THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
135 
articles. As to any forestalling me, 
let them if they can : if they do I shall 
say they are sharp chaps, and deserve all 
they get. Little fear of Mr. Birchall 
doing so. 
And now I come to Mr. Birehall’s last 
paragraph, in which he says, “ the thing 
is done,” and again misapplies a quota- 
tion— the said quotation being, as I ob- 
served before, applicable to my paper on 
the Geodephaga, and not “ an original 
account of this description of insect,” or 
beariug upon my exhibition of D. Cap- 
saphila, and requesting me to make what 
amends I can to the “ entomological 
world ” (Messrs. Birchall and Co., Ire- 
land?). Of a truth it has come to a fine 
pass when waspish writers call upon dis- 
interested naturalists to do the entomolo- 
logical world justice for bringing an 
interesting fact before them without leave 
from the “Co.”, and people may well 
say, “ Gregson is case-hardened, or he 
would never write another line.” 
However, as I know it will please some 
of my friends to hear what I think and 
know about this species, though I ques- 
tion if it will please Mr. Birchall, I will 
jot down a few observations upon it, and 
leave your readers to judge by the results 
whether my conclusions were unscientific 
or not. 
When I heard this was a distinct spe- 
cies I began to study how I might find 
it in England: I drew a Hue from Dub- 
lin to Conway, and from thence to West 
Cumberland and back to North Lanca- 
shire, concluding it would surely have 
this range. I then ascertained what 
Silenes and allied plants grew at Howth ; 
I suspected, as a Dianthcecia, it would 
most probably be attached to this family 
of plants. I knew S.maritima and «S. 
nana were common around Conway, 
and I knew the Dianthcecia were al- 
ready well represented at Workington 
and Harrington, in Cumberland, but 
hoped to find plenty of S. injlata or 
S. marilima around Morecambe Bay, to 
save me the very long journey. These 
things thought and done, I took train 
fifty-five miles to Morecambe Bay, on a 
cold day in December; I traversed the 
coast west to Sunderland ; wont do ! 
Tried back east to Wharton Crag; no 
me ! Slept at Morecambe ; thence to 
Whitehaven, about seventy miles ; stayed 
in the town until train time to Mavyport ; 
looked up the collectors there : my eyes 
had been on the shore and railway banks 
all the way. Same afternoon walked to 
Cockermouth ; looked over part of wbat 
had been done by my friends there in 
I860; slept at the inn. Before daylight 
was in the train for Workington ; no 
luck there ; and at ten started back by 
train to Whitehaven ; spent a day there, 
which even Mr. Birchall’s ill-tempered 
letter will not make me regret ; left my 
kind friends at 5 p. bi., and reached hume 
at 12 same night. Part of the result of 
that journey is before your readers in 
Mr. Birchall’s letter, and another part of 
it will probably appear in your pages 
shortly: in the mean time I “keep my 
powder dry,” but may say from observa- 
tions made on this journey that I believe 
this species will be found to feed upon 
Silene marilima or upon Ragged Robin, 
perhaps on both, and have no doubt its 
larva will soon be known to Englishmen, 
if it is not to M. Guenee. The insect 
flies in June over Silene flowers, at dusk, 
and if 1 go to look for its larva I shall 
examine the seed-heads first, then the 
under sides of the lower leaves of this 
family of plants. 
In conclusion, I beg to say I think I 
have cleared myself from the undeserved 
imputations Mr. Birchall has heaped 
