68 
THE WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
expense than the actual specimens. 
If any gentleman wishes to see the 
very instructive photographs of Mr. 
Dale’s rarities we believe that they 
may be had of Mr. Geake, Photogra- 
pher, Sherborne.] 
Notes by an old Entomologist . — I 
find that insect collecting is now 
very different from what it used to 
be. On instituting a comparison 
between my note book of former 
years, and that of the present, I am 
led to ask “ What has become of 
many species that I used to meet 
with ?” I attribute their disappear- 
ance more to the variations of season 
than to other causes, — such as the 
progress of cultivation &c. — though 
no doubt they have their effect. I 
have had an instance of this just 
lately, in the draining of an adjoin- 
ing quag ; with which, of course, 
all the insects that formerly abounded 
there have departed. But then some 
fine, new, and rare insects have, of 
late years turned up, and others, 
formerly doubted as British, have 
again made their appearance. 
Nothing gives me greater pleasure 
than seeing the right to a place in 
our British lists, of species which 
have been struck out, confirmed, 
and their claims admitted, — such as 
Baplidice, Cassiope &c. The former 
of these is mentioned in Kay and 
Petiver, and other works, and none 
more resolutely excluded it than 
Stephens, till he took it himself. 
I can recollect the time when L. 
Bispar used to bo taken. The first 
specimen seen in London Was sent up 
to me from Whittlesea Mere, (where 
I had been seeking it unsuccessfully) 
to care of Dr. Leach, at the British 
Museum, and that gentleman wanted 
me to go there again. I was, how- 
ever obliged to go home, just in an 
opposite direction. In the following 
year I went to Whittlesea again, 
and as August was said to be “the 
time,” I was rather surprised, when 
I saw what I supposed to be a very 
brilliant moth flying around me 
several times, but which proved, 
when captured, to be a male L. 
Bispar , — this being in June. I after- 
wards sent B. Standishto the locality, 
who, after an unsuccessful week, 
was about giving it up as a bad job. 
He was on his way to Stilton, en route 
for London, when, as the sun shone 
ont brightly, he turned back," and 
captured some specimes of the long- 
looked for Bispar. 
I will mention, in conclusion, that 
I had given me, by a druggist at 
Sherborne, in March or April, a fino 
male B, Livornica, taken near 
there the day before, so that I could 
set it well. 
G. Rhamni is about again, but I 
have only seen (and taken) one 
female. V. Atalanta and Cardui 
are tolerably common. — J. C. Dale, 
Gian. Wooton, Sherborne, Borset, 
September 26. 1862. 
Be omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis. 
— 1st. You say that some of your 
readers do not consider the “ Entom- 
ologist ” up to the mark. I am not 
one of that number. I do ! Up to 
what mark? Let them specify it, 
