This butterfly was not known as British until 1828, when a number of specimens were captured at Monkswood in Huntingdonshire. These were sold by the captor as _T. w-album_, which was then called the Black Hairstreak. As soon as the mistake was detected, it was given out that the specimens had been taken in Yorkshire, but this was only a ruse, as _T. pruni_ has never occurred in that county. It is confined, so far as Britain is concerned, to three or four of the midland counties. "Mr. Herbert Goss, who has found it at Barnwell Wold, and in other wooded districts of Northamptonshire, at intervals, for more than twenty years past, says that it is fond of sitting on the flowers of privet (_Ligustrum_), and of _Viburnum lantana_, in the woods, and sometimes is to be found in numbers. Its time of emergence is very variable, apparently regulated by the lateness of the spring--from June 17th to the first week in July. Reared specimens made their appearance from June 13th to 27th. He writes, 'It was the greatest possible pleasure to see them walking about the table while I was at breakfast.' In 1858 it was found commonly at Kettering, and in 1859 at Oundle, and has been recorded at Warboys Wood, Huntingdonshire, and in Buckinghamshire. One specimen was taken at Brandeston, Suffolk, by the Rev. Joseph Green; and Mr. Allis found it commonly in the Overton Woods and about St. Ives. There is also a record in Monmouthshire, which may require confirmation. This butterfly does not appear to be losing ground in this country, its fondness for trees and lofty bushes rendering it difficult to capture" (Barrett). A writer in the _Entomologist_ for 1874 mentions Linford Woods, in Bucks, as a locality where he had observed several specimens, mostly females, on flowers of privet. It is found throughout the greater part of Europe and also in Amurland and Corea. The White Letter Hairstreak (_Thecla w-album_). The male of this butterfly (Plate 94) is blackish, with a small whitish sex mark at end of the discal cell of the fore wing; there is a small orange spot at the anal angle of the hind wings. The female agrees in colour with the male, but the tails are longer, and there is no sex mark on the fore wings. The under side is brownish, with a white line on each wing, that on the hind wings forming a =W= before the inner margin; the hind wings have a black-edged orange band on the outer margin which is finely tapered towards the costa. Captured specimens are usually browner than those that are reared from caterpillars.