248 [November, 



some veal's, as in 1910, is quite seai*ee, while Vanessa to is generally 

 abundant — much more so, in fact, than I used to find it in Kent. 

 I have no definite record of V. antiopa from Oxford itself, but in the 

 Univei*sity Museum collection there is a very fine specimen taken by 

 the Kev. J. W. B. Bell in August 1900 on a sugared post at PjTton, 

 near Watlington, and just outside om* limits, ^yrameis cardui and 

 P. atalanfa are as irregular in their appearance here as elsewhere, the 

 latter being the more " dependable," but during the present j-ear it has 

 been most markedly rare, as I have not seen a single specimen myself, 

 and have heard of but one or two at most as having been observed. 

 Dryas papliia is common in the larger w^oods, but I saw a specimen in 

 my own garden in July last, and on August 10th of this year, though 

 then mostly in worn condition, it was as numerous near Forest HiU as in 

 the New Forest a few weeks earlier. Argynnis adippe also abounds in 

 Bagley and Tubnej" Woods, and in 1905 I took at the latter locality 

 a beautiful variety of the 6 , having the basal and central black 

 markings of both wings almost entii-ely suppressed. A. aglaia is 

 decidedly rare, but has been observed this year in the large woods 

 beyond Forest Hill by myself and others. Brenthis euplirosyne is 

 abundant in most of our w^oods in May ; a curious variety of a clear 

 pale ochreous ground-colour above and beneath, now in the University 

 Museum, was taken in Tubney Wood by the Rev\ C. F. Thornewill on 

 May 29th, 1916. B. selene is less common and more local, but occurs 

 freely in damp spots in Tubney Wood ; in the very hot summer of 1911 

 a partial second brood of small specimens appeared in August, of which 

 there is a good series in the Museum. Melitaea auri?iia, which for- 

 merly occurred at Bagley A\'ood, Headington Wick, and other localities 

 in the district, now" appears to be confined to a limited area near Cothill, 

 Berks, where it varies greatly in numbers in different 3'ears. Although 

 constantly on the spot from 1905 onwards, I did not see a specimen 

 b J Pore May 22nd, 1909, when I found it flying in abundance, and very 

 fine and variable ; for several seasons afterwards it continued to appear 

 more or less plentifully, but had become verj-- scarce, or apparently absent 

 from about 1914 until the present year, when it reapj^eared in something 

 like its former abundance on May 25th. 



Melanargia galatea is distributed over a considerable area of level 

 country between Abingdon and Tubney, where it is found in abundance 

 in grassy lanes, sandy and boggy fields, and is even a common roadside 

 l)utterllv ; it also occurs commonly in several places in Oxfordshire, as 

 at Holton stone-pits near Wheatley. On the other hand, Fararge 

 aegeria is singularly scarce, as I have heard of the occurrence of only 



