160 THE ENTOMOLOGIS'r. 
was very warm, and many other species were also on the wing, 
but P. gamma many times outnumbered the whole of them put 
together. I captured and examined many of them; a few pre- 
sented a battered appearance, but the majority had their thoracic 
crests and wing fringes intact, their pale colour alone suggesting 
that they were not recently emerged from pupa, or that their 
wings had done more than ordinary service ; a great number of 
them were females, and deposited ova freely directly they were 
boxed, they no doubt being engaged in that operation when 
captured. 
At a meeting of the South London Entomological Society, on 
the 26th May, members present mentioned that they had met 
with P. gamma in abundance at various places covering un area 
of some ten miles round London, butin no case had they observed 
it prior to the 24th. 
On the nights of the 25th and 26th thunderstorms, accom- 
panied by heavy rain, passed over, but the temperature remained 
high for the time of year; and P. gamma continued to visit my 
garden nightly, though in decreasing numbers, until June 10th, 
since which date I have been unable to discover but one indi- 
vidual, the disappearance coinciding with the sudden fall in 
temperature and wet weather of the 11th and 12th. 
P. gamma, being so common, I concluded that it would not be 
necessary to go very far to find Vanessa cardui also, and in this I 
was not disappointed. My first trip towards the outskirts of 
London was to the neighbourhood of Edgware, on May 28th, and, 
on leaving the railway-station, the first insect that met my gaze 
was V. cardui, and during the afternoon many more were seen ; 
and on June 6th I found it still more abundantly in the lanes in 
my own neighbourhood; indeed, I do not remember to have 
previously seen it so commonly in the district. I have also met 
with an occasional specimen of Nomophila noctuella (hybridalis), 
an insect which appears frequently to accompany any general. 
abundance of the other species under notice. 
Nor is London the only district affected; and to friends resi- 
dent in various other parts of the country I am indebted for 
many valuable notes, from which the following are taken :— 
From Polegate, Sussex, I learn that P. gamma and V. cardui are 
very common. ‘ P. gamma swarmed in my garden; I could have 
taken twenty at one sweep of the net. They appear very light in 
colour this season.” In the New Forest both species were noticed 
commonly about the middle of May; P. gamma was flying in 
some numbers at Stockbridge, Hauts, on June 4th, and came 
freely to flowers of Lychnis at Northwood, Herts, early in June. 
At Brentwood, Essex, on 29th May, “V.cardui was swarming 
over a patch of bluebells; and P. gamma was in thousands.” 
From Herefordshire I learn that, “although opportunities tor 
observation have been limited, it has been impossible not to 
