Treasures of the Dalean Collection. Lepidoptera & Coleoptera

[bobw]

Peter

Obviously when Dale's collection was formed nobody was aware that there were two different species of "pale clouded yellow". It's not too difficult to identify them when you get your eye in but it takes a while. When I was sorting out the 500+ specimens in my collection I quickly was able to separate them with 99% accuracy; just looking at these photos having not really studied them for a few years it's a little more difficult. However I would say that top two males in your 2nd photo are C. alfacariensis but the one below them is hyale; all the specimens in photo 4 seem to be hyale.

I've looked at quite a lot of "British" hyale and in my experience about 75% are alfacariensis. This makes sense when you look at their distribution on the near continent.

Bob

[Deleted]

I have quite a few genuine British specimens of each species and find it very difficult to tell them apart.

[nomad]

Thanks Bob for the ID. I thought those two might be C. alfacariensis. I have corrected the latin name for the Clouded Yellow = C croceus. It is amazing that no one recognized until 1945, that there was another species of Colias in Europe and that it had been collected in Britain long ago in the early 19th Century. The Belgian entomologist who discovered this, L.A Berger must have been very pleased.  James Dale would have been most surprised. Looking again at the Dale specimens, I am amazed at their condition, especially as some of them are nearly two hundred years old! Below are two of my images of two different female C croceus that I managed to photograph on the Wiltshire U.K. Downs, August 2013 .


C. croceus female feeding at Wild Basil [ Clinopodium vulgare].


C. croceus female resting on  Woolly-headed Thistle [ Cirsium eriophorum] during dark cloud followed by rain. Well camouflaged.

[bobw]

Feb 10, 2014 7:55:11 GMT -8 radusho said:

I think the only 100% method how to distinguish these 2 species is to breed them, otherwise there will be always doubts. Both species are variable and the other thing is that they prefer different habitats.

Sure, the only way to be 100% sure is to breed them, but that doesn't help to identify specimens in collections. Yes, they do prefer different habitats and hyale is on average found at higher altitudes than alfacariensis; they are very rarely found flying together. The range is also different: alfacariensis is strictly European whareas hyale is found as far east as Yakutia, and is rarer in the far west of Europe. Also, although both species are noted wanderers, reaching places like the UK on occasion, they are not migratory in the sense that C. ctoceus is; most of the time they're fairly sedentary.

There are a few diagnostic features and a combination of these gives you a pretty good idea. I've examined several thousand specimens for the book in my own collection, BMNH and many other private collections, including many where the species was known (but not by me until I'd attempted ID). I reckon I can confidently determine 90%+ of males and 70-80% of females.

Bob

[nomad]

Feb 10, 2014 23:18:24 GMT -8 radusho said:

Feb 10, 2014 12:32:04 GMT -8 nomad said:

It is amazing that no one recognized until 1945, that there was another species of Colias in Europe and that it had been collected in Britain long ago in the early 19th Century. The Belgian entomologist who discovered this, L.A Berger must have been very pleased.

Well, it was described already in 1905 by Ribbbe...

Well the name that Berger used, D. alfacariensis had been used by Ribbe in 1905 for a form of Pale Clouded Yellow, C. hyale, which may have been this species. So I am afraid Colias alfacariensis Berger 1948 stands. Ribbe thought he was naming a form of C. hyale, Berger knew he was naming a new species. There was some controversy over the use of the name alfacariensis and so in 1950, Berger and Hemming tried to rename the butterfly australis . australis was again invalid, because Verity had already given that name to a subspecific form C. hyale. Cockanye in 1952 objected to both the names alfacariensis and australis and named Berger's new species, Colias calida in 1952. As all these different names were being used by different entomologists, in 1982 some order was restored and, under the established rules of nomenclatural priority, alfacariensis was readmitted. O, to be a taxonomist . . Information taken from The Aurelian Legacy by Michael A. Salmon.

