262 
LYCAENIDAE 
race (L. dispar ab. batavus) into England the very great 
success it has so far proved. Profiting by his earlier experience 
in the establishment in Southern Ireland of a flourishing colony 
of the Berlin race (ab. rutilns), which has now been existing 
nearly twenty years, he was able to organise and supervise 
the whole of the work. This entailed the preparations at 
Wood Walton Fen, the collecting in Holland, the transport 
and rearing of stock, and the ultimate stocking of the fen. 
The work was so successful that by July 1st, 1928, more than 
a thousand individuals were flying freely In the selected locality. 
Again in May, 1930, a number of larvae of ab. batavus were 
turned down in Wicken Fen, with most successful results, 
as nearly all these spun up, pupated and hatched out, and 
at the present time ab. batavus is in a flourishing condition 
in this most suitable locality. It has, indeed, already spread 
outside the fens and may be seen in the immediate 
neighbourhood. 
It appears that about a century ago Wood Walton Fen was 
one of the haunts of the Large Copper. In my copy of 
Oothcca Wolleyana , Pt. IT, p. xii, of the Memoir of John 
Wolley, it states: 11 So soon as his first long vacation, that 
of 1843, began, he was off to Whittlesey and its still undrained 
mere, staying at Sawtry, where the pupae of the Large Copper 
Butterfly (Lycacna dispar), obtained from Wood Walton 
Fen, could be bought at fourpence the dozen, while in the 
not very distant Monk's Wood entomological treasures, at 
the time far more highly thought of, were easily to be had." 
The following descriptions are from specimens I reared 
from eggs laid by females of L. dispar ab. rutilus that I 
received from the late Hon. N. C. Rothschild, captured in 
Hungary in June, 1906. These I at once fed and placed on 
two growing plants of the Great Water-dock ( Rumex 
hydrolapthum), the natural food plant of L. dispar. The 
three females laid in all 413 eggs during June. They lived 
in captivity for three weeks and continued laying eggs during 
the greater part of the time. 
Time of Appearance. In England L. dispar was single 
brooded. It was on the wing in July and August. 
Hibernation. L. dispar and the Continental races pass 
the winter as larvae, in hibernation. 
