Page:VCH Surrey 1.djvu/154

 A HISTORY OF SURREY about Reigate, Betchworth and Dorking. I have taken a few speci- mens near West Horsley, and it is sometimes common in the woods and on the downs to the east of Newlands Corner. The High Brown Fritillary (A. adippe, L.) has been recorded by Mr. Barrett as occurring sparingly at Haslemere. Mr. Sydney Webb says it occurs in similar localities to A. aglaia and also in woods. I have taken a few specimens near the Sheep Leas, West Horsley, on Shiere Common between Horsley and Shiere, between Mickleham and Headley, and in some of the wooded valleys to the east of Box Hill. This species, like A. papbia and A. aglaia, is almost entirely absent frbm the neigh- bourhood of London, and even in the centre and south-west of the county occurs very sparingly. The Queen of Spain Fritillary (A. lathonia, L.) has been recorded by the late Edward Newman from Croydon. Mr. Webb tells me that it has been also taken near Headley, Betchworth and Redstone, but that no captures have been reported since 1851. The Pearl Bordered Fritillary (A. euphrosyne, L.) has been recorded as abundant about Haslemere by Mr. Barrett. It is also recorded from Reigate by Mr. Sydney Webb, from Crohamhurst near Croydon and from Leatherhead by Mr. T. H. Briggs, and from Claygate and Horsley by Mr. J. G. Hewat. I have known the Claygate Woods for twenty-six years, but have never seen more than three or four specimens there in one season. It is not uncommon in the woods near the Sheep Leas between West Horsley and Shiere, but it is apparently absent from, or very rare in, the woods in the suburban district. The Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary 1 (A. selene, Schiff.) seems to be rare in the county. Mr. T. H. Briggs says he found it on Wimbledon Common about forty years ago and at Byfleet as recently as 1896. Mr. Webb refers to its occurrence near Reigate. Mr. Barrett also records this species as common near Haslemere, but I have never seen a specimen in the county, although it is abundant in many parts of the adjoining counties of Hampshire, Sussex and Kent. The Greasy Fritillary (Melitcea artemis, L.) is, or was, locally common near Hasle- mere. Mr. Barrett says : ' It occurs irregularly in numbers, but is occasionally abundant.' It does not seem to have been noticed lately and has probably disappeared from Surrey, as it has from so many English counties. I have never met with the species in the county, and with the exception of Mr. Barrett's record of its Haslemere locality I have never heard of its occurrence from any of my numerous friends and correspondents in any part of the county. The Large Tortoiseshell (Vanessa polycbloros, L.) is generally distributed throughout the county, but I have never seen it in abundance as it is in the New Forest. 1 The capture of a specimen of a continental species of Fritillary, Argynnts did, was reported by the late Mr. Arnold Lewis in the Ent. Monthly Magazine, March, 1876, vol. xii. p. 229, as having been made by Master Wallace Smith, a relative of his, at Worcester Park in 1872. This report was no doubt due to an error. A. dia has never, either before or since 1872, been recorded from Worcester Park, nor do the common species of Argynnis euphrosyne and selene, or either of them occur at Worcester Park. Mr. Arnold Lewis went to Switzerland every year and no doubt the specimen had been caught by him on the continent and given to his young relation, who after a time mixed it up with his British specimens and fancied he had caught it in Worcester Park. H, G, II?