322 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



from Gibraltar, by the captain of a vessel, on which three specimens 

 came aboard. Aplccta occulta was noted {Ent. Mo. Man., viii., p. 16) 

 as being captured in the Atlantic, 220 miles from Nova Scotia, in 1871. 

 McLachlan at the meeting of the Ent. Soc. London, April 4th, 1877, 

 exhibited a specimen of Ojihulcirs matcnia, a Noctuid moth (common in 

 India, found also in Africa, specimens having- been recorded, too, 

 from Brazil and Florida), taken at sea in lat. 25° 24' S., long. 62° 

 10' E., the nearest land being the Island of Mauritius, about 360 miles 

 distant. A large Noctuid moth, Ju-ehiis adora, captured in the South 

 Atlantic in about 28° S. lat. and 26° W. long., was also exhibited at 

 a meeting of the Ent. Soc. of London some years ago. 



The capture of butterflies at great distances from land is, perhaps, 

 of even more common occurrence. Besides those already mentioned, 

 FAirancsm antiopa is recorded as occurring off the coast of North 

 Carolina, 25 miles from land, and Anosia archippm in the South 

 Pacific, 500 miles from land, whilst Marker observed the latter species 

 oft' the coast of Portugal, 60 miles from Cape St. Vincent. Barrett 

 notes [Ent. Mo. Man., xxix., p. 163) specimens of this insect, of the 

 North American type, captured about 1880, on board a vessel in the 

 Atlantic, at a distance of from 200-300 miles from the western shores 

 of Britain. We have in our possession specimens of both sexes of 

 Jli/jiolimnas viisij/pits taken in the Atlantic Ocean by Captain Ellis, 

 more than 500 miles from land ; these specimens were part of a great 

 flight. Crompton records {Ent., xxix., p. 12) the first appearance of 

 this species in Tenerife, in 1895. Grapes notes {E7it., xxi., p. 161) 

 Pieris brassicae, P. rapae and Pi/iruncis atalanta 'eighteen miles from 

 the Isle of Wight ; a small butterfly, like a fritillary, 35 miles from 

 St. Antonio, one of the Cape Verde Islands, and a Pymmcin like P. 

 canhii, but with an ocellated spot of considerable size on each forewing, 

 off the coast of New Zealand, on December 6th, 1886. On September 

 16th, 1865, the ship Whinfell was overtaken by a cyclone at a distance 

 of about 600 miles from Cambia, on the coast of Africa, and 200 miles 

 from the Cape Verde Islands, the nearest land, when a great many birds 

 and butterflies came on board, the latter very numerous. The species 

 proved to be HypolimnaH (JJiadoua) misippus and Ptjramcis cardtii. 

 The former is essentially an Old World species, abundant in tropical 

 Asia and Africa, but has, comparatively recently, spread to America. 

 It has a very wide range, as might be expected from its habits, extend- 

 ing from northern Australia and New Guinea on the one hand, to 

 Florida, in the United States of America, on the other. Eadley records 

 Isaiiiia asela as being observed flying out to sea 100 miles from the 

 Maldive Islands, and Holdsworth states that he believes there is a 

 regular migration of Pajiilio hector from India to the north-west of 

 Ceylon, at the end of February, as he repeatedly saw, from ten to six- 

 teen miles from land, straggling parties of I'apilio hector flying low 

 and steadily towards the coast of Ceylon, with a course nearly due 

 east, and at a part of the Straits, which is 60 miles across. Many 

 other cases of moths and butterflies being observed at sea are mentioned 

 incidentally in this chapter. 



None of our l^ritish moths are more capricious in their appearance 

 than some of the large hawk moths. For many years in succession some 

 species are never met with in any stage, then, from various parts of the 

 country, large mimbers will be simultaneously recorded and many indi- 



