19a 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



A FEW NOTES ABOUT LIPARIS DISPAR 

 AND CLOSTERA ANACHORETA. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



Among our British lepidoptera there are two species which very few ento- 

 mologists have ever seen alive in a state ©f nature, yet nearly all onr collec- 

 tions contain them, and generally speaking we obtain them as soon as we 

 commence collecting. I refer to Liparis dispar and Clostera anachoreta. 

 Both have been occasionally taken in England, odd specimens; both are 

 common on the Continent ; and both can be bought in any of the earlier 

 stages from Continental dealers. 



There is no doubt that the few specimens obtained in this country would 

 not suffice to supply even a small fractional part of the number in our cabi- 

 nets, even with the most careful interbreeding, and the insects offered in 

 exchange and sent out are undoubtedly either directly or indirectly the pro- 

 geny of foreign parents. It is next to impossible to obtain a genuine British 

 example of L. dispar. Whether our climate is not adapted to its develop- 

 ment and spread, or whether other causes are at work of which we know 

 nothing, certain it is that the insect is very rarely obtained. Perhaps as 

 young entomologists have no trouble in filling their series when they com- 

 mence, they do not afterwards think the capture of such a common (?) species 

 worth notice. If so, will they in future record any such occurrences ? 



The other species, Clostera anachoreta, they are even less likely to have the 

 pleasure of meeting with. The few specimens originally taken at Folkestone 

 have been added to by thousands, for the purpose of filling series. Now 

 and again as some comparatively new hand meets with what he considers 

 rather a good species, and sees Anachoreta (bred) figuring in the exchange 

 columns of the entomological journals, he parts with his really British insect 

 for another whose British origin is considerably more than doubtful. Ana- 

 choreta not bred, but yet British, would be " a sight for sore e'en." 



There are many more species of lepidoptera very rare in England, which it 

 is no trouble to get through exchange. Deleiphala galii and euphorbia are 

 well known examples. Continental pupse may be bought for 9d. and 4d. 

 each. Sphinx celerio, which is almost as expensive on the Continent as here 

 (Dr. Staudinger quotes it at 7/6), and which can rarely be obtained in its 

 earlier stages, is never offered. Catocala fraxini ova, can be obtained at 

 about 1/- per dozen, and I have had numbers of other doubtful Britishers 

 offered me of late years. These are only examples of species, excessively 

 common on the Continent, and easily obtained by any beginner who has a 



