PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. xcv. 



I am not aware that Colias Edusa has ever been observed on 

 its way here from the Continent, so that any statement as to the 

 origin of our specimens must partake of the nature of a theory ; 

 but we may, without much hesitation, assume that it comes from 

 the South of Europe perhaps France. It is most uncertain in 

 its appearance, and several years may pass with hardly a record, 

 when suddenly it is seen in swarms. A few specimens will 

 migrate here in May and lay eggs, from which a brood emerges 

 in August, but the extreme abundance of the insect in that 

 month in certain years would suggest a migration at that time 

 also. In 1892 the lucerne and clover fields were alive with 

 them, but the records since have been comparatively few. 



The migration of Vanessa Cardui, the Painted Lady, have 

 been perhaps more followed than those of any other butterfly. 

 It is well known as a migrant in Europe, and also to a certain 

 extent in America and elsewhere. Like the Clouded Yellow, it 

 comes to us from abroad and produces a brood in this country ; 

 but it is not able generally to survive our winters and establish 

 itself permanently, so that it would soon cease to be a British 

 insect were it not for fresh aliens. It is a much more regular 

 visitor than the Clouded Yellow, and is seen here in most 

 years. 



In 1879 the migration of these species was recorded by many 

 observers at a good many different places in Algiers, Spain, 

 France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, and Great Britain, so that 

 its course could be more or less clearly traced. The swarm 

 appears to have left Africa about the middle of April, passing 

 through Spain in the latter half of the month and beginning of 

 May, France towards the end of May, and spreading into 

 Switzerland and North Italy by early June. By mid-June some 

 of the butterflies had reached Germany and Austria, Belgium, 

 and England, penetrating into Scotland. The numbers in this 

 country in 1879 were unusually large, but Mr. Tutt states that in 

 1880 the insect was very scarce everywhere, though in England 



