71 



26 and 43; very common in 44, 57 and 58; and very 

 abundant in 59; then scarce in 60 and 61 ; common in 62, 

 65, 67, 68 and 69; then scarce in 70 and 71 ; common again 

 in 72 ; then apparently altogether absent in 73 and 74 ; but 

 very common in 75 ; common in y6 ; and swarming through- 

 out England, Wales, and South Ireland in 1877, extending 

 even as far north as Perthshire. In 1878, however, the only 

 records are some ten or twelve specimens from our most 

 southern counties in spring, and solitary instances in autumn 

 from similar situations, the one exception being Freshwater, 

 in the Isle of Wight, where about a dozen were observed. 

 In 1879 it was fairly common at Folkestone and Dover, but 

 scarce or absent elsewhere. In 1880,1 and 2, very scarce ; 

 in 1883 some few were noted at Bournemouth and in the 

 Isle of Wight ; but it was scarce elsewhere. In 1884 and 5 

 it was fairly common in some of the southern counties, 

 particularly in the latter year. 1886 and 7 gives us some 

 few records, chiefly from the southern counties; 1888 the 

 same ; and last year, although we do not find that it was 

 particularly common in the south, we have records of some 

 twenty from Liverpool, where it had not been seen since 

 1877, and several from the south coast of Aberdeen ; 

 while occasional specimens were taken in Staffordshire, 

 Yorkshire, etc. 



It is worthy of remark that, in 1877, when this species was 

 so excessively abundant here, we find, on the authority of 

 Mr. McLachlan and Prof. Meldola, that there was no corre- 

 sponding abundance throughout Belgium, that it was not 

 seen at Hamburg, and that but few specimens were ob- 

 served in the neighbourhood of Paris. We also find that 

 the abundance noted in this year {E.M.M. xiv. 64, 65) 

 followed on an exceptionally mild winter, that the early 

 emergence was somewhat plentiful, and the specimens in 

 unusually fresh condition. The summer was also warm and 

 fine, the conditions throughout being favourable to the de- 

 velopment of a species inhabiting the warmer parts of the 

 pal^arctic region. 



The geographical range of this species, so far as concerns 

 the countries adjacent to these islands, is North- West Africa, 

 Southern and Central Europe ; in other words, it inhabits 

 the warmer parts, and captures even so far north as Aberdeen 

 and Perth can only be regarded as accidental, and would 

 appear to indicate an exceptional northern movement. As 

 to any observed migratory movement, we have but scant 

 information, beyond that a few specimens have been, from 



