INSECTS LEPIDOPTERA The Lepidoptera of the county have always been a favourite study with the majority both of resident and of visiting entomologists, and the workers in consequence have been numerous. The earliest county lists are those of Dr. Cocks for Falmouth and of Mr. William Noye for Penzance. Mr. J. J. Reading, in his account of the Lepidoptera of the Plymouth district in the Transactions of the Plymouth Institute for 1 86 1, included a number of valuable data from the south-east of the county. In 1882 Mr. E. P. Marquand published his 'Lepidoptera of West Cornwall ' in the Transactions of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society, and between 1884 and 1890 further con- tributions appeared on the same subject and in the same Transactions by Mr. E. A. Atmore, Mr. A. H. Jenkin, Mr. H. W. Vivian, and Messrs. J. C. and C. W. Dale. The Lepidoptera of Scilly attracted the attention of Mr. R. Adkin, the Rev. H. Harpur Crewe, Mr. F. Jenkinson, and Mr. F. Norgate, while Mr. H. Jenner Fust published some interesting records for the mainland. Then in the Transactions of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society for 1894 Mr. W. E. Baily, in a paper entitled ' Lepidoptera of Cornwall and of the Islands of Scilly,' summed up practically all the work of previous writers, added many observations of his own, and incorporated the data supplied in MS. by the Rev. T. A. Marshall for East Cornwall, by Mr. R. V. Tellam for the country round Bodmin, and by the Messrs. Marquand for the Penzance district, along with some notes sent in by Mr. A. Rashleigh and Mr. F. Jenkinson. In the preparation of the accompanying list the writer wishes to express his indebtedness to the late Mr. W. E. Baily and to the late Rev. T. A. Marshall for many unpublished county records, and to Mr. H. Goss for notes on north coast Lepidoptera. In addition to much admirable work by his pupils he further gratefully acknowledges annotated lists from the Rev. G. Lupton Allen for Millook and for Launceston ; from Mr. A. Kenelm Peter for the country round Poundstock ; from the late Mr. G. Marryat for Looe ; from that prince of collectors, Mr. R. V. Tellam, for Mid- Cornwall ; from his colleague Mr. W. A. Rollason for the Truro district ; and from Mr. A. J. Spiller for Godolphin. Specimens and notes have also been kindly given to the writer or placed at his disposal by many county observers, chief among whom are Mr. J. D. Enys and Mr. Howard Fox. The classification and arrangement of the moths is that of Mr. Edward Meyrick in his Hand- book of British Lepidoptera. RHOPALOCERA The Swallow-tail (Papilio machaon) is not a native, but various attempts have been made to establish it in the county. Noye, Baily, and others have at different times set freshly-emerged specimens at liberty, and turned down pupae, but in all cases the insects have quickly disappeared. On 5 August, 1 905, Howard Fox saw one crossing Trebah beach on the Helford River, probably a specimen accidentally introduced. Sir Charles Lemon reported an example of Parnassius apollo captured near one of his greenhouses at Carclew, but suggested it had been introduced in the pupa stage in a batch of plants from the Continent. Of the Black-veined White (Aporla crataegi) two specimens were recorded by F. H. Davey from the Falmouth district. One of these, fresh but mutilated, was brought to him by the captor in 1892 from the valley of the Kennall, near Ponsa- nooth ; the other, taken in the St. Mawes district, he found in a local collection in 1894. The Large and Small Cabbage Whites (Pieris brassicae and P. rapae) are abundant throughout the county, and occasionally do considerable damage to the different members of the cabbage family. In 1899 some Honesty grown for the market near Penzance was much disfigured, and a quantity of seedling wallflowers practically destroyed, by P. brassicae. Early in September, 1891, an immense cloud of this species came in near the Lizard, and for the next day or two, hundreds of thousands of dead insects were washed up on the beach. The Green-veined White (P. napi) is common on the whole, though in some districts it is rather scarce. It never occurs in such quantities as to be a serious pest, the only mischief attributed to it during the last six years being the partial destruction of a crop of watercress near Bodmin in 1900. The beautiful Orange-tip (Anthocaris cardamines) is usually very common, but for some years females have been unaccountably scarce. Though usually single-brooded, specimens of a second emergence were seen and captured by Baily on 28 August, 1897, at Marazion. The larvae feed on cruciferae, and especially on the seed pods. In 1900 it attacked the pods of some seeding broccoli at Penzance, and in 1902 did some damage to seeding Brompton Stocks at Liskeard. The delicate Wood White (Leucophasia sinapis) is in most seasons not uncommon in the sheltered partly-wooded valley of Millook, near Bude, and in the adjoining copses. It was obtained near Launceston over forty years ago by Reading, and has been recently taken in that neighbourhood by 203
