27 



preceding year, 1876, the only spring records are from the Avest — 

 Dublin, Plymouth and Pembroke ;-" and in the autumn it was 

 reported as common in the west also — -South Wales and Cheshire ;'" 

 the only other record being from Lewes, Sussex, where it is said to 

 have occurred in some numbers.'-'' The following winter we are 

 told was exceptionally mild, and in 1877 the species was more 

 abundant throughout the British Islands than perhaps it ever has 

 been eith9r before or since, but it is significant that McLachlan 

 reports, after enquiry of the leading entomologists of the country, 

 that the species had not been observed in Belgium,-'^ while Meldola 

 tells us that during a fortnight's collecting in the Rhine valley he 

 saw certainly not more than four specimens ; that during a week's 

 collecting near Hamburg he did not see one, and later, on a journey 

 through France to Paris only about six, yet on returning to Deal 

 the insect was in profusion. '^^ In 1885, a year when C. ediim 

 occurred at many places in the south of England, generally very 

 sparingly, but in fair numbers in some few favoured spots, we are 

 told that around Cork, Ireland, " the country was swarming with 

 it."-^^ In 1892, a year of abundance in Britain, perhaps second only 

 to 1877, it is recorded as "an unusual event" that C. edusa was 

 seen in numbers in the Channel Islands at the end of May.-'''- These 

 records, though admittedly inconclusive, appear to suggest strongly 

 that whatever immigration does take place is by similar routes to 

 those taken by the birds, crossing the Channel in a northerly direc- 

 tion at many parts, from its mouth upwards, rather than only by 

 a westerly passage at the Strait of Dover. 



Now, whatever part immigration may play in the economy of C. 

 edtisa in Britain, I do not for one moment suggest that the species 

 may not exist in this country for successive years without its aid. 

 Take the last fourteen years, 1900 to 1918 for example, and we find 

 that in only one of them, viz., 1910, is there no record of its occur- 

 rence, in some two or three of them it has been fairly common, but 

 in the majority it has occurred but sparingly, and only on or 

 near the warmest parts of the south coast. I have myself noted it 

 in one sheltered nook at the eastern end of the South Downs in 

 nine out of the fourteen years, and on two of the others it was 

 recorded from places so near as to suggest that it could hardly have 

 been really absent from my particular spot, although I had not met 

 with it. As to 1910, the only year of the series for which I can find 

 no record, the preceding winter was generally milder than usual, 

 but with two or three spells of dull, very cold weather, one of which 



■26 11 Entom.," vol. ix., p. 182. " Ent. Mo. Mag.," xiv., p. 65. 



27 " Entom. ,";vol. ix., p. 2-56. 



"-'* " Entom.." vol. ix., p. 217. 



•2'' "Ent. Mo. Mag.," vol. xiv., p. 66. 



30 " Ent. Mo. Mag.," vol. xiv., p. 110. 



31 "Entom.," vol..xviii., p. 322. 



3- " Ent. Mo. Mag.," vol. xxviii., p. 191. 



