62 The Irish Naturalist, June, 



A further circumstance that seems to tell against the 

 old belief that the Red Admiral hibernates in this country 

 is the extraordinary lateness of its re-appearance in spring. 

 Though the Tortoiseshell is commonly on the wing before 

 the end of March, and the Peacock sometimes in the same 

 month (though more generally in April), the hibernated 

 Red Admiral — and in this respect also it resembles the 

 Painted Lady — is practically never seen until the middle 

 of May, often not till June, and sometimes so late as July. 

 I find, on looking through my Co. Wexford notes, I have 

 fourteen records of the date of the first spring-seen Red 

 Admiral, and of these only four are in May, against seven 

 in June, and three in the first half of July. Of the Painted 

 Lady I have fewer dates — only five — but these all lie 

 between May 2ist and June 26th. Is it likely that butter- 

 flies would continue their winter-sleep to such dates as 

 these ? I think the lateness of their appearance is a strong 

 additional argument for believing that a regular migration 

 of both these butterflies takes place to our shores during 

 spells of favourable weather in the early summer of every 

 3^ear, and that we owe to the eggs laid by these alien visitors 

 the beautiful insects that delight our eyes when the 

 Michaelmas Daisies are in bloom. 



It may seem to some of us a rather tragic conclusion 

 that all these magnificent native butterflies on the approach 

 of winter die unmated, not leaving behind them a single 

 egg to carry on their kind. Doubts will perhaps be felt 

 whether it is in strict harmony with that beautiful Words- 

 worthian creed as to " Nature's holy plan," about which 

 the President of our Club so lately addressed us. But at 

 least it forcibly recalls the cheery remark of Richard 

 Jefferies, that Nature, scornful of econom}^ does " every- 

 thing on a scale of splendid waste." We see only the 

 overflow — the spray tossed on the shore. 



I now wish to mention another curious habit of these 

 two butterflies, which came under my notice in the summer 

 of 1920, and which, I think, may be in som.e way connected 

 with their habit of spring migration. 



On the nth of June in that year, being on a visit to 

 my sister in the northern part of Co. Wexford, I went up a 



