SOCIETIKS. 215 



SO yesterday I chose what I considered a good locality near London, 

 and sowed the youthful lihegea lafvEe amongst scattered plants of 

 dandelion, a food they apparently approved of in confinement. 

 Should any collector meet with the species in 1910, please communi- 

 cate with me, and do not exterminate it. 



Crossing the lava beds on Mount Etna between Bronte and 

 Aderno, the " orange-tip " was flying amongst the spurge, almost the 

 only plant which grows there, but which flowers almost as l^rightly 

 as broom, quite difl'erent to our English spurge. The orange-tips 

 seemed also to be far brighter than our English species, but my 

 net was packed away, and I postponed capturing the specimens 

 until a future early visit which never took place. A.t Aderno I had 

 my net and captured my first Papilio podalirms, the loveliest flier 

 amongst butterflies that I have come across. It does not fly, it 

 simply " soars " in the air. This may be an Irish bull, but it is true. 

 Close to Catania a "procession" caterpillar on the pine-trees was 

 very common whenever the pine-trees occurred. Occasionally some 

 caterpillars would be blown down from the large nests on the tops of 

 the trees, and instinctively they formed a line, head to tail, and 

 marched off to regain their food-plant. It was curious to watch a 

 line, over a yard long, crossing the dusty roadway in perfect order. 

 I kept some larva, which spun up, but have not yet produced moths, 

 so I am not sure of the species. 



Towards the end of May I returned to Messina and resumed my 

 walks up the adjoining mountains. Each day I was able to get three 

 or four fresh species of butterflies, mainly those we get in England, 

 or reputed British species. I found it difficult to get an entire 

 novelty. I own up that I was quite overwhelmed with delight when 

 I got my first and only Argynnis pandora; the lovely under side 

 is indescribable. Charaxes jasius (one only) does not soar like P. 

 2)odalirius, but flies hurriedly. M. didyma makes a brilliant show 

 when in numbers. Our own P. machaon frequents the hills, and has 

 a curious habit of settling on a culm of long grass, and floating with 

 open wings from side to side like an inverted pendulum. 



As I had no means of setting my specimens, I put them in 

 papers, with data. Later on I hope to set them, and shall then be 

 able to make a complete list of my captures. Speaking generally 

 regarding the butterflies of Sicily, it seems to me that Sicily would 

 make a good appanage to Great Britain, and I am surprised to find 

 that twenty degrees of latitude make so little difference — J. Platt 

 Barrett ; 30, Endwell Road, Brockley, S.E., July 10th, 1909. 



SOCIETIES. 



The South London Entomological and Natural History 

 Society.— /w^;/ 8i/i, 1909.— Mr. Alfred Sich, F.B.S., President, in the 

 chair. — It was announced that the collections of British and European 

 butterflies made by the late Mr. F. Freeman, F.E.S., of Tavistock, Devon, 

 had been generously presented to the Society by Mrs. Freeman, through 

 Mr. Eowland-Brown. It is contained in two handsome cabinets. The 