[nomad]

As you mentioned, I do see that most web-sites now now quote Ribbe as being the author of the description of C. alfacariensis. The Best British butterfly website U.K. Butterflies still gives Berger 1948. However as the name was Ribbes, he should be credited, but it does not alter the fact that it was Berger who was the one who found that the butterfly was a distinct species.

[bobw]

From the alfacariensis entry in our Colias book:

The name alfacariensis was unavailable from its first publication in 1905, because of Ribbe’s application of the prefix “ab.”, although it was discussed as a geographical form distinguishable from those that occur in other regions. Some authors considered the name validated because of the original application of the name for a “geographical form”, principally Reissinger (1971, 1987, 1989, 1990) and Reissinger & Wagener (1990). Some correctly maintained that if alfacariensis was deemed unavailable from its first publication by Ribbe (1905), it should still be considered available from the subsequent discussions by Ribbe (1906, 1907, 1910, 1912) wherein he gave it the status of “varietas”. Kudrna (1982) held a different opinion and discussed the situation at some length, claiming the oldest available name for the species to be alfacariensis Berger, 1948. At the time it seemed a correct and sensible solution to ascribe the species name to the Belgian lepidopterist who first recognised it as specifically distinct from C. hyale (Linnaeus, 1758), but this became irrelevant after a ruling of the IZCN. The proposal was eventually submitted that the IZCN should confirm the availability of the name, and so establish its priority over others such as australis Verity, 1911 and alfacariensis Berger, 1948 (Whitebread et al. 1988). The Commission did this in Opinion 1657 (ICZN 1991), by placing alfacariensis Ribbe, 1905 on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology, therefore ending almost half a century of nomenclatural instability.

Bob

[bobw]

Just to complicate matters further, once we started researching the names we found three older names which take priority over alfacariensis. Not wanting to reopen that can of worms we applied to the commission to get them suppressed. This is the entry from the book:

Unfortunately however, C. alfacariensis Ribbe, 1905 is not the oldest available name; it is superseded by the overlooked sareptensis Alphéraky, 1875, alba Rühl, 1893 and meridionalis Krulikowsky, 1903. Because the substitution of C. sareptensis, C. alba, or C. meridionalis for the well-established “official” name of C. alfacariensis would cause much confusion, Grieshuber, Worthy & Lamas (2006) referred the case to the ICZN (Case 3334). With Opinion 2180 (ICZN 2007) the Commission ruled that the name alfacariensis Ribbe, 1905 is conserved by giving it precedence over the senior subjective synonyms C. hyale alba Rühl, 1893, C. hyale sareptensis Alphéraky, 1875 and C. hyale meridionalis Krulikowsky, 1903, whenever it and any of the other three are considered to be synonyms. The names hyrcanica Reissinger, 1989 and its junior homonym/synonym C. a. hyrcanica D. Weiss, 1990 are junior synonyms of C. a. alba Rühl, 1893. More information may be found in Grieshuber, Worthy & Lamas (2006).

The name sareptensis has been used instead of alfacariensis in some Russian publications in recent years, this ruling by the Commission makes such usage incorrect. I won't comment on the suitability of using a name such as alba as an available name for a Colias taxon!

Bob

[nomad]

Were L. hippothoe and L virgaureae ever British

There are a number of historic specimens of the Purple Edged Copper, Lycaena hippothoe in the Dale collection, but all could be fraudulent examples. Nevertheless, they remain valuable because of their age and they have an interesting story to tell. In the Dale collection there are three specimens of Lycaena hippothoe labelled as British. They have the data, Woodside, Epping - September 1818 from Dr Leach [ J.C.Dale.] In his British Entomology, John Curtis [1791-1862] wrote that L. hippothoe was abundant in August and September 1818 at Woodside in Epping. Dr Leach received a fine series of L. hippothoe from Epping during this period for several successive seasons. However, what Curtis, Dale and Dr Leach did not then realise, that the specimens of L. hippothoe may not come from the wilds of Epping, but from the breeding cages of a very shady dealer called George Plastead who lived there. George Plastead then of Chelsea, had laid down his ground work early because he reported that he had captured a single specimen of a new British insect L. hippothoe in a well known locality for other rare lepidoptera, Ashdown Forest in Sussex during 1808. J.C. Dale was a friend and a patron of the great entomological artist John Curtis. In 1825 Curtis and Dale made a collecting tour of Scotland, which at that time was hardly visited by entomologists and they discovered thirty unknown species of insects.

