ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION 



'T'HE Entomological Section retired into aestivation in March and woke 

 -^ up to resume its normal functions in September. Officially, there- 

 fore, there is nothing to report, but actually I find that the diapause was 

 really very modified and that quite a lot of activity has been going on 

 among the members in their difiFerent habitats. 



1955 commenced with a bitterly cold and late winter, followed by a 

 bright, cold April and a very wet, cold May. After the middle of June 

 came a long, delightful summer in which heavy showers over a few days 

 in each month preserved the verdure of the countryside. It followed 

 two cold, wet summers in which, as regards the butterflies at any rate, 

 opportunities for pairing and ovipositing were restricted. Consequently 

 the season started badly and in most places butterflies were generally 

 scarce. The second broods tended to stage a fair recovery and in the 

 autumn some of the Vanessids were abundant and I was pleased to see 

 the Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas (L) on the local Michaelmas Daisies 

 in the late autumn and common at Dungeness in October. 



This is no place for a detailed survey, but it is worth recording that 

 the Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria (L), which reached Ashford from 

 the West in 1949, is now generally, though thinly, distributed in the 

 district and that a specimen was seen at the foot of the Downs at Folke- 

 stone in September. 



The highlights of the season, however, were the capture of a fresh 

 ? Camberwell Beauty, Nymphalis antiopa (L) by Mr. K. W. Self in a 

 garden at Folkestone on August 24th and of a fine $ Apollo Butterfly, 

 Parnassius apollo (L.) in the Warren on August 3rd by a schoolboy, P. L. 

 Scott. This latter insect shows evidence that it had already paired. 

 Its place of origin and mode of entry are likely to remain indeterminate. 

 Races of apollo generally overlap and this specimen arrived without its 

 locality label. 



A colony of the White-letter Hairstreak, Strymon w-album (Knoch) 

 was discovered near Folkestone by Mr. R. W. Fawthrop. This butterfly 

 is notoriously secretive and may persist unsuspected in a neighbourhood 

 for many years. 



As regards migrants, there were several waves of invasion along the 

 coast in early August, characterised by large numbers of ' Whites ' — 

 Pieris brassicae (L) and P. rapae (L) with a fair number of the Red 

 Admiral, Vanesa atalanta (L) and the Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui (L). 

 There were also a few Clouded Yellow, Colias croceus (Fourcr). I saw 

 one of these migrations at Jury's Gap on August 7th, but cardui and 

 croceus did not spread readily inland and the promise of a good * Clouded 

 Yellow ' autumn did not materialise. 



