9qo [March, 



I captured Mr. Kirby submitted to Mr. Distant for an opinion, but it is pronounced 

 to be an immature species of Reduvius, of which genus there are doubtless many- 

 musicians. At Yalladolid the sand- wasps and bee-flies Bomhylius and Anthrax were 

 frequent on the sandy plain, and the red striped Meloe majalis, L., was conspicuous 

 in the clover, but our white butterflies Pieris, seem rarer in Spain than England, P. 

 Daplidice being the commonest. — A. H. Swinton, Binfield House, G-uildford : 

 January, 1885, 



Insect migration. — The last paragraph of Mr. Richard South's article {ante, p. 

 210), I entirely agree with, and wish to supplement his remarks by briefly recording 

 my experience in 1877. 



Colias Edusa had not been seen in St. Ives before 1877 by myself, or, I believe, 

 any other entomologist. 



The first specimen was captured on the 9th June by a friend. The next day 

 (10th) I caught both a S ^^''d $ , which I supposed to be hibernated specimens, but 

 which I now think must have immigrated here. I saw another Edusa on the 17th, 

 and two more on the 18th. 



In the " Field " newspaper for 16th June, a number of correspondents recorded 

 the occurrence of C. JEdusa in various localities, and in my note-book I wrote : " I 

 now can hardly believe in hibernated specimens." 



I saw no more individuals until the 8th of August, about two months after their 

 first appearance. On this day I caught eight, all males, in extremely fine condition. 

 I think they must have emerged that day. The wind was strong, and they flew low. 

 A few I picked off the flowers as they settled there. During the month of August 

 literally hundreds, even thousands, were seen ; indeed, C Edusa was by far the 

 commonest butterfly. In Hemingford Meadow, near St. Ives, they were to be seen 

 by scores. I caught sixty-four, and might have caught as many more. 



Since 1877, although I have been out nearly every day, C. Edusa has not been 

 seen once. 



What is to account for this sudden and copious supply but immigration? If 

 the season had been unfavoux'able, the migrants would have died, or their progeny. 



The first specimens seen y^ere females, the male not appearing until the middle 

 of August. This fact specially supports the above conclusion. I positively believe 

 the August specimens to have grown on the spot they were captured, but not the 

 early females. 



The extreme abundance of Plusia gamma in my garden in 1877 points to the 

 season being peculiarly favourable to migratory movements. — Heebeet E. Noeeis, 

 St. Ives, Hunts. : Fehruary 6th, 1885. 



Insect Migration. — The observations of Mr. South on insect migration (ante, pp. 

 208 — 211), are of great interest, and those on P. gamma, are doubly interesting to j 

 me, because I have observed very nearly the same phenomena myself. At Margate, in 

 1879 (the same year, it will be observed, as that of Mr. South's observations), Plusia \ 

 gamma was so extremely abundant, as to make it hopeless to hunt for other yoctiice, 

 flying both by day and by night everywhere. But one evening in August on going 

 into the garden, I was struck by the fact, that although the number of moths on the 

 wing was about the same as usual, they were all flying in the same direction — 



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