Miscellaneous, 355 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On a new genus q/'Chitonidse. By Henry and Arthur Adams. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



19 Hanover Villas, Kensington Park, March 13, 1852. 

 Gentlemen, — In pursuing our investigations into the ChitonidcBy 

 we have met with a form which appears to us as much entitled to rank 

 as a genus as any that have been so considered. We shall therefore 

 feel obliged by your inserting the accompanying notice of it in your 

 valuable Magazine. 



We remain, Gentlemen, your very obedient servants, 



Henry and Arthur Adams. 



Genus Lorica, H. & A. Adams. 



Mantle covered with small, smooth, imbricated scales, the posterior 

 margin deeply notched. Valves broad, the posterior small, with apex 

 terminal, produced, the hinder margin notched ; lateral areas of valves 

 elevated, distinct. 



Sp. L. Cimolia. 



Chiton Cimolius, Reeve. 



On the Appearance of large Swarms of Butterflies. 

 By M. Ghiliani. 



In the * Gazetta Piemontese ' of the 1st of May 1851, M. Ghiliani 

 has given an account of the appearance of an extraordinary number 

 of butterflies of the species Vanessa Cardui, Linn., in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Turin. On the 26th of April, about eleven o'clock in 

 the morning, millions of this species suddenly made their appearance ; 

 their number continued increasing till about one o'clock, when the 

 atmosphere was darkened by them ; at four o'clock they had disap- 

 peared, and only a few scattered butterflies were to be seen. M. Ghi- 

 liani only observed this phsenomenon within a circle of about a mile 

 round the town, but he thinks it must have occurred throughout 

 nearly the whole of Piedmont. He attributes this circumstance to 

 the non-exclusion of the autumn brood of the preceding year, caused, 

 no doubt, by some extraordinary diminution of temperature. The 

 greater part of these butterflies must have passed the winter in the 

 pupa state, so as to undergo their metamorphoses in the spring, whilst 

 those which made their appearance in the autumn would have 

 hibernated under leaves or in the clefts of walls. It may also be 

 supposed that, the southern face of the Ligurian Apennines having 

 had a mild winter and an early spring, the Vanessce of that district 

 had been developed earlier than usual, so as to add to the number of 

 those properly belonging to the environs of Turin. By means of these 

 two suppositions M. Ghihani explains — 1st, the extraordinary number 

 of these butterflies, and 2nd, the freshness of some, which had evidently 

 only just escaped from the chrysalis, and the bad condition of others, 

 which had undergone a long exposure to the inclemency of the weather. 

 — Revue et Magasin de Zoologie, Nov. 1851, p. 559. 



