iM4.] 225 



food-plant has found there a congenial home. It would indeed be re- 

 markable if this strong-flying insect had not many times succeeded in 

 making the passage thither, with the aid of the heavy autumnal gales 

 which sweep across the 650 miles of ocean that separate the coast of 

 Carolina from the Bermudas, and carry to the Islands so many species 

 of North American birds of limited powers of flight, and even swarms 

 of such a small and feeble butterfly as Terias Usa, Boisd. (cf. Wallace, 

 Island Life, ed. 1892, p. 269 ; J. Matthew Jones, The Naturalist in 

 Bermuda, p. 120) . The notice of our butterfly as observed by Mr. Jones 

 in Bermuda, is as follows (I.e. pp. 118-9) : — 



" Of the few species of Diurnal Lepidoptera frequenting the 

 Islands, the Archippus butterfly (Danais Archippus) ranks first 

 for size and beauty. This fine species, which is so frequently 

 seen in the southern states of America, is also common in the Ber- 

 mudas, and generally to be found where a patch of ipecacuanha is in 

 bloom. Mr. Hurdis' note-book has the following : — ' Dec. 18. The 

 beautiful caterpillar of D. Archippus is still common ' (here follows a 

 brief description of the larva and pupa). ' The favourite food of the 

 caterpillar is the curascoa swallow-wort or bastard ipecacuanha 

 (Asclepias curassavica) which grows wild in pastures, gardens, and 

 roadsides, and blossoms during every month of the year. The perfect 

 insect is abundant throughout the year.' " D. berenice, Cram., a well- 

 known species from the warmer parts of America, is recorded (I.e., 

 p. 119) as " of rare occurrence in the Bermudas." 



We owe the first record of Danaida plexipjous from the Azores to 

 Mr. F. Du Cane Godman (The Natural History of the Azores or 

 Western Islands, pp. 101-2). Under "Danais archippus, F.," he 

 writes — " I met with only two specimens of this insect, neither of 

 which did I catch myself. One was taken in Flores in 1864, the other 

 kindly given me by Mr. J. Dabney of Fayal, where it had been caught 

 the previous summer (1864). Both specimens are females .... I do 

 not regard the species as established in the Azores, though the fact of 

 its having been obtained from two islands so widely separated is a 

 curious coincidence, and not easily accounted for. I met with no one 

 who knew the insect or had ever seen it before. I may also add that 

 there is regular communication between North America and the 

 Azores." 



A subsequent capture of the butterfly in these Islands is noted by 

 Dr. W. J. Holland (Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Entom- 

 ological Society of Ontario, 1893 — " The insects taken by the United 



T 



