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THE YOUNG NATUBALIST. 



time unknown. For a long time after this probably but few captures took 

 place. In 1871 six specimens were recorded, and in 1874 it was found at 

 Penaith, near Cardiff. In that year there is no doubt that Mr. Langley took 

 ten specimens (eight males and two females), while four were taken in the 

 same locality by Mr. Williams, and very possibly more weie taken but not 

 recorded. In the following year both these gentlemen seem to have been on 

 the alert for its re-appearance, but though they doubtless visited the spot 

 very frequently and in good time, they* only obtained one each, so that it 

 seems that the species was having a clear fight for existence in that year. The 

 following year, however, that is to say 1876, a dozen specimens were captured 

 by Messrs. Breaks and Heath, still in the same locality, the time of all these 

 captures being June, so that the insect there at any rate would appear to be 

 single brooded. In 1883, one specimen was taken at Tenby, flying over 

 wild thyme, and another was seen and in fact netted, but managed to escape. 

 This appears to be the last record from Welsh localities, for next year the 

 spot at Penarth, which now constitutes the fashionable suburb of Cardiff, was 

 entirely built over, and there have been no captures in the vicinity since. 

 There is, of course, a probability of its being re-discovered in some nook oii 

 the Welsh coast, but at any rate up to the present nobody has been so fortu- 

 nate, though we may be well certain that it has been vigorously hunted for. 

 There was a specimen said to have been taken at Abbotswood, in July, 1881, 

 and in the Entomologist, for 1880, Mr. Sydney Oliff states that in looking 

 over a boxful of " Blues," captured at Croham Hurst, in August of that year, 

 he noticed an unusual looking specimen, which upon comparison proved to 

 be Acis. Tf this were true it would appear at any rate to be a blown over 

 specimen, since we can hardly credit that this species existed anywhere in 

 that district unknown to the members of this Society and London collectors in 

 general ; the time, too, is much later than any other British record, and, 

 therefore, I consider that Mr. Oliff in this case was a victim of a deception — 

 although Croham Hurst would seem to be a very extraordinary locality, hav- 

 ing produced, according to records lately made, D. Galii, P. chri/seis, and 

 some species previously unknown to Britain. In flight and appearance the 

 insect chiefly resembles the common Alexis, but it has a dark look, and would 

 hardly get overlooked if seen ; it is very local in its habits, a fact which has 

 probably aided its disappearance in Great Britain. A theory has been put 

 forward that the cause of its extinction is that large numbers of the larvse 

 were destroyed in haymaking time. Whether this has any bearing on the 

 subject is a question upon which I am unable to give an opinion, as I am 

 not sufficiently acquainted with the habits of the food-plant. If it grows in 

 hay fields, it would doubtless get partially destroyed by the movers ; but one 