In the Dale collection there is also a series of eight specimens of Lycaena virgaureae [Linnaeus 1758], which was known to the early British collectors as the Scarce Copper. Was this species ever British? There are a number of specimens of L. virgaureae in historical British collections. Are some of them genuine British examples or are they all fraudulent and were they provided by disreputable dealers, which in the 19th century so plagued the entomological community. As the butterfly fauna was not then entirely known, those dishonest characters were eager to make money from unsuspecting collectors who were so eager to add any new British butterflies to their collection. One female in the Dale collection, which has a very old British entomological pin, has the data C.H. Capel-Cure, Cromer, Norfolk - August 26 1868. Two specimens have L. dispar localities: one has the data Isle of Ely, Yaxley, Dr Leach , the latter was very eminent and highly regarded entomologist, but he is known to have purchased specimens from that rogue George Plastead, the other specimen is labelled the Haworth sale, Isle of Ely, 1824. The five others are labelled Museum Bloomsbury from James Francis Stephens . Stephens [1792-1852] helped curate the early insect collections at the British Museum. If this species was once British, why are there no recorded written accounts by the legion of collectors who operated in the 19th century. Perhaps their silence on this matter speaks volumes.


Lycaena hippothoe - Dale collection.


Lycaena virgaureae - Dale collection.

[nomad]

The Bedford Large Blue

In the first year that the Reverend Charles Abbot [ 1761-1817 ] decided to become an Aurelian [ an early name for British Entomologists], he went into his local Clapham Park woods near Bedford in the June of 1798 and discovered a butterfly new to Britain, the Chequered Skipper [ Caterocephalus palaemon.] His run of good fortune continued, for soon afterwards in the Mouse's pasture of the limestone Ouse valley at Bromham near Bedford, he discovered a colony of the rare Large Blue [ Maculinea arion]. In 1817 ,while Dale was travelling, he stayed at the local Swan inn in Bedford where he apparently saw the late Charles Abbot's collection, which he purchased. In the Dale collection there is a very fine series of Large Blues from Langport in Somerset and from Barnwell Wold in Northamptonshire. In 1819, Dale visited the Mouse's pasture at Bromham in 1819 and took only one specimen of M. arion. The specimen that Dale captured may have been the last recorded example from that locality. What became of the Dale specimen from Bromham remains a mystery, because the only specimen with Bedford placed at its side, is in fact a specimen of M. alcon. Although the M. alcon is a fine specimen considering the early date, the M. alcon it is missing its abdomen. [ See the further post on the M. alcon Dale specimen ]. It is not known what became of the specimens of Maculinea arion that Charles Abbot collected at Bromham, they may have been in poor condition and J.C. Dale or C.W. Dale may have not wanted to include them in his main collection. It is easy to picture James Dale on a pleasant far off summer's day in 1819 or Charles Abbot on earlier visits, quietly strolling down the gently sloping valley Ouse Valley in Bedfordshire to look for Maculinea arion among the anthills of that long vanished unimproved pasture. For more on the Charles Abbot see the following I. podalirius post.




James Charles Dale.

