266 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OP ANIMALS. CHAP. VIII. 



greatest number is, from the dry arid districts of the 

 interior, towards the verdant forests of the sea coast ; 

 and the season is that of the greatest heat in Brazil, 

 when the drought in the interior is excessive, the 

 vegetation burnt up, and the rivulets dry. That most 

 lovely of all butterflies, Lelius Braziliensis Sw. *, mi- 

 grates in a peculiar manner, proceeding in May and 

 June according to our observations from north 

 to south ; but we had no opportunity of ascertaining 

 whether it returned by the same route: its range, 

 however, is comparatively limited, since it is neither 

 found so far north as Surinam, nor does it reach the 

 southern province of Rio de Janeiro. The Surinam 

 species (Lelius Surinamensis Sw. f) probably mi- 

 grates northward ; but we have no very certain inform- 

 ation on this point. Lindley, the author of a little 

 work on Brazil, informs us, elsewhere, that he witnessed 

 in that country, in the beginning of March, 1803, an 

 immense flight of white and yellow butterflies, (which 

 was, in all probability, a species of Colius), which 

 continued to pass for many days successively : they pro- 

 ceeded in a direction from north-west to south-east ; 

 and this course being to the ocean, at only a small dis- 

 tance, it is inferred " they must consequently perish." 

 This conclusion, however, is certainly erroneous; the 

 richly-wooded and luxuriant parts of Brazil always 

 border the coast : we could mention many facts tending 

 to favour the opinion that all these butterfly migrations 

 are made towards these verdant tracts, for the purposes 

 of breeding, or rather of depositing their eggs ; not <- 

 as Messrs. Kirby and Spence appear to believe as a 

 prelude to their inevitable destruction in the ocean. 



(280.) Insects of several other tribes are known to 

 make occasional migrations, and in immense numbers. 

 Major Moore witnessed, in Bombay, an army of bugs 

 (Cwmee*), which were going westward; and they were so 

 numerous that they covered everything in the room where 

 he was sitting. An army of dragon flies (Agrion Fab.) 



* Zool. Illust. vol. ii. p. 126. t W. ibid. p. 125. 



