172 
THE COLE COLLECTION OF BRITISH 
LEPIDOPTERA. 
By A. W. MERA, 
[Read 28th October, 1922.] 
| HAVE been asked to report on the extensive collection 
of Br.tish Lepidoptera made by the brothers Cole, which 
has been bequeathed by the late Mr. William Cole to the Essex 
Museum. 
All collections of this size made by pr.vate individuals 
necessarily entail life-long study and labour, and possibly none 
but the entomologist fully appreciates what an absorb ng 
pursuit the collecting of insec s becomes. It was not my good 
fortune to know the brothers Cole personally, but I can c early 
see by the painstaking manner in which the collection has been 
compiled that they were enthusiasts who spared neither time 
nor trouble in acquiring the objects of their pursuit. 
I will endeavour to make some remarks on a few of the 
species contained in the collection which are to my mind of 
special interest. The collection is named practically from 
Doubleday’s list, which I will not attempt to alter. The old 
names still retain the distinct advantage of being understood 
by all collectors, and for me to attempt to be up-to-date in 
nomenclature would mean signal failure. It must be under- 
stood that I am not attempting an inventory of the collection, 
but only picking out a few species or specimens that may be of 
special interest. 
There is a specimen of Prerts brassice with the spots on the 
fore w-ngs connected by a slight dusking of black scales. This, 
of course, 1s a minor variety, but many seasons may pass without 
a similar one being taken. Then there is a very fine series of 
Colius edusa. Many of them were taken in the year 1877, the 
great Edusa year. The localities given would be no guide to 
young collectors, for the insect occurred in that year where it 
was never seen before and probably where it will never be seen 
again. The real home of the insect is in the south-eastern 
counties, and in those parts it is usually seen each year, but in 
greatly varying numbers. 
Leucophasia sinapts is another interesting species represented 
in the collection by a long series from the New Forest taken in 
the years 1874 and 1876. This insect is by no means one of our 
rarities, although it has long since vanished from the County 
of Essex, where it occurred many years ago. Doubleday records 
it from Epping Forest in his young days, and in an old collection 
of lep:'doptera examined by the Rev. G. H. Raynor, there was a 
specimen of Simapis taken at Chelmsford in 1840. In 1915 I 
was told by one of the keepers in the New Forest that Sinapis. 
had not been seen there for many years, although its food plant 
