102 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



other plants around. Newman states that he found " dozens of 

 the chrysalids in company," but I have only occasionally met 

 with them, and always singly. 



Quite early in the eighteenth century this butterfly had only 

 been observed in England in Lincolnshire, where, according to 

 Ray, it was common, and in a wood at Dulwich. Petiver, who 

 mentioned the last-named locality, calls it the " Dullidge Fritil- 

 lary." Wilkes in 1773 wrote of it as the " Plantain Fritillary," 

 although he gives clover and grass, as well as plantain, as the 

 food of the caterpillar. Moses Harris in the Aurelian (1779) 

 calls the butterfly the " Glanville Fritillary, 5 ' and states that it 

 was named after Lady Glanville, who was interested in butter- 

 flies, and whose will was disputed on that ground. This fact 

 will serve to show that entomology as a pursuit was not much 

 in vogue at that time, and that those who collected butterflies, 

 etc., were apt to be regarded by their friends as being — well, 

 just a " wee bit daft." 



Both Wilkes and Harris, it may be remarked, seem to have 

 been acquainted with the caterpillar of this species as well as 

 with that of the Marsh Fritillary, and there seems little reason, 

 therefore, to suspect that they confused the two species. The 

 localities given by the earlier authors appear, however, to 

 suggest that the butterfly they wrote about may have been the 

 Marsh Fritillary ; but there is no direct evidence of this. 



Stephens in 1827 ("Illustrations of British Entomology," 

 Haustellata, vol. i. p. 34) wrote — 



" This is a very local species, and is found in meadows by the 

 sides of woods ; in Wilkes' time it was not uncommon in 

 Tottenham wood ; recently the places where it has been chiefly 

 observed have been near Ryde an d the Sandrock Hotel, Isle 

 ofWight ; i n the latter place in plenty : also at Birchwood, and 

 near Dartford and Dover, and in a wood near Bedford. I 

 believe that it has been found in Yorkshire." 

 t There is no doubt that between 1858 and 1863 the butterfly 



