XCV111. PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



seem as if the migrations were more frequent. Bell speaks of 

 bands of butterflies (Timetus chiron) 50 yards wide, all travelling 

 to the S.E. in Nicaragua, others of the migrations of species of 

 Urania, large and handsome day-flying moths, in Brazil and 

 Texas, Panama, and lower down at various places as far as Rio 

 Janeiro. The directions seem to vary, being sometimes the 

 south, west, north-west, south-east, east in fact, the direction 

 seems quite uncertain. One observer, Friedrich, states that 

 every year there is a great migration of newly-emerged 

 specimens of two species of Urania from Vera Cruz, in Mexico; 

 commencing in April and continuing for three or four weeks 

 in a northerly direction along the eastern slope of the 

 Cordilleras. He says that they return by the same route five 

 or six weeks later in greatly reduced numbers, the females 

 having laid their eggs. Should this be correct, it would follow 

 that many must refrain from taking part in the migration in 

 order to produce a sufficient number of moths for the corres- 

 ponding migration of the next year. A similar migration to 

 that on Mount Shasta is recorded from South Africa, where 

 great numbers of butterflies of the species Callidryas florella and 

 rhadia were observed moving steadily eastwards from the valleys 

 to the highest peaks of the Maluti Mountains, in Basutoland, 

 10,000 feet above the sea. 



In a few of the cases of migrations the butterflies are stated to 

 be all of the male sex, but in others both sexes were present. 



There are cases on record of the migration of caterpillars in 

 great numbers ; e.g., the larvae of a Noctua in Tasmania, which 

 are described as deserting a ploughed-up barley field, and 

 passing in a body up the road, through two gardens, and into 

 a grass field. Another case is given in an American newspaper, 

 the Charleston Courier, May, 1842, which states that the 

 migrating caterpillars filled the railway for more than a mile, 

 and that the train in passing over them made the line so slippery 

 that it was unable to proceed. 



