ENTOMOLOGICAL REPORTS. 1 09 



this by disappearing early, as it was still flying in considerable 

 numbers at Drymen in September. It is also apparently double- 

 brooded in certain seasons. A single example of Vanessa atalanta 

 was also observed on the 1st of June, but this was probably a 

 hibernated specimen. The Red Admiral is not so much given to 

 hibernation as other species of the genus, but, considering the 

 great numbers that were flying late in 1894, it would have been very 

 odd if none of them had survived the winter. It was, however, 

 the Small Copper Butterfly, {Polyommatus phlceas,) which gave the 

 really distinctive character to the season. This little insect, which 

 is double-brooded, appearing both in May and August, is not 

 usually to be seen in great numbers in the neighbourhood of the 

 city, and I have no recollection of having seen till last year a 

 single one in the springtime nearer than Bowling. Last year it 

 was flying everywhere at the end of May and beginning of June — 

 Possil, Giffnock, Milngavie, banks of Cart, and every locality 

 visited by members of the Section was swarming with it. It even 

 ventured into the centre of the city, and stray specimens were 

 brought to me from Parliamentary Road and Buchanan Street. 

 It was equally abundant in the autumn. Among other insects 

 more plentiful last year than usual, we may mention the little blue 

 Dragon-fly (Agrt'on ekgans), which was very abundant at Possil 

 and Milngavie ; and the large Caddis-fly (Phryganea striata) also 

 seemed to be much more numerous and widespread than usual, 

 though by no means common. 



This sporadic appearance of certain insects in great numbers 

 has always been a mystery to entomologists. That there are good 

 and sufficient reasons goes without saying, but mother nature has 

 locked in her bosom the secret of what these causes really are. 

 According to entomological tradition the Red Admiral has a habit 

 of appearing this way every seven years, the last occasion being 

 in 1894. The members of the section, not being able to speak 

 for many periods of that length, cannot affirm either the truth 

 or the untruth of this legend. We have, at anyrate, a plausible 

 explanation for the phenomenal abundance of the Small Copper 

 and certain other insects last year. They pupate on or near the 

 surface of the ground, where they become the ready prey of the 

 shrew, field-mouse, birds, etc. The winter of 1894-5 was so 

 severe, and the frost lasted so long, that the pupae were far better 



