MIGRATIONS OF PAPILIONACEOUS INSECTS. 177 



actual and careful comparison, distinct species may 

 have been confounded together. Many birds (par- 

 ticularly of the order Grattatores) were once thus 

 said to inhabit all parts of the globe ; until it was 

 shown,, by careful and minute comparison, that 

 different creatures had been confused together : I 

 allude to the species of Scolopax, Charadrius, Tka- 

 lasidroma, &c., which, though closely resembling 

 each other, are now proved, by various and constant 

 characters, to be distinct. There can, however, be 

 no doubt but that the Painted Lady Butterfly has 

 an amazingly wide range of geographical distribu- 

 tion, and I think it may be fully accounted for by 

 the strange wandering propensities of the insect. 



" Of this I have just witnessed a very remark- 

 able example. I had often observed this species 

 to fly straight out to sea, and I have noticed it at a 

 considerable distance from land ; but, until within 

 this last fortnight, I never knew them travel in 

 immense flocks. On the 8th of this month, (Oc- 

 tober 1833,) this beautiful butterfly abounded in 

 all the gardens about this place ; upwards of 

 twenty were counted on one clump of dahlias; 

 and, at the same time, they were noticed in equal 

 abundance in a garden about half a mile distant 

 from that in which those dahlias grew. None 

 had been previously observed in the neighbour- 

 hood, and all that were seen on that day were very 

 much rubbed and injured, so that they had evi- 



