248 Short Communications : — 



not to assume as a matter of course, and without examination, 

 that the first butterflies they see in spring have hibernated 

 in the perfect state. Here, notwithstanding the rigour of 

 our winters, a sudden elevation of temperature usually brings 

 out Vanessa urticae and Gonepteryx rhamni from the 10th 

 to the 15th of February, which seems to be much earlier than 

 their customary first appearance in England. During some 

 years I have invariably noticed the first of both the above 

 species on the same day; and on the 11th of February last 

 [183S], after a week of warm weather, the thermometer being 

 at 5t°, many dozens of each kind were on the wing: I was 

 struck with the freshness of their colours, and as V. urticae 

 will allow you to approach pretty close while it is fanning 

 its wings as it basks in the sunshine on some rounded 

 pebble, I marked down several, and satisfied myself that they 

 were as bright and unsullied as when reared in the breeding 

 cage; none appeared torn, or in any way injured. Their in- 

 dependent manner of flight, and bearing towards each other, 

 seemed to indicate that there was no admixture of the two 

 sexes, and I should imagine, from their appearance, that they 

 were mostly or entirely males, but, not being prepared with a 

 net, I was not able to capture any for close inspection. With 

 respect to Gonepteryx rhamni there can be no difficulty ; the 

 difference of colour in the two sexes being so great that a 

 male must be most wofully weatherbeaten to be mistaken at 

 any distance for a female. In our neighbourhood is a place 

 which swarms with this species, and in summer the females 

 greatly exceed the males, probably from their congregating 

 for the purpose of laying their eggs. I frequently visit this 

 spot in the early spring; and can safely assert that neither 

 there, nor on the sunny slopes at the edges of our forests, 

 have I ever seen a single female among many hundreds of 

 males which have been on the wing as early as February. 

 I have caught numbers expressly to examine their condition ; 

 and, having always found them peculiarly bright and perfect, 

 I am compelled to draw the conclusion that, in this climate 

 at least, the early flight of Gonepteryx rhamni consists en- 

 tirely of newly excluded males, and that probably the same 

 is the case with Vanessa urticse. Usually after a fortnight or 

 three weeks of almost summer weather in February, a blus- 

 tering north-easter brings a return of sleet, snow, and frost in 

 March, and it has always been after these have passed that 

 I have seen the first female butterflies. The first female Go- 

 nepteryx I have seen this year was a solitary individual, on 

 the 29th of March. 



Two circumstances occurred this year confirmatory of the 

 above opinion. On the evening of the 10th of February 



