood to Rayleigh, also at Hadleigh, where 

 the remains of the old castle form such an inte- 

 resting landmark. Much of this inland portion, 

 as also the reclaimed part of Canvey, is occupied 

 by arable and grazing land ; but there are very 

 extensive woods at Hockley and Eastwood. In 

 these woods it is said that the old collectors used 

 to take Apatura iris, Limenitis Sibylla and Melitaea 

 athalia, but it has not been my fortune to re- 

 discover any of them, though the food-plants of 

 all are common there. 



As already stated, my time for collecting insects 

 is very restricted, and as yet I have by no means 

 taken every species recorded by other workers in 

 this region. For instance, I confidently hope to 

 get in future seasons such butterflies as Vanessa 

 polychloros, which Mr. Carrington tells me he has 

 seen on several occasions by the old hedges north 

 of Hadleigh Castle ; Pararge egeria ; Thecla w -album, 

 that occurs a little east of my district, and will 

 probably be found within it, in the Benfleet neigh- 

 bourhood ; Lycaena argiolus, which the Rev. H. G. 

 Lang, M.D., takes in his garden at All Saints' 

 Vicarage, Southend (it is also said to occur in 

 the Shrubbery and on other parts of the cliffs of 

 this town) . and Nemiobius lucina, when I can give 

 more attention to the woodlands. The fact is, my 

 time has been hitherto devoted to improving my 

 acquaintance with the extremely local saltmarsh 

 and other interesting sea-shore loving Lepidoptera ; 

 not the least of them having been Bomlyx castrensis, 

 Geometra (Phorodesma) smavagdaria, and the very rare 

 Epichnopteryx reticelia. 



As a list for reference to the work of others in 

 the Southend district one cannot refer to anything 

 better than the late Howard Vaughan's compilation 

 of the Lepidoptera, taken by himself, or recorded, 

 up to the time of its publication. It was issued 

 in 1889, in the third volume of " The Essex 

 Naturalist " ; but copies of the paper are occasion- 

 ally separately offered by London booksellers. In 

 fact I was quite unaware of the existence of this 

 publication until I saw it, two or three years ago, 

 in a catalogue. Mr. Edward Fitch, F.L.S., has a 

 note in an eariy volume of " The Essex Naturalist" 

 on the work of the late Mr. Christopher Parsons 

 in South Essex. Part of his natural history 

 collections are now deposited at the Southend 

 Institute. In Mr. Fitch's note there is a reference 

 to the capture, in 1826, on July 31st. of several 

 specimens of Papilio machaon on the coast near 

 Southchurch, where Parsons resided. This note 

 is particularly interesting, as fixing a date when 

 the swallow-tail butterfly still inhabited Essex. 



