THE YOUNG NATUKALIST. 



103 



Limenitis Sybilla and Apattjea Iris. — Both these might have been speci- 

 fied by Mr. Bobson, as species fast decreasing in numbers. The cutting down 

 of woods has affected them, and the monarch of our woods has been more 

 freely captured since his fancy for game has been found out. 



Saiyrtjs Mgeria. — It is, in Kent, rarely to be seen beyond the boundaries 

 of a wood, and 1 have never seen the insect in the early part of the season, 

 but in July or August, though it is stated to fly in April or May. As there 

 are, according to Lewin and Doubleday, two, or even three broods ; it might 

 be more regularly seen in its localities, but I believe it to be of decidedly 

 sluggish habits, hence, apt to be missed by the observer or collector. Herein 

 it is very different from P. megara, which loved to flaunt itself on walls and 

 banks, yet it is less plentiful about the lanes of Kent, Middlesex, and Surrey 

 than it was when I first collected. 



S. Hypebanthus. — We cannot say in the south that this species has 

 vanished from view, yet it has markedly fallen off in numbers. I have seen 

 it so plentiful in Kentish woods that hundreds might soon have been netted, 

 not so now. It has gone entirely from several of the parks and copses near 

 London, once its abode. 



Lyc^ena Adonis. — Used to occur in profusion upon the chalky banks, and in 

 the lanes of North Kent, say thirty or forty years ago, commonly accompanied 

 by L. corydon in equal abundance. Both have become much scarcer, and in 

 some seasons very few indeed are captured. They are very capricious in their 

 time of emergence from the pupa, but it appears to be but one annual brood. 



L. Alstjs. — I believe with Mr Eobson, this has ceased to be found in manv 

 places where it formerly bred, yet it is also to be remembered that it is a 

 butterfly apt to be missed by collectors, from its diminutive size, and sluggish, 

 retiring habits, so far as I have been able to notice, for it will start at the 

 beating-stick out of places where we should not have expected to see it. 



L. Argioltjs. — Twenty years ago this was nearly as abundant as the 

 Common Blue in Kent, and some districts of Surrey, and double-brooded. It 

 is now rare, though the food-plants have not been interfered with. 



Colias Edtjsa. — It is a species so attached to many of the clover and lucerne 

 fields in the neighbourhood of Gravesend and Higham, that I conclude it 

 breeds there regularly, only in some seasons the number of specimens is 

 comparatively small. I have seen hybernated individuals, and should infer 

 it generally oviposits during the spring. Whether the profusion of some 

 years is to be accounted for by the arrival of parties of immigrants, I cannot 

 say positively. 



