THE YOUNG NATUEALIST 



275 



imported as stated above. I confess to 

 having felt myself rather presumptuous in 

 proposing to place in the reputed list, an 

 insect that so careful a m.an as the late 

 Henry Doubleday had considered sufficiently 

 authenticated to be included in the supple- 

 mentary list to his catalogue, issued a few 

 years ago, and I am well satisfied to have 

 this conclusive testimony, 



Mr. Moseley has also sent me a resume 

 of the article of the the Rev. F. O. Morris, in 

 which " he fully established the claim of this 

 splendid insect to be a British species," 

 The best part of the article is its witty title 

 — "See the conquering Hera comes," It 

 does not in any way attempt to prove that 

 the natural productions of the Channel 

 Islands ought to be incorporated with those 

 of the British Fauna ; but assuming that 

 Channel Island plants and shells are rightly 

 considered to be British, he argues from 

 these false premises that therefore the whole 



T. Focki is scarce ; the other species are 

 rather local. I have never met with any of 

 the species. 



TACHYPUS. 

 T.jpallipes. Eyes only slightly prominent ; 

 general colour coppery or greenish ; first 

 joint of the antennae greenish. Length 2^ 

 lines. 



T.Jlavipes. Eyes very prominent, extend- 

 ing beyond the sides of the thorax ; colour 

 as T jpallipes ; first joint of antennas yellow. 

 Length, 2 lines. 



Both species are fairly distributed in 

 damp places, although the smaller species 

 T Jlavipes, is perhaps the one which occurs 

 most abundantly. 



REPUTED BRITISH BUTTER. 

 FLIES. 



By John E. Robson. 

 Calimorpha Hera. 



Since the appearance of the article on 

 this subject I have had several communica- 

 tions from interested correspondents. The 

 most important is from Mr. G. C. Bignell 

 respecting the specimen of this insect taken 

 by the late Mr. D'Orville, Mr. Bignell 

 says, "The C. Hera, mentioned at page 259, 

 taken at Alphington by the the late Mr. 

 D'Orville, was without doubt imported as a 

 larva or pupa. Mr. D s. garden, where it 

 was captured, adjoins a very extensive 

 nursery, and the proprietors are always 

 importing a quantity of roots, bulbs, &c, in 

 moss. In conversation with Mr. D. in his 

 garden one day, he mentioned the capture to 

 "me, and remarked that trere was no doubt 

 that it was imported in the way stated above. ' ' 



It thus appears that the solitary example 

 of which an authentic record exists, and in 

 consequence of the capture of which the 

 species was admitted to the British lists, 

 was considered by its captors to have been 



natural productions ought to be dealt with 

 in the same way. The whole article shows, 

 in my opinion, an utter want of comprehen- 

 sion of the real question at issue. Whether 

 C. Hera has a claim to be considered British 

 is a matter of very small consequence ; but 

 it is of the greatest possible importance 

 whether the productions of a distant, out- 

 lying portion of any territory should neces- 

 sarily be incorporated with those of the 

 other portion. Some of our readers may 

 remember a song which tells why Guy 

 Fawkes did not cross the river by Vauxhall 

 Bridge, it not being built till afterwards ; 

 and it would therefore be unfair to say the 

 Reverend author should have read the in- 

 troduction to Dr. Staudinger's Catalogue of 

 Lepidoptera : but the first sentence is so 

 full of force that we quote it here :— 



" C'est une erreur, conduisant meme k 

 des consequences absolument fausses, de 

 prendre les limites de la geographie poli- 

 tique pour cadre on veut considerer un cer- 

 tain ensemble en histoire naturelle," 



