196 



Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects/' Vol. VII, published 

 in 1798/ writes, "This is the rarest of the British Fritillary Butterflies, if 

 we except Paplio lathonia s the Queen of Spain. The flies appear in May. 

 The caterpillars are black, beset with spines and tufts of the same colour : 

 the sides are marked with a double row of white spots, the feet red." 



Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes, 

 " This is a very local species, and is found in meadows by the sides of woods : 

 in Wilkes* time it was not uncommon in Tottenham Woods; recently the 

 places where it has been chiefly observed have been near Ryde and the Sand- 

 droch Hotel, Isle of Wight ; in the latter place in plenty ; also at Birch 

 Wood, and near Dartford and Dover, and in a wood near Bedford. I believe 

 it has been found in Yorkshire ; and from Kay, it would appear to have 

 have been abundant in Lincolnshire in his time. It generally flies in June." 



Curtis, in his "British Entomology/'' 1832, writes: "Rare in meadows 

 on the borders of woods, from the middle of June to the beginning of July. 

 Tottenham Wood, Wilkes ; Lincolnshire, Bay and Petiver ; Yorkshire, Dul- 

 wich, Birch Wood, and near Dartford • near Dover, Mr. Leplastria ; Byde, 

 Isle of Wight, Mr. Sparshall ; near the Sandwich Hotel and Undercliff, at 

 the back of the island, Mr. Newman and Mr. Waring." 



The Rev. F. 0. Morris, in his "History of British Butterflies," 1853, 

 writes : " This butterfly is a very local one, so that its capture must be 

 regarded as a great fact in the experience of by far the greater number of 

 entomologists. J. W. Lukis informs me that this extremely interesting 

 insect is taken, though very rarely, in the neighbourhood of Great Bedwryn 

 and Sarum, Wiltshire. It seems to be most plentiful near Ryde and other 

 places in the Isle of Wight, on the grassy sides of the grassy glens which 

 run down to the sea shore." 



In the " Zoologist," for 1846, the Rev. J. F. Dawson gives the following 

 interesting account of the habits of Melitaa cinxia in the Isle of Wight. 

 " As this Fritillary is rare in almost every part of the kingdom, some account 

 of its favourite habits and haunts may not prove uninteresting. It cannot 

 be accounted by any means common here, being confined to a few localites 

 only, though where it does occur, it is in general to be found in some abund- 

 ance. It is not to be expected in cultivated districts, but breeds on steep 

 and broken declivities near the coast, which the scythe or the plough never 

 as yet have invaded, and in such spots it may be met with sooner or later in 

 May, according to the season. Near Sandown, on the side of the cliff, there 

 is one of these broken declivities, occasioned by some former landslip, covered 

 with herbage, which slopes down to the beach. A path-way leads to the base. 

 On the 9th of May. 1844, a hot sunny day, each side of this path- way was 