[nomad]

Was Iphiclides podalirius ever British

Iphiclides podalirius [ Linnaeus 1758 ] is known in Britain as the Scarce Swallowtail because there have been very few records of this fine butterfly. Iphiclides podalirius was first mentioned as British as far back as 1710. Most works quote that the first authoritative record of a capture of this species in Britain was by the Reverend Charles Abbot at Clapham Park Wood near Bedford in May 1803. Abbot also mentions that he saw another Scarce Swallowtail shortly afterwards, but missed it. Dale acquired the I. podalirius specimen when he purchased the Charles Abbot collection in 1817. Abbot seems to have been fortunate with finding rare immigrants because he also took a Pontia daplidice and a Issoria lathonia in the nearby Gamlingay Wood a month later in June 1803. Both specimens are in the Dale collection and like Abbot's I. podalirius specimen are in very poor condition and were probably only included because of their extreme rarity and historical interest. Did the Reverend Abbot take a genuine vagrant I. podalirius one sunny day in Clapham Park Wood. Those that read the Bedford Large Blue article in this thread, will know that Abbot discovered the new British skipper Carterocephalus palaemon in the same wood in 1798 and he appears to have been a highly regarded naturalist who also wrote a Flora of Bedfordshire in 1798. However, when Dale examined the Abbot collection, he also found two exotic Skippers Hesperia bucephalus and Pyrgus oileus that were also taken in Clapham Park Wood. So what was going on! To some, Abbot's reputation was tarnished by the unusual rarities that he had captured. It seems to me, and as others have suggested, the dear Reverend had been the target of the activities of an entomologist who was not looking for new species, but carefully releasing them. The most likely candidate was the entomological dealer George Plastead , who was known to have released species for others to find. There would have been nothing better than to have a distinguished naturalist, who had already found a new and local butterfly, capture others that were new or rare to the British list. When the dealer sold others of the same species, if there was any question of them being genuine he could point out the captures of the Reverend at Bedford.

The wealthy Reverend Frederick William Hope [1797-1862 ] who founded the Hope Department and Entomological collections at Oxford, took a specimen of Iphiclides podalirius at Netley in Shropshire on the 14th September 1822. Hope wrote to C.W.Dale " my own successes have far outran my expectations, & it will be a piece of news to inform you that I have captured the long desired & doubted Papilio podalirius, since then I have seen another on the wing, but could not obtain it". Over the next six years Hope saw I. podalirius at Netley. So somewhere near his home Allan [1980] suggested there must have been a breeding population. In 1829 Hope saw another specimen of his Scarce Swallowtail feeding on fallen fruit but missed it. One of the specimens of I. podalirius that Hope captured at Netley survives at in the entomological department Oxford which he founded . There has been much speculation as to the origin of the Netley specimens. Salmon [2000] mention that a lady at nearby Longnor painted butterflies including this species, so did she release those specimens that Hope took? We will never know.


The Charles Abbot I. podalirius specimen from Bedford 1803.


A fine plate of I. podalirius by the great artist John Curtis. From his British Entomology 1820-1840.

[Deleted]

Just out of interest Peter, how difficult is it to see the Dale collection, I am down that way in june?

[nomad]

Hi dunc, they do behind the seen tours around that time, but if you really want to see the Dale collection you could try the email I will PM you. By the Way I have finally gained permission to visit the Delias collection at the British Museum this coming Tuesday.

[Deleted]

Thanks Peter.

[nomad]

I do hope some of you are enjoying the history and specimens of these historic British Insects.

The first British Cupido argiades

The Short-tailed Blue - Cupido argiades is a common species in Central and Southern Europe, but it is a very rare immigrant to Britain with just 17 recorded. This species was first noted as new to Britain in 1885 when the entomologist Reverend O. Pickard Cambridge and his son captured two specimens on Bloxworth Heath near Wareham in Dorset. For many years British entomologists knew this species as the Bloxworth Blue. The same year Philip Tudor took a specimen in his garden in the nearby coastal town of Bournemouth. Because of the sudden interest of a new butterfly for Britain, the Reverend J. Seymour St John recorded in the journal ' The Entomologist ' that he had discovered that a male and a female had been taken by a Dr Marsh in a quarry two miles from his home at Whatley near Frome in Somerset during 1874. These two specimens were acquired for the Dale collection and were figued by E.B. Ford in his New Naturalist volume ' Butterflies ' in 1945. The pair from Bloxworth are also in the collections at Oxford and can be viewed at this link.
www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species_historic.php?genus=Cupido&species=argiades&subspecies=argiades&form=argiades



Cupido argiades pair from Whatley, Somerset 1874. Dale collection.



