NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 10"] 



-Canton Zurich, was invaded by an immense swarm of butterflies, principally C. 

 cardiii, over half a mile wide, and the procession was so long that it took two 

 hours to pass ; they flew from 3ft. to 12ft. above the ground, and went in a north- 

 westerly direction." 



***** 



" Previous to the great " Canlui year " of 1879 an extraordinary fli^^ht ot 

 these butterflies passed over the island of Vido, of the Ionian group, in 1872; 

 the swarm reached the island about 9 a.m., and continued passing for over three 

 hours. Traces of the flight were evident in the channel of Corfu, as large 

 numbers of butterflies were seen floating on the surface of the water, and for some 

 days after they were seen drifting into the bays of the island of Corfu. As long 

 ago as 1828 the migratory habits of this butterfly were recorded, as in that year 

 -an account is given in the Annates de<; Sciences Natiirelles of an extraordinary 

 swarm which was seen in the month of May in one of the cantons of Switzerland, 

 their numbers were so enormous that they occupied several hours in passing over 

 the district where they were observed." 



"I have just received a letter from my friend Mr. Alpheraky, the experienced 

 Russian zoologist, containing such interesting remarks concerning the occurrence 

 of C. cardni in Russia that I take the opportunity of quoting his observations. 

 He says : ' I have inhabited a country (Taganrog on the Azoff") where it is by far 

 the commonest butterfly I know of. Every year I have seen it in great quantities, 

 but in exceptional years I have seen such extraordinary swarms of this butterfly 

 that, except perhaps in some valleys of the Tian-chain mountains, I have never 

 .seen anything comparable to the millions of millions of C. cardui near Taganrog. 

 The Taganrog type is of a brilliant pinkish colour, such as I have not seen in any 

 other locality, and I remember that my friend Staudinger, the greatest 

 lepidopterists of all times, was quite astonished when I sent him some of the 

 -specimens. I have gathered the pupae whenever I wanted them by hundreds in 

 the space of an hour or so, in any place wliere Carduus or Cnicus grew. This 

 butterfly has a very curious habit of following any vehicle that travels fast, for 

 miles, exactly in the manner that porpoises follow a ship, remaining for some 

 mmutes behind, then overtaking the horses, and so on. In autumn I have seen 

 them in such numbers on different flowers that I have taken nets full at a time 

 just to see how many I could catch at a stroke, and strange to say all my 

 endeavours to obtain varieties failed all the specimens have always proved to be 

 typical ones. The type I found in Turkistan is much paler than our Russian 

 •one.' " 



Mr. Frohawk's article is illustrated by a drawing showing 

 the transformations of the butterfly, done in his inimitable 

 manner, and it is one of the most interesting accounts that has 

 appeared of this visitation. 



BOTANY. 

 Asplenium Ruta-Muraria (the Wall-Rue Fern) in 

 Essex. — This plant, though widely distributed over Essex 

 is decidedly rare — at all events as compared with some other 

 counties. In many parts of Sussex, for instance, I have seen it 

 flowering in profusion on almost every old wall. 



