Goss : CoLiAS Edusa. 



21 



I have also to modify, or rather expand, my remark upon Sphagnum 

 papillosum, Lindb. I believe no one gathered it, to know it as sucJi, in 

 the Riding, before I did so in 1876 ; but since then I have ascertained 

 that it [S, papillosum, in its variety confertum) is the commonest form 

 on the lower moorlands, much more frequent than any other species, 

 except acutifolium ! I have Dr. Braithwaite's authority for saying it 

 is also the most frequent form in the North Riding about Whitby, as 

 in the South of England. 



COLIAS EDUSA, 



IN SUSSEX, SURREY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, MONMOUTHSHIRE, 

 HAMPSHIRE, AND DORSETSHIRE, 



DuKiNG THE Months of June and July, 1877. 

 By H. Goss, F.L.S., &c. 



As the recent extraordinary abundance and distribution in nearly all 

 parts of the United Kingdom of G. Edusa is a phenomenon which 

 has created so much interest, possibly my experience of the species 

 during the past two months may be considered worth recording. 



Sussex. — On the 8th June, when crossing Ashdown Forest, I 

 observed several specimens of Colias Edusa flying across the heath in 

 various directions. I need hardly say that from its nature and pro- 

 ductions, this district of 20,000 acres of moorland is not one which is 

 usually much favoured with the presence of Edusa, even ia the autumn 

 of those seasons in which the species is abundant on the coast. Not 

 only on the moorland, but in the wooded parts of the forest, between 

 Wych Cross and Forest Row, Edusa occurred in unusual numbers. 

 Later on in the day I found the species in marshy fields in the neigh- 

 bourhood of East Grinstead, even more common than on Ashdown 

 Forest. 



Surrey. — On the 9th of June I started for a day's collecting in 

 woods in the neighbourhood of Leatherhead, which is about G-J miles 

 from here. Edusa occurred along the road sides the whole distance, 

 and was actually commoner than Cardamines. On entering the woods, 

 EdUsa rose from a patch of Ajuga, and I soon found that they were 

 more plentiful than A. Euphrosyne, S. Alveolus, T. ruhi, V. macidata, 

 or any of the species usually common in woods at this period of the 

 year, but which this season, according to my experience, did not occur 

 in the usual numbers. 



