266 BKITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



it also inhabits, as Borkhausen mentioned acentury-and-a-quarter ago. 

 the oak-woods throughout central Europe, eschewing gardens, and being 

 very rarely observed in open ground. We have also seen it flying 

 commonly about the little oaks, in the wood-scrub covering the exten- 

 sive slopes above Gresy-sur-Aix, dashing out and attacking a passing 

 IAmenitis Camilla, and then returning to its perch ; also about the 

 pear-trees growing on the little farm just below the ridge that 

 lies above this wood ; also in an open oak-wood • on a steep 

 rocky slope at the foot of the Mont Aiguille, near Clelles, in 

 the Dauphine Alps, and, yet again on a rough, rocky, bush- 

 covered slope, between Eoche and Yvonne, in the Rhone Valley, 

 where Leptidia sinapis, Hipparchia alcyone, Satyrus cordula, Melitaea 

 didyma, and a score of other species were abundant ; also in a similar 

 locality, to wit, the oak-scrub on the slopes near Chavoire, just above the 

 Lac d'Annecy. Near Susa, in Piedmont, it haunted, in August, 1896, a 

 rocky slope, covered with lovely chestnut-trees, among which it flew, 

 settling on the chestnut-leaves in the brilliant sun, or flying high around 

 the tops of the trees. Here, strangely, we noticed few oaks (there may have 

 been more than memory suggests) , and, on the outskirts of the tree-covered 

 area, Erebla neoridas was abundant, whilst E. aethiops flew amongst 

 ■the trees and settled on the leaves, exhibiting a distinctly different 

 habit from its ally ; again, in 1901, on the zigzags going up to Crissolo, 

 where the magnificent chestnut-woods give way to oak here and there, 

 we found this species, the locality really not very unlike that at Susa. 

 A century-and-a-half ago it occurred commonly in what is now London, 

 in woods that have long since been cleared, and the sites of which are 

 now occupied by houses. Amongst others, Harris observes (Aurelian, 

 p. 21) that it was " common in Honour Wood, near Peckham, on 

 oak." Even during the last 30 years the species has disappeared from 

 Westcombe Park, {Shooter's Hill Wood, and other suburban London 

 areas, where, however, oaks are still moderately abundant. Why it 

 does not occur in our London parks has always been to us a mystery, 

 unless the London sparrow is, as we suspect, largely responsible, for 

 the insect spends its life high up, and cannot be particularly affected 

 by the human element. It still, however, is not uncommon in many 

 places a few miles outside the metropolis. In Wales, one finds that, 

 in Merioneth, near the village of Arthog, it occurs upon the wooded 

 slopes, and a corner full of flowering bramble, scabious, meadowsweet, 

 knapweed, and St. John's wort, produced specimens of this species, as 

 well as many others (Arkle) ; in Glamorgan, it occurs in the woods 

 near the coast at Cowbridge, on blue lias, where the climate is rather 

 exceptionally damp (W. E. R. Allen). White remarks that "it is a rarer 

 species in Scotland than Callophnj* rubi, occurring in several places in 

 the lowland part of the county of Perth, as far north as Dunkeld ; 

 although found in Argyllshire, it does not seem to occur everywhere 

 in the south of Scotland as might be expected." Lennon notes it as 

 occurring in Camlorgan Wood, about ten miles south of Dumfries, and 

 near the coast, and also on the slope of the wooded hills that bound to 

 the west the valley in which Dalscairth is situated. In England, 

 almost all records note the species as occurring in oak-woods, e.g., 

 the oak-woods near Newark (Oarr), near Oxton (Studd), near Lincoln 

 (Pearson), at Balcombe (Tugwell), at Taunton (Doidge), etc. It also 

 occurs freely round the oaks on Exmoor (J. E. Gardner) ; frequents 



