164 ELLIS : LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE LEPIDOPTERA. 



covered to a variable depth by a bed of clay containing boulders 

 grooved by glacial action, and the remains of marine shells similar to, 

 if not identical with, those which at present inhabit the seas of the 

 neighbourhood. 



The remaining features of the district which affect its flora, and 

 therefore its lepidopterous fauna, are speedily dismissed. With the 

 exception of Delamere Forest, lying between Chester and Northwich, 

 there are no large tracts of woodland, and what woods there are are 

 comparatively of recent growths, and usually so devoted to the preser- 

 vation of game that an entomologist speedily receives peremptory 

 orders to quit. The large tracts of moss-land known locally as 

 'mosses' contribute a fair share to the fauna of Lancashire, but 

 perhaps no physiographical feature of the two counties has such an 

 influence in swelHng the list of their lepidoptera as the tract of sandhills, 

 with a fauna and flora sui generis^ which stretch from the Ribble 

 to the Mersey, and from the Mersey to the Dee. 



In compiling the Lepidopterous Fauna of Lancashire and 

 Cheshire, I have to acknowledge the kind assistance of the following 

 gentlem.en, whose names are abbreviated in the body of the work as 

 follows: — 



N.C. — Mr. Nicholas Cooke, Liscard. 

 H.H.C. — „ H. H. Corbett, Levenshulme. 

 J.C. — ,, Joseph Chappell, Manchester. 

 S.J.C. — ,, S. J. Capper, Huyton. 

 W.G. — ,, Willoughby Gardner, Liverpool. 

 H.H.H.— Rev. H. H. Higgins, Rainhill. 

 J.B.H. — Mr. J. B. Hodgkinson, Preston. 



W.J. — ,, William Johnson, Liverpool. 

 J.C.M.— „ J. C. Melvill, Prestwich! 

 S.L.M.— „ S. L. Mosley, Huddersfield. 



F. N. P.— „ F. N. Pierce, Liverpool. 



G. T.P.— „ G. T. Porritt, Huddersfield. 

 E.S. — ,, Edmund Shuttleworth, Preston. 



A.O.Vr.— „ Alfred O. Walker, Chester. 

 I have also derived considerable information from the following 

 books, pamphlets, and periodicals: — 

 British Butterflies and Moths, by the Rev. F. O. Morris. 

 British Butterflies and Moths, by Edward Newman. 

 Lepidoptera of Wirral, by J. F. Brockholes ^ (Trans. Lit. and Phil. 



Soc. of Liverpool, 1864). 

 Lepidopterous Insects of the district round Liverpool, by Charles S. 

 Gregson"^ (Trans. Hist. Soc. of Lane, and Ches., 1855 to 1858). 



* Abbreviated J.F.B., and C.S.G., in the body of the work. 



Naturalist, 



