﻿284 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Migration op Pykameis atalanta. — The Bishop of Ripon sends 

 us the following note : — " On September 13th last, I was fishing 

 with Mr. Percival Williams, of Lenarth, and Dr. Leverton-Spry, of 

 St. Keverne, on the south coast of Cornwall, about half a mile off the 

 Blackhead, which lies halfway between Lizard Point and Falmouth. 

 We were moving about, and noticed several ' Red Admirals ' flying 

 seaward from the shore. At first we only thought of them as 

 having been by chance driven off shore by the wind, but as we noticed 

 more of them from time to time, and as in all probability the same 

 was occurring beyond our range of vision, say fifty yards, it occurred 

 to Mr. Williams that the question had arisen as to the migration of 

 this butterfly. We must have noticed at least a dozen, not more 

 than twenty, and all of them seemed seaward bound, S. or S.E. The 

 time was between twelve and three, the wind light from the N.W. 

 and off shore, with bright sunshine. On the previous day, Sunday, 

 the wind and weather had been the same, as also on the succeeding 

 days, but for some eight days before there had been a strong and 

 persistent easterly inshore wind, culminating on the Saturday in half 

 a gale. Mr. Williams, who is a resident in the neighbourhood, has 

 never noticed many ' Red Admirals ' on the cliffs, but at his home 

 three miles inland there are always quantities in the autumn. None 

 of them attempted to settle on the boat, but continued on their 

 flight, and all in the same south-easterly direction." 



Pteameis atalanta in 1915. — From my experience of Pijrameis 

 atalanta on the south coast this autumn, I cannot help thinking 

 that had Mr. Hugh Scott been able to prolong his stay in the Henley 

 district for two or three weeks longer he would have found the 

 species less rare than would appear from his note [ante, p. 266). My 

 own opportunities for observation were confined almost entirely to 

 week-ends, and to little more than a mile of ground almost within 

 the town of Eastbourne ; but as they extended over a period from 

 the end of July to November, I was able to note the coming and 

 going of the autumn emergence. The species was not seen at all 

 until quite the end of August, and from then till September 17th 

 only single specimens were noted, but on the 18th several were seen 

 on the parade banks, and in the garden four patches of a species of 

 Michaelmas daisy proved a great attraction, anything from three to 

 half a dozen individuals frequently being on each of the patches. 

 A similar state of things continued until October 10th, but on the 17th 

 only three were seen in the garden, and not more than a couple 

 elsewhere. Then followed a week of unsettled weather, and we saw 

 no more of P. atalanta. — R. Adkin ; Lewisham, November, 1915. 



Aberrations op Pyeameis atalanta. — For over thirty years I 

 have each season bred up all the larvae that I could find, averaging 

 from twenty-five to seventy, in the hope of getting a good aberra- 

 tion of this very constant species. I had no success until last year, 

 when I bred one with the bands of a rusty red, those on the fore 

 wings having their edges beautifully clouded instead of being sharply 



