1 892. J 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



242 



appears on all the old lists, but its localities do not appear to have 

 been made very public though indicated in general terms. In fact 

 there seems to have been as much unwillingness then to disclose the 

 exact places where rarities could be had, as obtains now. 



Mr. Dale has very kindly supplied me with the full bibliography of 

 Virgaurea,a.s a British insect, from which I extract the following, which 

 will give my readers information enough to form their own opinion 

 upon. Phlosas wa.s hrst named by Linnaeus, m the "Fauna Suevica(i746) 

 In 1 7 10 Ray described a British butterfly which is certainly that 

 known as Phlceas, but Linnaeus in the loth edition of his " Systema 

 Naturae," refers to this discription, and calls the species Vivgauvea. 

 This error caused considerable confusion afterw^ards, as it led ento- 

 mologists, whose sources of information were but limited, to think 

 that Ray's insect was the Virgaurea of Linnaeus. Thus in 1778 Moses 

 Harris figured and described our common, or Small Copper, under this 

 name, Virgaurea. Lewin in 1795 figured the true Virgaurea and 

 writes : " The natural history of this beautiful species is 

 but little known. I have been informed that a collector 

 used to take this fty and supply the dilferent collections in London 

 with it, but would not give the least account of its manners, or of the 

 place where he found it. In the month of August I once saw two of 

 these flies settled on a bush in the marshes. They were exceedingly 

 shy and would not suffer me to approach them." Donovan in 1796 

 writes " A specimen of this very superb and rare butterfly has been 

 taken at Cambridge. It has always had a place in the cabinets of 

 English collectors of consequence, but we cannot learn by whom it 

 first discovered in this country." Haworth in 1803 writes " Habitat 

 Image Aug. Paludibus rarissime apud nos." Kirby and Spence 

 write in 1826 " In the Isle of Ely has been taken Lycana Viri^aiirea " 

 Curtis in his British Entomology writes " It is said to have occurred 

 in the fens of Cambridgeshire, in the Isle of Ely, and near Hunt- 

 ingdon." Stephens writes " The proper locality of this splendid 

 insect does not appear to be well known. It is said to inhabit the 

 marshes in the Isle of Ely and Huntingdonshire." Westwood and 

 Humphrey recite most of the preceeding information, and Westwood 

 also adds " I possess a specimen given me by the late Mr. Haw^orth 

 as an undoubted native specimen." In a catalogue of the Duchess of 

 Portland's effects on May 27th, 1786, is " Lot 3171, fine series of 

 very rare British Papiliones, viz., two pair of Virgaurea,'" &c. In 

 many old collections, specimens of Virgaurea are known to exist, 

 and numerous examples have been sold in London when such 

 collections have been brought to the hammer. Objection has been 

 taken that these specimens are never ticketed with their place of 

 origin, and cannot therefore be authenticated. But I fail to see the 



