8 
EARLY REMINISCENCES 
JDejpressaria assimilella —but with this effort, alas! it concludes, saying 
nothing of visits, which (as I know from other sources) were paid 
that year to St. Leonard’s-on-Sea, Weymouth, and Bonchurch, Isle 
of Wight. 
In the summer of 1861 I again went to Bonchurch, and vastly 
enjoyed chasing Golias edusa (as it was then called), and also took 
Pyrameis cardui, and, on the downs, Aspilates citraria ( ochrearia ), 
and Botys flavalis . There is no diary of this visit extant, but I 
have a small book of pressed flowers from the Isle of Wight collected 
in that summer. However, in the autumn the diary was resumed 
in a somewhat less infantile form; the Latin names (specific only) 
being made use of, even in the case of such a small insect as 
Fdbriciana. This diary proves that the larvae of Caja were then 
much commoner in the southern suburbs than they are now. 
The next year I spent part of April and May at St. Leonards, 
and there made the acquaintance in the field of Mr. Edward Cooper; 
it was his fiftieth birthday when we met, whereas I was but thirteen. 
However, we both served under the same colours, and at once struck 
up a friendship which lasted several years. Our chief collecting 
ground was Hollington Church Wood, a lovely spot, redolent of 
spring flowers. Well do I remember my delight at seeing Eujphrosyne 
for the first time and in great abundance, and with it plenty of that 
most decorative butterfly the Orange-tip, as well as the cheery 
little Grizzled Skipper. Perhaps the best thing we got was the 
conspicuous black and white Pyrale, Ennychia octomaculalis, which 
was, however, not to be had for the asking. In the summer a 
short time was spent at Deal, whence I walked to St. Margaret’s 
Bay, where in those days there were but three or four cottages. Along 
the undercliff, by the rifle range of the Royal Marines, an extra¬ 
ordinary profusion of insect life, and that in gorgeous forms, delighted 
the eye. Every head of Knapweed, and there were innumerable heads, 
bore a fair burden of at least three or four Six-spot Burnets, and 
two or three Rose-beetles. Though I have seen Zygaena filvpen- 
dulae commonly enough since then, I have never beheld it in anything 
like such numbers, still less have I come across such a profusion of 
Getonia aurata. There is unfortunately no record of the Plumes 
and Geometers captured on the same ground. Later in the year 
I went to Tunbridge Wells, and made the acquaintance of Lycaena 
aegon , and the handsome pulpy green and yellow larva of Hadena 
fisi —so conspicuous when removed from its surroundings, but often 
harmonizing well with its food plant. A short visit to Folkestone 
is associated with sweet memories of Lycaena adonis and Addalia 
