i»u-] 23 L 



nearest land. In the course of the last ten years several examples of 

 this handsome butterfly have been so brought to me, one being 

 marked 600 miles from Cape Race,* the nearest land ! The specimen 

 is in good condition, being only slightly rubbed in one place, 

 probably by the fingers of the captor, unused to handling such fragile 

 creatures." 



In our own pages we have the record by Mr. G. A. Harker (Ent. 

 Mo. Mag., vol. XXIX, p. 86) of the capture of a specimen some years 

 previous to 1893, off the coast of Portugal, sixty miles from Cape 

 St. Vincent — a position from which a flight of two or three hours at 

 most would have brought the insect safely to land. Still more interest- 

 ing is Mr. C. G. Barrett's record in the same volume (p. 163) of 

 " several specimens of D. Archvppus of the North American type " 

 having been taken about the year 1880 on a vessel bound from Glasgow 

 to New York, " upon the Atlantic, at a distance of from 200 to 300 

 miles from the British shores." Mr. Barrett continues — " There can, I 

 think be no doubt, that these were a portion of a migratory swarm 

 on its way here. Yet it is curious that no specimens appear to have 

 been seen in Ireland." For myself, I think we have here a clear 

 case in which a number of these butterflies had almost completed 

 their perilous voyage across the Atlantic to our shores, when an 

 observer on an outward-bound ship had the good fortune to encounter 

 them. 



The last observation to which I shall refer, by Mr. G. F. Mathew 

 (Entom. Rec, vol. XV, p. 162), is also of very great interest, as being 

 the sole record of Danaida plexijjjms from the Mediterranean region — 

 " While looking through my journal for notes .... I came across the 

 following, which was written on November 8th, 1897, while we were 

 steaming through the Grecian Archipelago. I intended to send a note 

 of it to one of the entomological magazines at the time, but did not 

 do so. The entry reads, ' Anosia plexippus. — One of these butterflies 

 flapped slowly over the ship, not more than ten yards above my head, 

 and I had a good view of it, and feel confident it was this species, with 

 which I am well acquainted. The day was bright, hot, and calm. 

 When I was in the Pacific, between 1881-4, I often saw these butter- 

 flies passing over, or flying about, the ship, when we were miles from 

 any land, so I do not think it likely I was mistaken. But where can 

 this one have come from, the east or west ? ' " 



* Mr. A. H. Swinton kindly informs that in 1909 he received a specimen of Danaida plexippus 

 taken by his nephew at Cape Race. I do not think that the butterfly has been as yet recorded 

 from Newfoundland. 



