www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I'm really struggling with this one. So I'm going to think aloud, and if you were helpful you'd make some grunt or comment, Trev...

I assume we're talking about vernacular names, because you'd have to go all the way back to Linnaeus (when all butterflies were Papilio) to get two species from different families swapping scientific names.

I've ruled out any skippers, because although several of these have been known by other names, including 'fritillary', I don't believe any other species has been called a skipper.

I've ruled out blues, because surely no butterfly from any other family has been called a blue.

I've ruled out 'unique' names, like Glanville fritillary, Duke of Burgundy fritillary or Camberwell beauty.

I considered the marbled white, because it's in a different family from the other whites, but the only whites which are marbled are Bath and orange tip, and the marbled white can't ever have been called one of these.

The marbled white could also be considered a fritillary, from its markings, but no present fritillary could ever have been called a marbled white.

'Argus' and 'fritillary' are common descriptive butterfly names that readily cross the families.

In the end I've boiled it down to these 17 species:

Brown Argus
Gatekeeper
Grayling
Heath Fritillary
Large Copper
Large Heath
Large Tortoiseshell
Marsh Fritillary
Meadow Brown
Mountain Ringlet
Northern Brown Argus
Ringlet
Scotch Argus
Silver-washed Fritillary
Small Copper
Small Heath
Speckled Wood

Warm or cold?

Guy

I like your process of elimination Guy.
Yes, we ARE talking common names by the way.
You have successfully removed many 'possibles' and all your theories have proved sound. However...
One of the butterflies on your shortlist is correct, but there must be at least one missing
This may actually be more of a help than if both were already on your list... now you only have to think of another species which according to your criteria, should have been there.

Trev

So Trev, let me get this straight in my mind; the two species swapped names with each other to arrive at the names that we know them by today - so are you saying that the names that were swapped are the same names by which we now know them?

(sorry for being dim!)

Felix.

Indeed!

Ringlet & Brown Argus!!!!!

The only thing that I can think of is Scotch Argus and Northern Brown Argus, but Guy has already been down this cul de sac!!

If it ain't those two then I'm stumped!

Felix.

Nah!...
This is obviously stumping you, so here's a clue. Think Nymphalidae and Lycaenidae (but not the 'blues' Guy)

Trev

Hi Trev,
This has been driving me insane! Was thinking along similar lines to Felix and Guy, but it's time for a wild shot in the dark. Small Tortoiseshell and Small Copper? I know it works at least one way!
Neil

Wild shots in the dark sometimes hit something Neil
Yes!! Apparently, starting from The Small Golden Black-Spotted Meadow butterfly, today's Small Copper became the "Small Tortoiseshell" in the early 18th century. Our present Small Tortoiseshell was called the "Small Copper" at that time. In those days, both Large Copper and Large Tortoiseshells were alive and kicking in the UK, so the "Small" was used to differentiate them. The names were exchanged later on in the 18th century.
Source: David Newland's book "Discover Butterflies in Britain" published by WildGuides in 2006.

It struck me as a very interesting (and surprising) fact, so I thought I'd try it out on you.

Well done Neil, you deserved that... Over to you again.

Trev

Fascinating!!

I've been playing chess all evening and missed the replies, but I'm not sure I would have guessed that odd coupling even if I had been glued to the computer. I certainly won't forget it now, though!

Guy

Thanks Trev,
This one might be a little easier! The date of which major 'world event' most closely matches the short period when the Queen of Spain, Bath White and Long-tailed Blue were at a collective UK peak in the 20th Century? Good luck.
Neil

I'm going to go for the end of the Second World War.

Guy

Hi Guy,
I was hoping for something just a tad more specific, although by stating this it's obvious that you are very close! Perhaps you (or someone else) could provide a 'named day' of remembrance?
Neil

A pure guess then!

The bombing of Hiroshima.

Guy

Hi Guy,
The combination of both your attempts make it impossible to deny you the laurels of victory. I was looking for VJ Day (15 Aug, 1945), hoping to trip the odd person up with VE Day (8 May, 1945), as the peak of the 'great immigration' occurred in July and August. As the dropping of the atomic bombs immediately preceded VJ Day, and is clearly a 'world event', it's over to you!
Neil

You learn something every day on UK Butts!

Must work now, but will try and devise some fiendish enigma for later in the day.

Guy

Work all done!

This is another two-part question, loosely related to the themes 'British' and 'butterflies'. If you think I'm getting a little desperate now, you might be right.

a) What pseudo-lepidoptera fly where mathematicians are ambitious and derisive?
b) What other insect from the same land was killed off, probably in 1870, because it failed to inspire an artist?

Guy

Note: I've edited the question to read 'pseudo-lepidoptera'

Is the first question a reference to Lewis Carroll's branches of arithmetic in Alice's Adventures In Wonderland? I never liked the book, but remember the quote of "ambition, distraction, uglification and derision" (I think) - but the only lepidopteral reference the I can recall in "Wonderland" is the hookah-smoking caterpillar.

stuck on question two, though...

You're getting warm, Annie! In fact, I was wondering whether to include that doped up caterpillar in the question (a 'high' brown fritillary?). But you are wrong that that is the only reference to (pseudo) butterflies - there is another weird and wonderful species described as coming from that weird and wonderful land.

The answer to part (b) is well documented but you can't find it by reading the book.

Guy

PS - weird and wonderful, but not Wonderland

I presume that last sentence means the answer to a) is to be found in Alice Through The Laudanum... sorry, Looking Glass? Again, I read it but never quite "got" it...