The Comma Butterfly in England

Abstract

SINCE the publication of Dr. Dawe's letter in 1929, a good deal of evidence bearing on the spread of Polygonia c-album in south-eastern England has accumulated. At that time, only one definite record for Kent (in 1916) could be found ; it has now been seen in East Kent (1929) and at Sandhurst (1930). In Sussex: it appears to have established itself fairly securely along the South Downs about Chichester and Arundel, and also farther east at Lewes and East-bourne. In Surrey, from which county it had not been reported in 1929, except for one record of an occurrence at Walton-on-Thames, it has since been met with at Sutton, Farnham, and Grayshott (1930), and at Mickleham (1931). In what might be termed the London district itself, in addition to Dr. Dawe's record, it was seen at Surbiton again, at Hounslow, West Wickham, and Gravesend in 1930, and even, as reported in the Times of Oct. 10, at Kensington in 1931. From the repeated occurrence of the butterfly on the western outskirts of London, one is forced to the happy conclusion that this attractive species must really have established itself somewhere in that neighbourhood, in many parts of which indeed its food plant, hop, grows fairly freely, more or less as a weed.