The Hop Cat

Today's butterfly list is almost exactly the same as yesterday's but with the welcome addition of a single Comma or 'Hop cat' as it used to be called in Sussex. The Comma is now a common sight (although I haven't seen one for a couple of weeks) and its easy to forget that this butterfly was almost extinct in the 19th century and remained exceedingly rare even in the 1930s. The problem was that the Comma's larvae were too fond of hop leaves (hence its local name of Hop Cat). As the hop industry declined the Comma disappeared, with no recorded sightings in Sussex for the forty years up to 1860. As the larvae switched from hop to nettles, the butterfly gradually returned. Why its called Robert le Diable in France, I have no idea.