172
THE COLE COLLECTION OF BRITISH
LEPIDOPTERA.
By A. W. MERA.
[Read 28th October, 1922.]
I HAVE been asked to report on the extensive collection
of British Lepidoptera made by the brothers Cole, which
Las been bequeathed by the late Mr. William Cole to the. Essex
Museum.
All collections of this size made by private individuals
necessarily entail life-long study and labour, and possibly none
but the entomologist fully appreciates what an absorbing
pursuit the collecting of insects becomes. It was not my good
fortune to know the brothers Cole personally, but I can c early
see by the painstaking manner in which the collection has been
compiled that they were enthusiasts who spared neither time
nor trouble in acquiring the objects of their pursuit.
I will endeavour to make some remarks on a few of the
species contained in the collection which are to my mind of
special interest. The collection is named practically from
Doubleday's list, which I will not attempt to alter. The old
names still retain the distinct advantage of being understood
by all collectors, and for me to attempt to be up-to-date in
nomenclature would mean signal failure. It must be under-
stood that I am not attempting an inventory of the collection,
but only picking out a few species or specimens that may be of
special interest.
There is a specimen of Pieris brassicae with the spots on the
fore wings connected by a slight dusking of black scales. This,
of course, is a minor variety, but many seasons may pass without
a similar one being taken. Then there is a very fine series of
Colius edusa. Many of them were taken in the year 1877, the
great Edusa year. The localities given would be no guide to
young collectors, for the insect occurred in that year where it
was never seen before and probably where it will never be seen
again. The real home of the insect is in the south-eastern
counties, and in those parts it is usually seen each year, but in
greatly varying numbers.
Leucophasia sinapis is another interesting species represented
in the collection by a long series from the New Forest taken in
the years 1874 and 1876. This insect is by no means one of our
rarities, although it has long since vanished from the County
of Essex, where it occurred many years ago. Doubleday records
it from Epping Forest in his young days, and in an old collection
of lepidoptera examined by the Rev. G. H. Raynor, there was a
specimen of Sinapis taken at Chelmsford in 1840. In 1915 I
was told by one of the keepers in the New Forest that Sinapis
Lad not been seen there for many years, although its food plant