Two other British specimens of Cupido argiades in a private collection.

Ah, I wonder what Worldwide Butterflies would sell that specimen of C. argiades for today, and Abbey butterflies located in the old market-Roman town of Cirencester. I had many pleasant days in their shop taking butterflies during the 1980's.

[jensb]

Thnx nomad

For this awesome topic just read the howle topic. Took me while

Greets jens

P.s. have fun today

[nomad]

When I write articles I try to get accurate references, however sometimes mistakes do occur especially in the case of a post here - The Bedford Large Blue. Because Bedford was placed at its side , I took this for a variety of M. arion although M. alcon is also clearly seen on the labels placed above the specimen. Dale recorded that he took a single specimen of M. arion at Bedford in 1819 and was in his collection, although this is clearly not that specimen, but in fact a specimen of Maculinea alcon, a species not known to be British. What has become of Dale's single M. arion specimen remains a mystery. All the early British entomologists took the alcon specimen to be a variety of M. arion, which it is certainly not. James Walker of Oxford rightly thought that this is a specimen of M. alcon in his review of the Dale collection in the Entomologist for 1907. In the register of the collection that was kept by C.W. Dale, the alcon specimen was captured in the early 19th century at Cliefden in Buckinghamshire by a Mr H. Jones and was given to the famous British entomologist Haworth and then later acquired at the sale of the collection by C.W. Dale. So where did this specimen really originate from- was it really caught in the Chilterns or was it given to Jones from another source. If there was once an ancient British population of the M. alcon, why is there only one specimen. It has been suggested because there are coastal populations of M. alcon in Holland it might have been blown or flown across the channel, but then one would have expected the capture to have been made on the Kent coast not many miles inland. when I have time I will rewrite the Large Blue article. Peter.


The Maculinea alcon specimen in the Dale collection. British example?

[smallcopper]

Mar 8, 2014 0:32:14 GMT -8 nomad said:

When I write articles I try to get accurate references, however sometimes mistakes do occur especially in the case of a post here - The Bedford Large Blue. Because Bedford was placed at its side , I took this for a variety of M. arion although M. alcon is also clearly seen on the labels placed above the specimen. Dale recorded that he took a single specimen of M. arion at Bedford in 1819 and was in his collection, although this is clearly not that specimen, but in fact a specimen of Maculinea alcon, a species not known to be British. What has become of Dale's single M. arion specimen remains a mystery. All the early British entomologists took the alcon specimen to be a variety of M. arion, which it is certainly not. James Walker of Oxford rightly thought that this is a specimen of M. alcon in his review of the Dale collection in the Entomologist for 1907. In the register of the collection that was kept by C.W. Dale, the alcon specimen was captured in the early 19th century at Cliefden in Buckinghamshire by a Mr H. Jones and was given to the famous British entomologist Haworth and then later acquired at the sale of the collection by C.W. Dale. So where did this specimen really originate from- was it really caught in the Chilterns or was it given to Jones from another source. If there was once an ancient British population of the M. alcon, why is there only one specimen. It has been suggested because there are coastal populations of M. alcon in Holland it might have been blown or flown across the channel, but then one would have expected the capture to have been made on the Kent coast not many miles inland. when I have time I will rewrite the Large Blue article. Peter.

Download Attachment
The Maculinea alcon specimen in the Dale collection. British example?

Another PM coming your way shortly, Peter! I can help fill in some of the blanks on the M.arion / M.alcon story...

