STEUCTURE AND LITERATUEE. 29 



"A Colony of Butterflies," which contains the results 

 of my studies on this subject, and which first ap- 

 peared in the pages of the ' American Naturalist.' 

 Por myself I do not believe that there is any basis 

 of fact behind the myth of the Atlantis. I do not 

 think that there is any probability of a former con - 

 tinent between Europe and America, a bridge for 

 the fauna or flora and at the same time a surviving 

 memory in men's minds. E;atlier does it seem 

 reasonable that the observation of low-lying clouds, 

 in a sun-flushed, western sky, suggested the fabled 

 countries. The birth-place of the myth seems to 

 have been far from the shores of the Atlantic. The 

 myth must be separated, at all events, from any 

 e-eolosical evidence of the former existence of an 

 Atlantic continent. 



At this time a large portion of the western and 

 south-western portions of the United States re- 

 mains unexplored, so that we have much to learn as 

 to the geographical distribution of our Noctuidse. 

 A good number of species are found to range from 

 Texas, through Arizona, and into California. There 

 is a general distinctive character to the Noctuid 

 fauna of the Eastern and Middle States as far as the 

 Mississippi Ptiver ; and, on the whole, the Eastern or 

 Atlantic fauna resembles the European less than 

 the Western or Pacific. There is also a seasonal 

 migration, from the South to the North, of many 

 species. The topography of the land is consulted 

 in their flights ; and the Southern species reach their 

 highest northern extension along the coast or up the 

 valley of the Mississippi Paver. EiUhlsanoUa Tmiais, 



