KUPLOEINAE: ANOSIA PLEXIPFUS. 729 



In his third Missouri report Kiley states that P. B. Sibley of St. Joseph, 

 Missouri, on September 19, 1868 saw "niillions of them filling the air to 

 a height of tlu'ee or four hundred feet for several hours, fiying from north 

 to south." Also large flocks, according to Thomas Wells, passed over 

 Manhattan, Kansas, in a southerly direction in the evening of the 27th 

 and morning of the 28th of September, 1870; "while at Alton, Illi- 

 nois, great numbers of them were seen passing in a southwest direction on 

 the last day of October of the same year." I have elsewhere referred to 

 the "continuous line of passing butterflies flying in a direct course toward 

 the south" observed from the top of Pegan Hill in Natick by William 

 Edwards. His full account, which leaves scarcely a doubt that they be- 

 longed to this species, may well find a place here. 



The day was warm ami summer-like, with no Aviml to disturb tlie rtight of tlie but- 

 terflies, whicli was remarliably steady aud even, lilve the flight of migrating birds, and 

 very unlike the usual zigzag moyement of butterflies. We watched them for nearly an 

 hour as they appeared in view from the north and moved steadily onward toward the 

 south. Sometimes they appeared singly, sometimes in groups of three or four, but 

 oftener in pairs, and flying six or eight feet apart. Being anxious to obtain a specimen, 

 that the species might be determined, we made several vain attempts to bring one 

 down by sending our walking-sticks after them. This put them in great confusion, 

 entirely breaking up their line of march, aud causing them to dodge rapidly to the 

 right and left, and frequently to drop doAvn several feet; altliough they continued on 

 at the same rate of speed, they seemed unable to regain tlieir former even flight, but 

 kept up this zigzag motion till lost sight of in the distance. They Avere apparently 

 one of onr largest species, and were visible at least one eighth of a mile as they ap- 

 peared in sight ; it seems an important fact that they did not change their altitude in 

 passing over tlie hill. We also noticed when descending the hill toward the north that 

 they were flying at the same level till we were so far below them that they appeared 

 but mere specks in the air above our heads, and before we had reached the plains 

 below we had entirely lost siglit of them. There was no reason to suppose that the 

 butterflies changed their course in order to pass over this hill, or that the flight did 

 not extend over the surrounding country. (Am. nat., xi : 244.) 



In a letter written by Miss Jennie Murray of Girard, Kansas, to Dr. 

 A. S. Packard, which he has kindly permitted me to see, she records a 

 similar passage on September 17, 1877. The butterflies came, she 

 writes two days afterward, "from the north north-east at the rate of 

 about twenty a minute, and continued from the time I first noticed them 

 for about half an hour. It was between five and six o'clock p. m. I was 

 told the same thing occurred here last fall. Some wei'C as high up as the 

 eye could reach ; others lower ; and still others not more than twenty or 

 thirty feet from the ground." Specimens wei'e in this case obtained and 

 identified. In an unsigned note in Field and forest (iii : 91) it is stated 

 that "large numl>ers of this butterfly commenced their flight over Denton 

 Co., Texas, about the 15th of October, and continued up to November 

 5th, the last week, however, in much smaller numbers than previously. 

 They seemed to be mo^'ing in a southerly direction and were accompanied 



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