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STRAY NOTES ON THE BUTTERFLIES OF
EPPING FOREST.
By A. W. MERA.
BEFORE touching on what may be considered the truly
indigenous species of the district, I may say that the
great interest of the season of 1928 has been the large numbers
of migratory insects that have visited our coasts from abroad
and have penetrated inland as far as our Forest. These species
probably may not occur again in the neighbourhood for some
years to come. Particularly may be mentioned the Clouded
Yellow, Colias croceus, which I have seen in some numbers in the
less frequented open places of the Forest. The same remarks
may be applied to the Painted Lady, Pyrameis cardui. Probably
last year's immigration will prove to be one of the most widely
spread invasions of the latter species ever recorded.
The comparatively few indigenous butterflies that make up
my list consist of some 20 species. These include, first, the
three 'Whites,' Picris brassicae, P. napi and P. rapae. Then
we have Gonepteryx rhamni, The Brimstone ; this is generally
seen each year in the Forest, which is somewhat surprising,
considering the scarcity of Buckthorn in the district, which is
it? food plant. Euchloe cardamines, the Orange Tip, may be
seen each spring in the lanes round the Forest rather than in the
Forest itself. Of the 'Fritillaries,' the only one I have seen is
adippe, The High Brown Fritillary, which I took on July 22,
1917, and another I saw on July 24, 1921. The Vanessidae
are represented by the three common species, the Peacock,
Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell.
Pararge egeria, the Speckled Wood, is a species which has
disappeared within my memory. In 1868 it was fairly common
in the higher parts of the Forest. Soon after that year I saw
the last of it. It's congener, the Wall butterfly, P. megaera,
has had a more erratic existence. I had never met with it in
the Forest before August, 1919, but from that time up to June 2,
1922, I frequently saw it. Since that date I have seen no more
in this neighbourhood. Epinephele janira, the Meadow Brown,
is to be taken in some abundance and variety in most of the
open spaces, and the same may be said of the Small Heath
Butterfly, Coenonympha pamphilus. Thecla betulae is another