6 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



a point 200 miles from the Cape Verde Islands, and 600 

 from the coast of Africa. Allusion has been made 

 above to the great " irruption " of this butterfly which took 

 place in 1879, when multitudes appeared in this country, 

 especially on the south coast. Their passage over the Alps was 

 traced by the finding, on 5th June, of thousands of them on 

 the snow around the hospice of St Gothard. At Geneva " the 

 swarm was said to have obscured .the sun for several minutes " ; 

 while at Angers, in the west of France, where on 10th June 

 " myriads " were seen flying in a westerly direction against 

 the wind, " it was estimated that the number passing along 

 a single street in one hour was from 40,000 to 50,000 " 

 {cf. M'Lachlan, Ent. Mo. Mag., xvi. p. 49). I well remember its 

 abundance in Switzerland in September of that year, but 

 these would probably be the progeny of some of the June 

 migrating swarm. Other great irruptions of this species 

 have from time to time been recorded. In 1842 an extra- 

 ordinary flight passed the Ionian Islands. A fresh wind 

 was blowing from the south-east, and great numbers perished 

 in the sea ; " for days afterwards they were to be seen drifting 

 into the various bays in the Island of Corfu " (Drummond 

 Hay, Ent. Mo. Mag, 1872, p. 149). The above records give 

 us, I think, the key to those periodical appearances of the 

 Painted Lady on the east coast of Scotland, as in 191 2, 

 when numbers were observed on the Isle of May, and the 

 coasts of Fife and East Lothian. 



Another of our finest butterflies, the Red Admiral 

 (Vanessa ata/anta), and the two common "Whites" (Pieris 

 brassiccs and P. rapce) have been noted at sea, 18 miles 

 from the Isle of Wight. But a much more extraordinary 

 flight on the part of Ata/anta is indicated by its appearance 

 in the summer of 1899, in numbers on the deck of a 

 ship proceeding to Hamburg from Valparaiso, whilst some 

 500 miles from the Lizard in Cornwall. These two 

 Pierids have often been observed crossing the Channel 

 to England in vast bodies. A very large flight which 

 crossed to Dover was recorded in the Zoologist for 

 1846; it occurred on 5th July, and such was the density 

 and extent of the cloud formed by the living mass, that it 



