L. virgaureae as a British extinct native, the evidence.
Is there not one written account of the capture of L. virgaureae in Britain from a known locality. Well yes there is and by a very distinguised naturalist. Even this account does not convince many lepidopterists such as the late R.F Bretherton (1906-1991) who wrote the L. virgaureae species account in Emmet and Heath's ' The Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland ' Vol 7 part 1 1990.
P .B.M. Allan who wrote much on L. virgaureae went further and wrote " Years ago Heodes (Chryosphanus, Lycaena) virgaureae , the ' Middle or Scarce Copper ' of the old English authors, was not an uncommon butterfly and the evidence would appear irrefutable ".
The following information on J. R. Forester is taken from P.B.M. Allan's ' Leaves from a Moth Hunter's Notebook' (1980) Allan's article originally appeared in the Entomologist Journal and Record of Variation vol 78 1956.
" The Polish Naturalist J.R. Forester whose descendants originated in Scotland, settled at Warrington on the border of Lancashire and Cheshire and became Professor of Natural History there. Forester stated in 1770 that he had taken L. virgaureae " as to be enabled to give some specimens to other collectors". Forester was one of the leading scientists of his day with impeccable credentials who must have encountered this species in Poland where it is quite common. He accompanied Captain Cook in 1772 as naturalist to his second expedition and was given an honorary degree by Oxford University. Later he became Professor of Natural History at Halle."
Forester produced a list of butterflies of the Warrington district and surprisingly omits the Small Copper L. Phlaeas, because of this Salmon (2000) suggests that Forester may have applied the wrong name to phlaeas. Salmon wrote that the Small Copper must have been a common butterfly at Warrington. However, the two species are very different and is it possible that such a distinguished naturalist would have made such an error.
Another piece of evidence that perhaps L. virgaureae was once British was revealed by Salmon (2000) in his book the Aurelian Legacy . Salmon tells us that in Henry Seymour's copy of Moses Harris's Aurelian on plate XXXXIV, the owner added in 1776 beautiful paintings of both the newly discovered Large Copper and also those of L. virgaureae. Salmon, summing up in his account of L. virgaureae wrote " On the basis of the documented records and known specimens, it seems at least possible that the Scarce Copper may once have been British, and even that, it was widespread if local from Devon to northern Britain. However, unlike the Large Copper, it is hard to find a reason why it should have died out here over such a large area, especially as it is less closely tied to fenland than the Large Copper. On the other hand, the weight of testimony is too great to be attributed entirely to human error or the fraudulent activities of certain dealers. Our verdict must be an open one "
testimony
Dru Drury ( 1786), the Queen's Goldsmith and one of the fathers of British entomology was asked if L. virgaureae was a native by a correspondent " English" repiled Drury " I can send it" Drury was a personal friend of J.C. Fabricius.
L. Virgaureae in Early British entomological Literature.
James Lewin his book ' Papilio's of Great Britian (1795) wrote that
" In the month of August I once met with two of these butterflies settled on a bank in the marshes, the sun at that time being very hot on them, they were exceedingly shy, and would not suffer me to approach them."
It is a great pity that Lewin does not mention where he saw his two L. virgaureae. Lewin had figures of virgaureae in his book Papilio's of Great Britain on plate 41 and unlike many of the later authors he gave this species the correct scientific name. Lewin was also the first to figure the newly discovered L. dispar in the same volume.
Plate 41 from James Lewin's
Papilio's of Great Britain with L. virgaureae and L. phlaeas.
Edward Donovan also figured this butterfly in his Natural History of British Insect (1795). He wrote " A specimen of this superb and rare butterfly has been taken in Cambridgeshire. It has always had a place in the cabinets of English collectors of consequence, but we cannot learn who discovered it in this country." If it was a very rare butterfly from what source or locality did those noteworthy gentleman get their specimens of L. virgaureae?
A .H. Haworth (1802) included virgaureae in his Prodromus but marked it with an asterisk that meant he had not taken the species himself. Haworth who gave the historic virgaureae specimen to Westwood as undoubted British example and stated in his book that the" Large Copper L. dispar flew in reedy fens, while the Scarce Copper L. virgaureae inhabited Marshy Ground."
John Curtis in his British Entomology (1824-1840) Volume 5 remarked " that it is said to have occurred in Cambridgeshire, in the Isle of Ely and near Huntingdon. Curtis may have seen James Dale's specimens that were reputed to have been taken there.
James Duncan in his Natural History of British Butterflies (1835), figured L. virgaureae and wrote that " the insect is very rare in this country and does not appear to have been taken for many years ".
It must be said that often during the 18th century, information was simply copied by some authors from previous works. Because these authors did not actually state that they had actually captured specimens, this have given rise to the belief that this was not a British species by some 19th century lepidopterists and much later by R.F. Bretherton (1990) and others.
P.B.M. Allan also seem to be convinced that the ' Middle Copper ' L. virgaureae occured in England during the early part of the 20th century. In his article the Middle Copper mentioned above, Allan recountered a story that was told to him by his friend S.G. Castle Russell. Sidney George Castle Russell a well known and much respected collector was known to his friends as the " King of butterfly variety hunters". Briefly here is Allan's account.
During the the First World War Castle Russell was on a visit to the West Country of England in June. Russell with his wife and their good friend W.G. Mills were looking for places where the local fritillary Mellicta athalia could be found. One morning Russell had to remain at the Inn to write important letters, his wife was so charmed by the beautiful countryside that she hired an ancient horse drawn fly and set to explore the area accompanied by Mills.
After a few miles from the inn, they stopped to walk a loop around a lovely valley. On their return to the inn, Mrs Russell and Mills were very excited and they both told Castle Russell that they had seen numbers of the Large Copper flying in the valley. Castle Russell thought they were mistaken and it was impossible that the Large Copper, an extinct butterfly of fenland could be flying in a West Country Valley. Russell's wife was certain that they were ' Large Coppers' and mentioned that there was no other butterfly that has the brilliance of that butterfly. Mrs Castle Russell and Mills had no net so it was impossible to capture one. Castle Russell remained convinced that what his wife and Mills had seen could not have been Large Coppers. In later years did Castle Russell regret not investigating this valley. When Castle Russell told the story to Allan he mentioned that he never had the opportunity to go back there as the place was remote and the inn was not to his liking!. Russell told Allan that his wife had much collecting experience but Mills did not.
Allan thought he had the answer to the mysterious Copper butterflies flying that West Country Valley. The colony of butterflies that Russell's Wife and Mills had found could only have been L. virgaureae, there were no other species which had fiery oranges males. I have mentioned this story out of interest and because no specimens were captured on that far off summers day the evidence at the very least is circumstantial .
Next the British Specimens of L. virgaureae with images
As a whole most British lepidopterists seem strangely quiet on this subject. 
The Eiffel is located pretty much in the centre of West Europe.
Looking at the biology of it,... Lycaena virgaureae occurs until central Germany in good numbers where the habitat allows to. In the Benelux countries and everything surrounding it only occurs as strays. It does not occur in the Northern half of France. In Scandinavia it does indeed occur, but do you know how far this is from the UK? Maybe some Vikings have brought them over to the UK, but as far as I remember they didn't do that in a 1000 years 
