THE QUEEN OF SPAIN FRTTILLARY. 93 



quite unsuited for the existence of this species," as well as for 

 others that come to us from abroad. 



Moses Harris, in 1775, g ave this butterfly the name "Queen- of 

 Spain ;" it had been known to English entomologists from 1710 

 until then as the " Lesser Silver-spotted Fritillary." Gamlingay 

 in Cambridgeshire seems to have been the only British locality 

 in which it had been observed until 1795, when Lewin mentions 

 a specimen taken in a Borough (London) garden in August. All 

 the Cambridge specimens had been captured in the month of 

 May. Stephens, writing in 1828 (" 111. Brit. Ent. Haust," i. 37), 

 says — 



"Previously to the year 18 18, few cabinets possessed even a 

 single specimen ; and from the very few known instances of its 

 capture (six only, according to Mr. Haworth), there is reason to 

 believe that some of the specimens at that time [1803] placed 

 in collections were foreign ; but in the above remarkable year 

 for the appearance of certain papilionaceous insects, this species 

 occurred simultaneously in several, and very distant, parts, 

 having been taken in August by Mr. Haworth at Halvergate, 

 in Norfolk ; by Mr. Vigors in Battersea-fields ; by myself 

 at Dover, and, during that and the following month, near 

 Colchester ; Birchwood, Kent ; and Hertford in plenty by 

 others. At the latter place I saw several specimens, but was 

 not fortunate enough to secure any," 



The butterfly has been taken, chiefly odd specimens, in many 

 of the eastern and southern counties, from Norfolk to Dover, 

 and almost always in the autumn. It has also occurred at 

 Scarborough (1868), and at least once in Ireland (1864). 



The neighbourhood of Dover seems to have always been the 

 most favoured locality, and no less than twenty-five specimens 

 were captured there in 1882. Several examples were also 

 obtained at Dover in 1883, and a single specimen in other parts 

 of Kent in 1884 and 1885. The most recent records are — 

 Brighton, one example in 1892 ; Clifton, one in July, 1898 ; 



H 



