198 



They in general fly slowly and peacefully, except when alarmed, gliding 

 gently from flower to flower. I have taken as many as two dozen without 

 moving from the spot where I stood, as they successively visited the stems 

 of the grasses round me. 



This Fritillary was much less plentiful last season than heretofore ; and in 

 some of its former haunts has quite disappeared. It has many foes ; for 

 besides the march of improvement in cultivation which gradually invades its 

 haunts, the same natural causes which promote its abundance, also multiply 

 its enemies. Two necrophagous beetles, Silpka obscura and tristis destroy 

 the larvse, and a large ground spider, very numerous in the spots which it 

 frequents, feeds on the perfect insect ; it lies in wait till the butterfly alights 

 upon the low plants, or on the ground, then rushing forward, seizes it by the 

 neck, and holds it captive with such tenacity, that both insects may almost 

 be pulled in pieces ere it will relax its grasp." 



Newman, in his "British Butterflies/' writes, "I had the pleasure in 1824, 

 in company with my friends, George Waring, of Bristol, and Waring Kidd, 

 Godalming, of discovering the now celebrated locality of Undercliff, Isle of 

 Wight. We found the caterpillars, chrysalides, and butterflies equally abun- 

 dant at the same time. With a feeling of triumph I recorded the discovery 

 in the pages of " Loudon's Magazine of Natural History," then in the zenith 

 of its glory, now a mere memory of the past." 



On June 8th, 1855, the Glanville Fritillary was very common at Black- 

 gang Chine. 



In 1865, several were found on the Undercliff at Folkestone, by Mr. Briggs, 

 and recorded in the " Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," Yol. II : however, 

 Dr. Knaggs, in " List of the Macro Lepidoptera, occurring in the neighbour- 

 hood of Folkestone," published in 1870, records it as "not being observed 

 of late years. 



In the "Entomologist," Vol. VI., Mr. Luff writes, " Melitcea cinxia is 

 abundant both in Guernsey and Sark. The earliest date I have of its 

 appearance is May 8th, 1870. In 1872, I did not observe one on the wing 

 until the 27th of May, and then they were nothing like the abundance of the 

 previous seasons. I noticed a couple of battered females on the wing as late 

 as the 26th of July. They are to be met with all round the southern coast 

 of Guernsey, from Fermain Bay to Pleinmont Point, but are never found far 

 from the sea coast." 



