474 THE ESSEX NATURALIST. 
specimen, but apparently the one before us was taken in Epping 
Forest in 1879, whereas Newman’s book was published in 1871. 
There are the two small fritillaries, Avgynnis selena and A. 
euphrosyne, both taken in Monks Wood, Epping Forest, in 
June 1878. As far as my knowledge goes both these species 
have gone from the Forest without any apparent reason ; never- 
theless they are common enough in most woods in the South of 
England, especially Euphrosyne. 
There is a nice series of Melitea athalia taken in Chattenden 
Wood, North Kent, in the year 1874. This is another of our 
disappearing British butterflies. It has probably gone from 
Chattenden since about the year 1878, and from the woods 
round Colchester at an even earlier date. I was recently told 
_ by Mr. Harwood, the well-known entomologist, that his father 
used to take the insect in all the woods between Ipswich and 
Colchester, when a young man, but at the present day there is 
not one to be seen in any of them. However, the insect seems to 
have taken a new lease of life in some of the woods of East 
Kent, the exact locality not being known to me, but I have ample 
evidence that it occurs in numbers. Possibly in time it may 
re-occupy abandoned territory in Essex. 
Thecla betule was for many years one of the special butterflies 
-of Epping Forest. The series in the collection was taken in 1868 
and 1875. I think it was in the year 1897 that I heard of the 
last being taken in the Forest. For the last eight years I have 
made efforts (possibly somewhat feeble) to beat out the larve, 
but without success. In the year 188z, on Staples Hill, in the 
Forest, I took it ‘in fair abundance. It’is dificult to account 
‘for the disappearance of this insect. 
Turning to the “ Blues” there is a nice variety of Icarus 
(underside) taken in Epping Forest in June 1872, and a very 
interesting series of 4gon including a fine gynandromorph speci- 
men, all taken at High Beach in 1868. This is yet another 
‘species which has left Epping Forest, and like that of so many 
others its absence would rather point to the contaminating 
influence of smoke than to anything else. 
Perhaps some remarks may be made concerning the two 
‘ Skippers,” Hesperia linea from Epping Forest, and H. lineola 
from St. Osyth. The latter, although known on the Continent, 
‘was first discovered as a British species by Mr. Hawes, on the 
-coast of Essex, near Shoeburyness, in 1888. For a long time it 
was thought that we only possessed the one species Linea ; in 
fact an entomological friend of mine, who had collected in Essex 
‘some twenty years before 1888, found, when examining his series 
of Linea, that some were really Lineola and they had been resting 
in his cabinet for years unnoticed. In many ways the habits 
-of the two species are very similar, and on the Essex marshes 
they are frequently taken flying together; but the range of 
