CHRYSOPHANUS DISPAR. 425 



job." Newman (1871) adds a little. Among other things he says: 

 " Varieties of this species are not common; in those that have passed 

 through my hands there has been a remarkable uniformity of colour- 

 ing, but Mr. Dale informs me that he possesses a female almost 

 entirely black." lie then adds, " My acquaintance with the caterpillar 

 and chrysalis was made very many years ago, in Mr. Doubleday's 

 garden at Epping, where the very plant of Rumex hydrolapathum, on 

 which the caterpillars fed, is still in existence." The present writer 

 believes that he possesses, thanks to the great generosity of Dr. 

 Chapman, one of the very last specimens that Mr. Doubleday bred on 

 that plant. Of the variability of the dates of appearance, Mr. Newman 

 gives the following facts: "Caterpillars appeared at the beginning of 

 June, 1841 ; July 24th, 1827. Chrysalids on July 25th, 1827. 

 Butterflies, June 25th, 1826; July 3rd-5th, 1833; July 19th, 1827; 

 August, 1819 ; August 4th, 1821." These dates were obtained from 

 Mr. J. C. Dale. Newman had quite given up the idea that this 

 beautiful species had ever occurred anywhere except in the counties of 

 Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. In the former county he says it 

 was taken " in plenty at Whittlesea Mere (J. F. Stephens); not taken 

 in Cambridgeshire since 1845 (Thomas Brown)." Of its occurrence in 

 the latter county we read : " Yaxley and Holme Fens. The latest 

 capture, consisting of five specimens, was made by Stretton, in either 

 1847 or 1848 ; they were all purchased by Mr. Harrington. I was at 

 Yaxley for several successive years after this, but never saw another 

 specimen or heard of another being taken" (F. Bond). Newman 

 does not give Norfolk and Suffolk, to which counties we have already 

 referred as producing specimens, on the testimony of Stephens and Mr. 

 C. W. Dale, but there is no reason to doubt the former occurrence of the 

 insect in these counties. There is one little item in the history of 0. 

 dispar which we have not been able to fathom. This originates in a report 

 of the meeting of the South London Entomological Society, held on 

 March 9th, 1893, where we read that "a discussion arose as to the 

 the occurrence of Polyommatus dispar, Haw., at Camberwell, fifty years 

 ago, and Mr. Fenn and Mr. Tugwell, both recorded probable Kentish 

 specimens previous to 1848" (Ent. Bee, iv., p. 121). We have already 

 quoted what Stephens says of a species of "large copper," supposed 

 to have been captured in Kent, long antecedent to the date of his 

 work (1828), and which he described under the name of hippothoe. 

 The only other reference that we can find bearing on the subject is a 

 quite recent paragraph, which is rather more detailed than Stephens' 

 remarks, although evidently referring to the same specimens, by 

 Mr. C. W. Dale, who writes: "It (var. rutilus) has been recorded 

 as British under the name of hippothoe. Concerning this my 

 father wrote in Loudon's Magazine for 1834 : ' Mr. Haworth told 

 me that they came out of an old cabinet called the ' Kentish Cabinet,' 

 and were said to have been taken near Faversham. I had a male and a 

 female from the late Mr. Latham, which were from Capt. Lindegren's 

 cabinet, whence, probably, all the supposed British specimens came ' " 

 (British Butterflies, p. 46). This is all we can find relating to Kentish 

 specimens of Chrysophanns dispar except what we have already noted (antea 

 p. 422) . Some of the impossibilities relating to the records of the occurrence 

 of this species may be mentioned. We have already stated that Donovan 

 considered that specimens were taken in Scotland, whilst Haworth records 



