2o6 NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



where in such years they ire met with all over the island. At the present time 

 this i,aeat migratory flight has, according to the rci)orts already received, 

 extended from the Shetlands to the southern-most part of England ; swarms have 

 appealed along the whole of the eastern seaboard, from Durham to Kent, and 

 large numbers have been recorded from the Scotch coast ; it is therefore probable 

 that they extended in an almost unbroken line along the entire eastern coast of 

 the British Isles. Apparently this great swarm of butterflies reached our islands 

 from the Continent about Sejjtember 20, On that date at mid-day large numbers 

 suddenly made their appearance at Hockley, Essex, a few miles inland, where I 

 found them over two patches of Devils-bit Scabious {Scabiosa succisa) busy 

 feeding on the blossoms in com])any with its near ally the Red Admiral [Vanessa 

 atalanta), the Peacock {V. to), the Brimstone [Gonopteryx rhamni), numbers ot 

 Meadow-Browns {Epinephele ianira), Small-Heaths {Ccdiionympha pamphilns). 

 Small Coppers [Chrysophanus phlceas), Common-Blues [Lycoena icarus), the 

 three Common-Whites [Pie/ is napi, P. rapce, P. brassiccr), and inimmerable 

 Silver- Y moths [Plusia gamma), which is usually exceedingly abundant in a 

 ^a/'dui yenY, it being a migratory species. Altogether this great gathering of 

 insects formed a charming scene, but on September 24 and 25 the same patches 

 of scabious were literally sw^arming with cardui. They were in such profusion 

 that it was an easy matter to capture as many as five or six with one sweep of the 

 net. It was a wonderful sight to see so many of these beautiful butterflies 

 floating over and settled on the purple flowers of the scabious ; the colouring of 

 both flowers and insects formed a rich and delicate harmony. I captured several 

 dozen of the finest specimens, and upon comparing them with a bred series, I find 

 many are almost equal to the latter, having every appe-irance of being but freshly 

 emerged, and bear no trace of having undergone a journey Ov-er the sea. 

 Obviouslv, they are the progeny of early summer immigrants. I noticed a few 

 in June and in the early part of July which were faded and worn. The majority 

 of the swarm showed in a more or less degree evidence of having been some time 

 on the wing, and were undoubtedly immigrants." 



« * * * * 



" It is a remarkable fact that the last great " Cardui year " was hitherto the 

 wettest season on record, that of 1879. In that year vast swarms occurred all 

 over Europe, and were the topic of the various newspapers. According to the 

 reports gathered and published in the entomological journals, it appears that the 

 first migratory swarm was obsened in North Africa about the middle of April ; 

 at Barcelona and Valencia enormous numbers appeared during the last four days 

 of April, and reached the island of Minorca on the first three days of ]Ma\ . Vast 

 swarms passed over .Sevres on June 15, flying all day long in a N.N.W. direction. 

 From June 3 to 9 similar flights were seen at Strasburg passing in innumerable 

 numbers towards the north. On June 10 at Angers an immense swarm passed 

 over part of the city, flying so low that pedestrians were inconvenienced by them, 

 and it was estimated that between 40,000 and 50,000 passed along a single street 

 in one hour. The same phenomenon was observed at Bisheim on June 8, and 

 their enormous numbers darkened the day. So great was the vastness of a flight 

 on June 11 which passed over Steyer in Austria, that between one and two 

 o'clock p.m., ninety to 100 per minute were counted in a breadth of 100 paces, 

 the SA'arm being estimated above 1,000,000 ; at other places similar swarms were 

 •seen, and so dense at times that the sun was obscured. On June 14 Wetzikon, 



