April, 'lO] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 165 



The Macrolepidoptera of the Bermudas. 



BY FRANK MORTON JONES, Wilmington, Delaware. 



The nearest point of land to the Bermudas is Cape Hatteras, 

 North Carolina, 575 nautical miles distant. Considering- the 

 variety of the vegetation, the apparent lack of climatic bars 

 to the establishment of a wide variety of insect life, and the 

 fact that comparatively fragile forms have been known to cross 

 over from the mainland, the fauna is a meager one and the 

 entire absence of many widely distributed groups is remarkable. 

 In 1902 Prof. A. E. Verrill published (Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., 

 XI) a list of the insects of Bermuda, based on his own collec- 

 tions and on all previously published records. He lists forty 

 species of Macrolepidoptera ; of these, however, one species is 

 duplicated as a synonym ; three were not positively identified ; 

 three others have not been recorded for more than fifty years, 

 the specimens were not seen by Prof. Verrill, and the correct- 

 ness of their identification requires confirmation; of the re- 

 maining thirty-three species several occur as stragglers only 

 and are not established on the islands. 



In a stay upon the Islands extending from December 7, 

 1908, to May 20, 1909, I was able to confirm the presence of 

 many of the previously recorded species and to add materially 

 to the list. Several hundred specimens were collected for me 

 in the summer of 1909, but with the exception of a single spe- 

 cies this material duplicated my captures of the winter and 

 spring. I am indebted to Dr. H. G. Dyar, Dr. J. B. Smith and 

 Mr. J. A. Grossbeck for identification of specimens ; to Prof. 

 Stewardson Brown for identification of food-plants ; to Miss 

 Estelle Jones, Messrs. Louis Mowbray, Clifton Astwood and 

 Francis Hutchings for specimens and notes. 



It is of course possible that careful summer collecting will 

 add considerably to the following list : 



Agraulis ranillae Linn. Not heretofore recorded; believed locally to 

 be of recent introduction ; now the most abundant butterfly, 

 in all stages throughout the winter; foodplant Passiflora um- 

 brosa L. 



Danais berenice Cram. Recorded on previous lists ; not seen, 1908-9. 



