WHITES. 



163 



Biologist," pp. 300, 313, 314, <fec. ; the scarcity 

 seemed to extend all over the kingdom. At 

 page 80 of the fourth volume of the " Ento- 

 mologist," the Rev. T. A. Preston records the 

 occurrence of a white butterfly on the 24th of 

 February, and of a second on the 4th of 

 March : it would be useless to speculate on 

 the species, but Rapce is the most probable of 

 the three. 



Obs. At nine in the evening of the 16th 

 July, 1868, when returning from a visit to 

 my friend Mr. Kirch ner, who has so ex- 

 quisitely engraved my moths and butterflies, 

 I saw a number of small white butterflies on 

 a railway bank, flying from one clump of 

 lucerne to another, and sipping the honey 

 of the blossoms : they were doubtless of this 

 species. 



LOCALITIES. Appears to be universally dis- 

 tributed throughout the United Kingdom. It 

 is very partial to settling on damp ground. 

 Curious instances are recorded of its following 

 water-carts in London in swarms, and settling 

 on the fresh watered streets. 



Obs. This butterfly is rather remarkable for 

 the manner in which it has been observed mi- 

 grating. At page 1443 of the fourth volume 

 of the "Zoologist," I have extracted the 

 foll*vring from the " Canterbury Journal :" 

 "One of the largest flights of butterflies 

 ever seen in this country crossed the Channel 

 from France to England, on Sunday last (the 

 5th July, 1846). Such were the density and 

 extent of the cloud formed by the living mass, 

 that it completely obscured the sun from the 

 people on board our Continental steamers ; 

 the decks were strewed with the insects in 

 all directions. The flight reached England 

 about twelve at noon, and dispersed them- 

 selves inland and alongshore, darkening the 

 air as they went. During the sea-passage of 

 the butterflies the weather was calm and 

 sunny, with scarcely a puff" of wind stirring ; 

 but an hour or so after they reached terra 

 firma it came on to blow great guns from the 

 south-west, the direction whence the insects 

 came." Another newspaper account says : 

 "On Sunday last (5th July, 1846), there was 

 a most extraordinary arrival of white butter- 



flies at Dover; every vessel that came into 

 harbour had the rigging and decks completely 

 covered with them, an J the pier was so thick 

 in butterflies that you could not walk with- 

 out treading on them." At the same page 

 of the " Zoologist," the Rev. J. Pemberton 

 Bartlett gives the following account : " On 

 the 7th of July (1846), I was surprised by 

 the very unusual number of white butterflies 

 which appeared in our garden here, and in 

 order to protect the rising generation of cab- 

 bages and broccoli, I commenced an attack 

 upon them with my net. In about an hour 

 I killed upwards of a hundred, but this not 

 appearing materially to diminish their num- 

 ber, I desisted from the work of destruction. 

 The next day they were as numerous, and I 

 began to suspect that they had migrated, as 

 it was difficult to account for so simultaneous 

 an escape from the chrysalis state of so vast a 

 number in our own immediate neighbourhood. 

 I have since been informed that on Sunday, 

 the 5th of July, an extraordinary flight of 

 white butterflies arrived at Dover from the 

 French coast. It was described as being so 

 extensive as to pass like a cloud of snow. 

 The decks of several vessels were covered with 

 them ; they came in a south-west direction." 

 The distance between Mr. Bartlettfs resi- 

 dence and Dover is ten miles. 



Another and totally different instance of 

 the colonizing or acclimating power of this 

 butterfly will be found at page 9371 of the 

 "Zoologist" for 1864 : this paper, which is 

 certainly one of the most valuable and in- 

 teresting contributions to the science of ento- 

 mology ever published, is from the pen of 

 Mr. G. J. Bowles, Secretary of the Entomo- 

 logical Society of Canada, Quebec Branch ; 

 and although it is too long to transfer entire 

 to these pages, the introductory paragraphs are 

 of such importance in an economic and com- 

 mercial point of view, that I cannot hesitate 

 to insert them here ; omitting, however, the 

 author's valuable observations on the possible 

 mode of introduction. " During the summer 

 of 1863," says Mr. Bowles, "I captured, in 

 the vicinity of Quebec, numerous specimen* 

 of a butterfly of which no description could 