Jon

[smallcopper]

I'm also forgetting my manners. Thanks so much for taking the time to compile this thread, Peter. It's a fabulous read, and I'm enjoying it immensely. I think it must have passed me by when I was away in Ecuador earlier this year, or I'd have been all over it like a rash at the time.

Jon

[nomad]

Hi Jon
Thank you for your kind comments and PM. The Dale collection of British insects is so important that it certainly deserves to be reviewed and the historical treasures that it contains shown to a wider audience.

Peter.

[nomad]

Collecting at Whittlesea Mere in Cambridgeshire during July 1819 James Dale made the first capture of the Reed Tussock moth - Laelia coenosa - Hubner 1805 in the British Isles. Jacob Hubner ( 1761- 1826 ) the German Entomologist from Augsburg described this species in his great work : Sammlung Europaischer Schmetterlinge ( 1796-1805 ). This moth from the Lymantriidae family has a wide distribution in Southern and Central Europe and ranges across Asia to Japan. In Britain, this now extinct species, was confined to a few sites in Cambridgeshire at Whittlesea, Yaxley and Burwell Fens. By 1850 it had disappeared from all of these Great Fen localities , when they were drained and then ploughed . L. coenosa was also found in plenty at the nearby Wicken Fen where the larvae could be bought from the local reed cutters at a shilling per dozen. By the the 1860s the species had become rare and the last specimen was taken at Wicken in 1879 by a local insect dealer . Most of the specimens in British collections were obtained from Wicken Fen. J. C. Dale's Laelia coenosa specimens from Whittlesea Mere are in his collection at the Hope department of Entomology together with his series from Wicken Fen. I have mentioned elsewhere that the water level at Wicken Fen became lower and then at different periods a number of its important relict fenland lepidoptera populations were lost. Today Wicken Fen is still a National Nature Reserve with important moth populations. Peter.


Two male Laelia coenosa from the Dale collection.


Female from Whittlesea Mere Dale collection.


Females  of L. coenosa in the Dale collection.


A series of extinct British L. coenosa from a private collection.


Plate 51 showing (Bombyx) L. coenosa from Hubner's Sammlung Europaischer Schmetterlinge

[nomad]

Two species of Hawk moths of the Sphingidae ( Macroglossinae), that are common in parts of Africa and the Far East, are very rare immigrants to the British Isles. These are The Silver-striped Hawkmoth - Hippotion celerio (Linn 1758) and the Oleander Hawkmoth - Daphnis nerii (Linn 1758). The Dale collection has some very historic specimens of both species including the first that were ever taken in Britain.
Daphnis nerii is a very beautiful moth when fresh, but after many years in collections the glorious marbled green colours fade to brownish.This species is not recorded every year in our islands and when it does occur it is seen in very small numbers. The record for the U.K was 13 in 1953. John James Walker RN (1851-1939) reviewed the new bequest of the Dale collection to the Oxford Natural History Museum in the Entomologist Magazine 1907-1909. He studied the lepidoptera in the Dale collection in some detail after he retired and lived in Oxford. Walker was a fine Entomologist who collected widely in the Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and in the Mediterranean when he was a commander in the Royal Navy. He was also a brilliant lepidoptera historian, here is an example of his detective work relating to the capture of the first ever adult British Daphnis nerii ( Chaerocampa nerii ).

" the most interesting is a male, a little faded in colour, but otherwise in good condition with the exception of a small piece out of each apex of each fore-wing, and the top of the head is rubbed bare. It is labelled " Dover by Mr Le Plaistrier Sept, 1828. ". The latter date is almost certainly erroneous as regards the year,as the first record of the capture of the imago of C. nerii, in our islands appears in the Entomological Magazine for 1833 ( Vo1 p525 ) as follows - Discovery of Sphinx nerii in England " Sir, another addition has been made to our visiting Sphingidae by the capture of the splended Deilephila ( may I call it ) nerii at Dover about ten days since. From the state of the specimen, which I have this day examined, it must have been very recently disclosed, the tips of the wings and the top of its head,alone being injured by its captor, a lady residing in the above town *** J. F. Stephens Sept 16th 1833.

