INSECTS Mr. Barrett says it is not uncommon near Haslemere. I have noticed it as being not uncommon, after hybernation, about Cranleigh and other parts of south Surrey on the borders of Sussex. It is also not uncommon near the farmhouses on Abrook and Esher Commons between Oxshott and Esher, and has been recorded from Claygate, Chiddingfold, Worcester Park, Kingston, Leatherhead and West Horsley by Mr. J. G. Hewat, Mr. Kaye, Major Ficklin, and Mr. T. H. Briggs. Considering the amount of elm timber in the county it ought to occur plentifully, but with the exception of the commonest species Surrey does not seem to produce any butterflies in abundance. The rare Camberwell Beauty (V. antiopa, L.) has been taken in the county. Mr. Sydney Webb records the capture of a specimen at Copthorne on August 24, 1872, by Mr. Gilbert, who had also taken one a week earlier at Box Hill, Mr. J. G. Hewat informs me that he saw a specimen near Ox- shott on the 2Oth April, 1900, and Mr. Edward Saunders reports 1 the capture of a specimen in August, 1 900, by a friend of his, near Woking. The Peacock (V. io, L.), the Red Admiral (V. atalanta, L.) and the Painted Lady (V. cardui, L.) are generally distributed throughout the county. V. to is much scarcer than formerly. V. atalanta is a common insect in autumn, especially in gardens, even in the London suburbs, and V. cardui occurs plentifully in favourable seasons all over the county, especially in clover and lucerne fields. 2 The Purple Emperor (Apatura iris, L.) was recorded by the late Mr. Edward Newman as being formerly abundant near Godalming. It may have been so in the beginning or middle of the last century, but I am afraid it has now disappeared from Surrey as it has from the suburban portions of Kent, Essex and other metropolitan counties. Mr. Sydney Webb found this species about forty years ago not uncommonly in a small wood near Colley Farm, Rei- gate, and he also occasionally caught or saw specimens at Hightrees and Redstone Wood near Redhill, but the last specimen he observed was in 1864. Mr. Barrett informs me that he has only twice seen A. iris in Surrey, viz. in a wood near Haslemere. Both specimens were females and they were apparently looking for sallow bushes on which to deposit their ova. He thinks that they were, probably, mere stragglers from the Sussex woods from four to ten miles away. A tradition exists that the species occurred in the early part of the last century in the oak woods known as the Prince's Covers between Claygate and Stoke d'Abernon Chase. The Marbled White (Arge ga/at&ea, L.), which, although local, is so abundant in many localities in Kent, Sussex, Hamp- shire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire and 1 A few specimens of the White Admiral (Limenttii lybilla, L.) have been reported by Mr. H. Maxwell of Surbiton, as having been taken by him in the woods near Horsley in July, 1901. I have never met with the species in any part of Surrey, nor am I aware that its capture has been previously recorded from any part of the county. It seems possible that the specimens of L. sybilla taken by Mr. Maxwell may have been purposely introduced into the Horsley Woods in the pupal state, or that they may have immigrated from the neighbourhood of Liphook and Woolmer Forest in east Hampshire, where the species occurs commonly.
- Ent. Mo. Magazine, April, 1901, p. 100. H. G.
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