mon gorse, a plant found only in limited
portions of Western and Southern Europe; and the presence of this plant in
a mild and insular climate such as ours may well be supposed to have led to
the preservation of some of the numerous species which are or have been
dependent on it. Since the first edition was {347} published many new
British species have been discovered, while some of the supposed peculiar
species have been found on the continent. Information as to these has been
kindly furnished by Mr. W. Warren, Mr. C. G. Barrett, Lord Walsingham, and
other students of British Lepidoptera, and the first-named gentleman has
also looked over the proofs.

Mr. McLachlan has kindly furnished me with some valuable information on
certain species of Trichoptera or Caddis flies which seem to be peculiar to
our islands; and this completes the list of orders which have been studied
with sufficient care to afford materials for such a comparison. We will now
give the list of peculiar British Insects, beginning with the Lepidoptera
and adding such notes as have been supplied by the gentlemen already
referred to.

_List of the Species or Varieties of Lepidoptera which, so far as at
present known, are confined to the British Islands. (The figures show the
dates when the species was first described. Species added since the first
edition are marked with an asterisk.)_

DIURNI.

1. POLYOMMATUS DISPAR. "The large copper." This fine insect, once
common in the fens, but now extinct owing to extensive drainage, is
generally admitted to be peculiar to our island, at all events as a
variety or local form. Its continental ally differs constantly in being
smaller and in having smaller spots; but the difference, though
constant, is so slight that it is now classed as a variety under the
name of _rutilus_. Our insect may therefore be stated to be a
well-marked local form of a continental species.

2. Lycaena astrarche, _var._ ARTAXERXES. This very distinct form is
confined to Scotland and the north of England. The species of which it
is considered a variety (more generally known to English entomologists
as _P. agestis_) is found in the southern half of England, and almost
everywhere on the continent.

BOMBYCES.

3. Lithosia complana, _var._ SERICEA. North of England (1861).

4. Hepialus humuli, _var._ HETHLANDICA. Shetland Islands (1865). A
remarkable form, in which th