WCP676

Letter (WCP676.848)

[1]1

12.08.[18]79

To your enquiry "How many species of Lepid[optera].2 are peculiar to "the British Isles?" I am disposed to reply "Are there any?" Chrip. dispar[?]3 is now held to be only a climatic form of the Hippothoe4 of Hübner5 & Poly. Artaxerxes6 a climatic form of Agestis[?]7 (Astrarche8 of Staudinger’s Catalogue9). If any British species are not yet known to occur on the Continent they will most probably be detected there before long.

Staudinger’s Catalogue of European Lepidoptera (1871) gives the geogr[aphical]. distr[ibution]. of the species— & where he has "Angl." only— the insect is not known as occurring in Continental Europe. Many species are very local— but also occur in other & distant localities— & till every spot has been searched, it is hard to say that such & such a species does not occur— it is always difficult to prove a negative. The occurrence in Perthshire10 in S M.M. 12. p85 July 1875 of such a large & conspicuous Tortrix11 as Ablabia argentana12 (Gouana)13 is a striking instance. It is not yet known to occur in England, or in the North of France,— but that it exists there though overlooked, one can hardly doubt.

1
This letter appears to begin in media res, with no address/introduction or valediction/signature.
2
Lepidoptera is the order of insects which includes moths and butterflies.
3
Dispar is a moth species name, specifically for the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar).
4
Hippothoe is the species name of Lycaena hippothoe, commonly called the Purple-edged Copper butterfly.
5
Jacob Hübner (1761 — 1826) was a German entomologist who authored Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge, one of the founding texts of the field of entomology. Hübner was also one of the first specialists on European Lepidoptera (see endnote 2).
6
Artaxerxes is the species name of Aricia artaxerxes, commonly called the Northern Brown Argus butterfly.
7
Agestis is the species name of Aricia agestis, commonly called the Brown Argus butterly.
8
Astrarche is the species name of Polyommatus astrarche, commonly called the Orange-bordered Argus butterfly.
9
Otto Staudinger (1830 — 1900) was a German entomologist and natural history dealer. He published three catalogues on the Lepidoptera of Europe and eventually the entire Palaearctic ecozone. Staudinger was one of the largest collectors of the time that specialised in the sale of insects to museums and private collections.
10
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth, is a county of central Scotland.
11
Tortrix refers to a genus of moths belonging to the family Tortricidae.
12
Moth of the genus Ablabia, an obsolete scientific name for the genus of tortrix moths called Eana. The name Ablabia was assigned by Hübner (see also endnote 5).
13
Gouana likely refers to the name Argyoptera gouana, the type species name for Argyroptera. Argyroptera, like Ablabia, is itself an obsolete scientific name for the genus of tortrix moths called Eana. Thus, the names discussed in the text marked by endnotes 12 and 13 apparently refer to the same species of moth, today called E. argentana.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP676.848)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Clerx, William [2012-08-16] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15]

Please cite as “WCP676,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP676