

A^LIST OF MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA 



Occurring in the Neighbourhood of Folkestone. 



BY H. Guard Knaggs, M.D., F.L.S., Author " Lepidopterist'a Guide." 

 Editor (for Macro-Lepidoptera) "Entomologist's Monthly Magazine." 



As might be jexpected from the peculiarity of its geological 

 strata (lower chalk and upper gault to the east, and the 

 various layers of lower greensand to the west of the town), 

 the shelter afforded by hills and valleys with which the 

 neighbourhood is so picturesquely embellished, the varied 

 nature of its Flora, and above all its proximity to the coast 

 of France, Folkestone offers a mine of wealth to the working 

 Entomologist ; indeed there are few districts throughout the 

 United Kingdom which have yielded such an imposing array 

 of novel and rare species, as has done this El Dorado of the 

 British Lepidopterist. By way of illustration let us enume- 

 rate a few of the delicacies for which this locality is so justly 

 famed. 



First and foremost Sesia chrysidiformis may be mentioned. 

 This glorious clearwing once based its claim as a Britisher 

 on the authority of a single specimen in the cabinet of Fran- 

 cillon, but not having turned up for many years, was erased 

 from our lists, until Mr. Brewer, a Coleopterist, to whom 

 Lepidopterists have every reason to feel grateful, gladdened 

 our eyes with the sight of a specimen (in 1856) which he had 

 "consigned to the undignified depths of his 'bacca box ! and 

 thanks to this clue and the practical manner in which collec- 

 ting is conducted now-a-days, it was not long before the 

 coveted prize found a resting place in most of our collections. 

 The perfect insect flies for a few hours in the morning sun, 

 disappears towards noon, and re-appears on the wing in the 

 afternoon sunshine. It should be sought for in the Warren 

 on scantily covered flowery chalk banks facing the sea. Its 

 flight, when the insect is not disturbed, somewhat resembles 

 that of a Burnet, but being of a small size, it is easily passed 

 over until the eye becomes familiar with its appearance. 



The discovery of its larva, which feeds on the roots of 

 sorrel and dock, was made a few years since simultaneously 



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