162 



The Naturalist. 



In June, 1867, I was working Monmoutlishire and South Wales^ 

 and having been favoured by the Eev. G. C. Green, of Ivybridge, 

 Devon, with particulars of some of the localities in South Devon in 

 which Arion occurred, I determined to visit them, and was on the 

 point of leaving Monmouthshire and crossing the Bristol Channel en 

 route for South Devon, but the weather setting in wet just at the time 

 at which I supposed Arion was coming out, I abandoned the idea, and 

 made no further attempt to meet with this species until the year 

 before last, when I thought I would try to find it in its haunts in the 

 Cotswolds. 



With this object in view, I left London for Gloucestershire on the 

 25th of June, 1876, and having spent the night in the town which I 

 made my head-quarters, I started the next day at half-past seven a.m. 

 in the company of my local correspondent, in a carriage and pair for 

 the hills, where I proposed to spend two or three days in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of one of the Arion localities. 



The morning was dull and cold, and we had but little hopes of 

 seeing Arion, or indeed any other butterfly, on such a day. The 

 barometer, however, having been very high for some days previously, 

 and having further risen considerably during the night, I hoped for 

 the best, in spite of appearances. After nearly six miles' drive, we 

 began to ascend a long hill, of which some two miles further on we 

 gained the summit, aud there halted. It was then about a quarter 

 past nine, and the weather began to show signs of improvement. The 

 clouds parted and exhibited patches of blue sky in various directions. 

 Presently the sun shone out and the mists cleared away, and revealed 

 a glorious prospect of hill and dale. Far below us lay the vale of the 

 Severn, with its towns and villages, woods and streams ; beyond, to 

 the north-west, rising above some lower hills, the Malvern range 

 stood out boldly on the horizon, and still further away, nearly due 

 west, the Welsh mountains loomed dimly through the haze. 



Having sent on the carriage with my portmanteau and entomo- 

 logical impedimenta to a small inn about a mile distant, we fitted our 

 nets together and prepared for work. 



Leaving the high road to the right, and following a steep path on 

 the hill side for a hundred yards or so, we soon arrived on some 

 rough waste ground, full of old quarries and pits, the sides of which 

 were partially overgrown with long coarse grass and nettles. We 

 were now on one of the few favoured spots in this country in which 

 Arion still occurs, and I was told that I might expect to see it at 

 any moment. Presently a large irony-looking " blue " came flitting 



