76 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Nettle was not appreciated, and not touched by them during the 

 last two or three stages." 



This butterfly appears to have first attracted the attention 

 of the earlier British entomologists about the middle of the 

 eighteenth century. Stephens, writing in 1827, remarks that 

 "about sixty years since it appeared in such prodigious numbers, 

 throughout the kingdom, that the entomologists of that day 

 gave it the appellation of the Grand Surprise." Harris figured 

 the butterfly under the name mentioned by Stephens, and it 

 has also been referred to by others as the " Willow Beauty " 

 and the "White Petticoat." Newman called it the "White- 

 bordered ;" and from this, as well as from his description of the 

 butterfly, it would seem that he had not seen any specimen, 

 caught in Britain, with ochreous borders. Such specimens have 

 most certainly been captured in these islands, and occasionally 

 in some numbers, as, for example, in the autumns of 1872 and 

 1880. In the former year the butterflies were seen or taken in 

 a great many parts of the kingdom. The single specimens 

 that are taken now and then in the spring have hibernated, 

 and possibly they may have just come over from the Continent. 

 It is, however, equally possible that they may have arrived in 

 the country the previous autumn and passed the winter here. 

 After the invasion in the autumn of 1872, specimens were 

 observed in January, March, and April, 1873, at places widely 

 apart. In 1881 single specimens were taken in April in Surrey, 

 Kent, and Brecknockshire ; and in Essex and at Hampstead 

 in August. One or two specimens were taken in the summer 

 or autumn of the years 1884 to 1887 inclusive. In 1888 two 

 were captured in Essex in May ; and in August, three in Kent, 

 one each Surrey, Hants, and Isle of Wight ; and one in Kent 

 in September. In 1889 a specimen was taken in Surrey in 

 April, one in Kent, and one in Cambs in May ; a few also in 

 the autumn of that year. In 1891 a specimen was seen at 

 Balham in September. In 1893 one was taken in Epping 



