OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1903. 
Ill 
be called tbe Father of British Entomology, was horn on the 
16th of September, 1792, and early developed a love of this branch 
of natural science. At the age of 16 he commenced to compile 
lists of the insects of Britain, and enumerated 3,673 species, of 
which 1,367 were Lepidoptera. He was a clerk in the Admiralty, 
and devoted his spare time to collecting, and being an indefatigable 
worker he accumulated large and admirably-arranged collections of 
all orders of insects. He was a Fellow of the Linnean and 
Zoological Societies, and a member of the Entomological Societies 
of London and of France. In 1837 he occupied the presidential 
chair of the Entomological Society. Besides being the author of 
numerous papers and articles printed in scientific periodicals and in 
the Journals and Transactions of the learned societies, he published 
in 1828 ‘A Systematic Catalogue of British Insects’; in 1829, 
‘ The Nomenclature of British Insects ’; and in 1839, ‘ The Manual 
of British Coleoptera.’ But his magnum opus was his ‘ Illustrations 
of British Entomology, a Synopsis of Indigenous Insects,’ in ten 
volumes, dated 1827 to 1846, the four volumes on Lepidoptera 
appearing between 1828 and 1835. This great work, in which he 
intended to describe all known species of British insects, was not, 
however, completed, the Hemiptera and Diptera being omitted 
altogether, and the Hvmenoptera being only partly described. In 
the formation of his celebrated collections Stephens made frequent 
visits to many localities in the vicinity of London, the neighbour¬ 
hood of Hertford being a favourite hunting-ground. His ‘ British 
Entomology’ contains a large number of records of Lepidoptera, 
Coleoptera, Orthoptera, and Neuroptera from that locality, and 
these form our first, and, in the case of some orders, our only local 
lists. So far as the Lepidoptera are concerned Stephens’ Hertford¬ 
shire records were collected together by Mr. John Hartley Durrant, 
F.E.S., and embodied in a valuable paper which is printed in our 
‘ Transactions.’ The Coleoptera noted by Stephens have been dealt 
with by Mr. E. George Elliman in his able article on the Beetles 
of the county in the ‘ Victoria History of Hertfordshire,’ and the 
comparatively few records of insects of other orders have been 
enumerated by me in. the same work. Stephens died in 1852. In 
‘ British Entomology ’ the monarch of British butterflies, Apatura 
iris, the purple emperor, is stated to have occurred near Hertford 
in July, 1833, and from that time until now, so far as I am aware, 
no note of the presence of this insect in our county has appeared. 
I am glad to learn that there is a likelihood, amounting almost to 
a certainty, that it is still with us, and I sincerely hope that in 
next year’s Beport I may be able to definitely reinstate the purple 
emperor in our list. For some most interesting notes on the subject 
I am indebted to Mr. A. H. Foster, who saw, but having no net 
was unable to catch, a specimen in 1899 or 1900, settled on some 
dung in the middle of the road which leads by the side of Hitch 
Wood towards Whitwell. Mr. Foster believes that A. iris is to be 
found in Hitch Wood and also in Knebworth Great Wood, Mardley 
Heath Woods, and Welwyn Tunnel Woods. The keepers both at 
