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pamphilus: it came across my path again about an hour afterwards, 
and thinking its flight was more swift than pamphilus, I netted it. I 
have since seen others of this form in collections. Mr. J. A. Clark 
has two, I think, hut their colour is not quite so bright as mine. I 
find this form is unnamed, and is a rare variety. I have not taken 
anything like it since, though I have one or two approaching it, but 
with the ground-colour more brown. I also took what I thought 
was a male, but with a dark border, and came to the conclusion it was 
a blue female, and within an hour afterwards I captured another. I 
began to think I was in for a brood of them, but I have examined 
hundreds since, and have not come across any more of this rare form 
which has been named ab. “ synyrapha.” Beside these two blue females 
I took six aberrations “ obsoleta,” which is certainly the commonest of 
the aberrations. It has always puzzled me how these aberrations occur in 
such numbers; I have tried to account for it in all sorts of ways, but 
am still ignorant. I thought perhaps that wet seasons had something 
to do with it, but a dry season produced almost as many, though I 
got more crippled aberrations during a wet August. There is always 
plenty of foodplant, so this has nothing to do with it. Almost every 
season, the heat sets fire to the long waving grass, which grows 
in these hollows over four feet high. I have often seen it burnt down 
to the roots, and wondered if the heat had any effect on the pupae, as 
they must get a good scorching, and many must die. I have spent 
many hours in trying to beat out the flames. Not only does the sun 
do such mischief; sometimes picnic parties camp out here, and they 
also set fire to the grass and enjoy the fun of seeing it burn, whilst 
I burn with rage, and long for a man in blue to be near them, as there 
is a heavy penalty attached to such incendiarism. Of all the 
aberrations taken here, 90 per cent, are cripples, so it looks as if 
it may have something to do with the baking treatment; in nearly 
every underwing there is a round hole, some having one wing 
entirely destroyed. I have taken specimens with only three wings, 
the fourth wing being entirely absent; these were caught on the wing, 
and could hardly fly. The hindwings are usually attacked, which 
seems all the more remarkable, seeing that the forewings come in 
contact with the pupa-case. What is the real cause of this crippling, 
I have tried in vain to determine, but am still baffled. I have taken 
perfect aberrations without any signs of crippling, but they are few 
and far between. 
Each year, some particular form or aberration would be more in 
evidence ; in 1903, ab. maryinata was fairly common ; in 1904, it was 
almost absent, and in its place, var. hispana reigned, a form in which 
the broad black bands are almost absent, and are replaced by a row of 
conspicuous whitish marginal spots, five being taken without any 
bands at all, and ground-colour being a dirty looking blue. 
In 1901, shotted females were fairly common; whilst in 1902, ’03,. 
and ’04, I did not take so many as I did in this single season. In 
1900, most of the females had a small dot in the centre of each wing, 
the shape of wings also being more square. During August 1902, ab. 
minor showed up in good numbers, and I was able to get a nice row for 
the cabinet ; they say the cause of these dwarfed specimens is due to 
the foodplant becoming scarce, but this does not hold good at Dover, 
for this same year I took some unusually large specimens, and the 
