NOTES ON NEW AND RAKE BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 153 



has afforded much food for meditation. Many wise heads 

 have been puzzled to explain the phenomenon. IMr. Bold, 

 of Newcastle, one of our most able entomologists, in a 

 recently published pamphlet, declines to adopt the " flown 

 over" theory at any price ; he will not have it that they 

 came over to us from Holland, a distance of only one hundred 

 miles, in spite of the fact that the species was unusually 

 common in that country previous to its occurrence in this. 



It is worth noting that during the past season the bulk 

 of the spring captures of V. Antiopa were made in the north 

 of England, while the autumn manoeuvres of the insect were 

 performed in the south, looking as if the pretty creatures, 

 having had a taste of our climate, were desirous of making 

 tracks for a more congenial land. 



Apatura ilia versus A. iris. 



After due consideration, I cannot help agreeing with Mr. 

 Doubleday in supposing that there must have been some 

 mistake respecting the occurrence in this country of Apatura 

 ilia, a larva of which, feeding on oak, is alleged to have 

 been taken a few years ago by Mr. Tritton. That gentle- 

 man, however, though he can vividly describe the larva, 

 appears to have no remembrance whatever of the singular 

 chrysalis from which he ultimately reared the perfect but- 

 terfly, notwithstandiiig his having watched it anxiously day 

 by day for a considerable period of time in the hope that 

 the imago would make its appearance. Of course, had Mr. 

 Tritton been dishonestly inclined, he might easily have 

 extracted from published works an exact account of the 

 appearance of the pupa in question, but he has chosen the 

 more straightforward course of admitting by silence his 

 ignorance in the matter. 



The startling announcement that this A. ilia was raised 



