HARDWICKE'5 SCIEN CE. GOSSIP. 



251 



mouth, occurred after twenty-four hours of stormy 

 east wind. Moreover, the white margins, which have 

 been looked upon as the peculiar property and^/roo/' 

 of British specimens, turn out to be shared by those 

 of the Scandinavian peninsula as well as of those of 

 Silesia and the Alps. In any case, this distinguish- 

 ing character would fail us this year, for specimens 

 are recorded in both Lincolnshire and Lancashire 

 with yellow borders; and Mr. Frank Norgate, of 

 Sparham, Norfolk, in writing to a friend, says : " It 

 [a specimen taken on October 7th] is the thirteenth 

 specimen that has been caught in this immediate 

 neighbourhood. They vary in size and colour, some 

 having decidedly yellow, and others white, borders 

 to their wings." 



There are, however, serious difficulties in the way 

 of accepting the theory of migration in this case. 

 All the migrations of butterflies which have been 

 noticed seem to have been in large swarms or flights, 

 this being an important business, which they pi'efer 

 to undertake in companies. Accordingly, it seemed 

 desirable to ascertain whether they had beeu//-5^ 

 observed in numbers on any part of our coast ; and 

 as the neighbourhood of Cromer, Sherringham, and 

 that district of the north-east of Norfolk seems to 

 have yielded the largest numbers, and as, moreover, 

 that is the very district in which the greatest num- 

 ber of birds migrating southward commonly arrive, 

 I have been at some pains to obtain accurate in. 

 formation from that neighbourhood. The results 

 are not as might be expected in the case of an im- 

 migration. Mr. H. M. Upcher, of Sherringham, 

 writes : " The first one I saw was on August 20Lh, 

 three miles inland ; the next day, one by the side of 

 a covert ; 23rd, one at Salthouse ; 24th, five at 

 Sherringham, and one at Hempstead ; 29th, five at 

 Sherringham. Most of them were quite in the 

 middle of the covers, in an open 'spot called the 

 Green-lane." Similarly, the Rev. T. H. Marsh, of 

 Cawston, found them at Cawston and Drayton, 

 near Norwich; one on August 20th, two on the 

 21st, three more on the 23 rd and 2J:th, apparently 

 fresh from the pupa ; two on the 26th, three on the 

 28th, and so on. And Mr. C. M. Lowe, writing 

 from Cromer to the Untomologist, says : " We 

 have seen eleven here within the last few days." 

 More inland, they appeared almost at the same 

 time at Cambridge ; one on August 22nd, six on the 

 24th, five on the 25th, one on the 2Cth, six on the 

 28th, and so on. In other counties the first records 

 are Suffolk, August 24th ; Essex, 23rd ; Kent, 25th ; 

 Yorkshire, one on the 16th, others on and after the 

 21st ; Lincoln, middle of August ; Hants, 22nd ; 

 Surrey, 16th ; Middlesex, 25th ; Staffordshire, ISth 

 and 22ud ; but in Scotland, one as early as August 

 3rd ; the rest from the 21st onward. In the western 

 districts they were later. Wales, August 27th; 

 Lancashire, September 4th ; and the greater portion 

 of these dates would be perfectly in accordance 



with the idea of a migration, if it could be shown 

 that a large number had appeared on the eastern 

 coast on August 20th instead of only two solitary 

 specimens. As it is, if we accept the immigration 

 view, we must suppose that a succession of stray 

 specimens must have come over at intervals, a few 

 appearing from July 26th to Aug. 16, and a larger 

 number from August 20th to 28th. Mr. Stainton, 

 however, suggests that the earlier specimens may 

 be' true natives, in which case the number oithem 

 would be above the usual average. 



Another difficulty is the appearance of a con- 

 siderable number of specimens on the southern 

 coast in Hants and Sussex simultaneously with 

 those in Norfolk and Yorkshire. These would hardly 

 have crossed the country at once, and their white 

 borders forbid the idea that they might have come 

 from France. 



Supposing, however, that all were bred in this 

 country, the appearance of one or two at first, and 

 after a few days of larger numbers, would be en- 

 tirely in accordance with the usual habits of insects 

 when emerging from the pupa, as also would their 

 earlier appearance in the east and south than in the 

 north-west of England. 



That the larvse have not been noticed this season 

 would readily be accounted for by the fact that they 

 feed in companies on the trees, probably high up, 

 and that their work would very likely be mistaken 

 for that of an early brood of Pygcera bucephala 

 (the Buff-tip moth). 



A third objection to the migration view is the 

 extreme fineness of the specimens first taken. My 

 friend ]\Ir. Wheeler, who saw some of the earlier 

 Cambridge specimens, tells me that they were in 

 the most perfect condition, evidently fresh from the 

 pupa — indeed, iu one case the wings seemed hardly 

 dry, — and that they seemed to have been reared upon 

 the willows about which they were first discovered. 

 Mr. Upcher writes : " Most of the specimens caught 

 are so fine and fresh that they cannot possibly have 

 undergone a sea voyage." The Rev. T. H. Marsh 

 says: " Beautifully fine and fresh, apparently just 

 out of the pupa." And two or three that have come 

 under my own observation seemed to have the 

 bloom so fresh upon them — the nervures beiug still 

 well clothed with scales— that it was difficult to 

 suppose that their wings could have been used for 

 a long flight. 



Mr. Haworth's idea that the eggs remained dor- 

 mant for many years until special circumstances 

 brought them to life, is well known, but does not 

 find favour with many entomologists. My own has 

 been that the butterfly occurs every year in this 

 country, since it is noticed and recorded in the 

 majority of seasons ; and that most of the young 

 larvse usually perish from the dampness of the 

 climate, but that in this season the extreme heat 

 of the first three weeks of July enabled them to feed 