" The specimen now under consideration is slightly damaged in precisely the manner as above described. It seems reasonable to suppose that it was from this example that the beautiful figure in Curtis' " British Entomology "plate 626 was drawn. Curtis at this time the plate was published ( June 1837 ) apparently knew of only two British taken C. nerii one of which was in the cabinet of his fellow worker J. C Dale, and was presumably lent to him for the purpose of this figure, although more fully and richly coloured than the moth is now after a lapse of nearly three-quarters of a century, agrees with it in a remarkable and convincing manner in all the minute details of the markings ; and though Curtis states " This fine specimen of the moth Mr Le Plastrier informed me was taken by a poor man the latter end of September 1834 near the pier at Dover, and bought to him alive ; It therefore appears to me that these two disrepent records refer to the capture at Dover of a single specimen of C. nerii, which came into the hands of the well known collector Mr Le Plaistrier and from him passed to J.C Dale and that this, the first example of this beautiful moth known to have been taken in Britain has thus been handed down to our time. "

Very much later it seems Stephens version of the capture had been accepted. Writing in the moths of the British Isles in 1907 ; Richard South, one of Britain's most distinguished and best loved lepidopterists, wrote that the first specimen of Daphnis nerii was taken by a lady at Dover in her drawing room during 1833. How much better for those gentlemen entomologists to have the first known specimen of this beautiful moth to have been taken by a noble Lady than by a ' poor man' at the Dover pier. It seems that a caterpillar of D. nerii was found in a garden at Charmouth in Devon a year earlier in 1832. Unfortunately the caterpillar died when it was given and handled by a Mrs Taylor who wanted to make a drawing of the larvae. Mrs Taylor then sent the drawing to J.C. Dale who passed it on to John Curtis and the larvae is figured on the same plate as the first adult to be taken in our islands.

Among the other five early specimens of D. nerii in the Dale collection, there is one that was taken in London at Poplar, Sept 20 - 1888; another that was captured by a small boy at Eastbourne in Sussex circling around a street light on Sept 27 1884 and one collected as far north as Hartlepool on the north-east coast of England in July 1885.


This first ever specimen of Daphnis nerii to be captured in Britain at Dover.


D. nerii Eastbourne 1884.


D. nerii Hartlepool 1885.


D. nerii Poplar London 1888.




The John Curtis ( 1791-1862) plate from his British Entomology  1837, showing the Le Plasterier Dover adult and the Charmouth larva found in 1832.




The Silver-striped Hawk-moth - Hippotion celerio is also a very beautiful and rare immigrant to the U.K, but is more frequent than D. nerii. In the Dale collection there is a very old specimen that was the first to be captured in Britain. This specimen was taken in July 1779 in Bunhill Fields burying ground in North London.. It was purchased by A.H. Haworth from a Mr Francillion and was later acquired by C.W. Dale at the auction rooms. Among the other six specimens in the Dale collection are a very old male, Brighton J.G. Children; A worn male from St Leonards Sussex 1866; A female taken by a boy in Teignmouth, Devon 1880 ; a female at Bognor Regis in Sussex by P.C. Lloyd in August 1885 and a female picked up by a lady at Glanville's Wootton in 1885 and given to C.W. Dale. 1885 was a very notable year for this species in the U.K when 41 were recorded.


The first British specimen of Hippotion celerio that was captured in Britain during 1779. This was the year of the American War of Independence  and George III was on the throne.



H. celerio Teignmouth, Devon 1880.



H. celerio Bognor Regis, Sussex 1885.

[cabintom]

Interesting! If I'm not mistaken I've captured a couple of specimens of H. celerio in Uganda. So, it's quite interesting to read of information of it also being found so far north.