190 THE ENTOMOLOGIST, 



it abundant on Collin Mt., Antrim. A very fine variety was 

 taken by Mrs. Battersby, of Cromlyn, Westmeath, of abnormal 

 pattern so closely resembling the one from Jersey, lately figured 

 (Entom. xxvi. 27) by Mr. South, that it raises most interesting 

 conjectures in relation to the origin of such similar variations 

 arising sporadically in localities so widely separated in a species 

 noted for the stability of its characters. Similar causes produce 

 similar effects. And if we refer to a former volume (PL II. of 

 vol. xi.), we find that the Westmeath aberration partakes also, in 

 addition, of some of the characters of that figured from the 

 neighbourhood of Birmingham, namely, in the trace on the costa 

 of the obsolete band of the fore wing, and more especially on the 

 under side of fore wing in possessing the identical bluish patch 

 near the apex, and in the width of the suffusion of the red band 

 (yellowish in the Birmingham example). It thus combines all 

 the remarkable features of both (except the reversion to a 

 yellowish tint in the red band of the latter), and differs from 

 them chiefly by the suppression of the ocelli, and in having a 

 suffused submarginal grey band running along all margins. 



Vanessa caedui, L. — The same remarks apply to this species, 

 but perhaps it is even more fickle in occurrence, especially in 

 Ulster. Mr. Campbell, however, has seen specimens of it every 

 season near Berry. In the southern half of Ireland and in 

 Galway it is occasionally very plentiful, at Killarney, Cork, 

 Wexford, and Bublin. Mr. Birchall notes that it is often to be 

 found on the summits of mountains. Its wandering propensities 

 are well known, and I have seen it frequently above the snow- 

 line of the Swiss Alps. It seems pretty certain that our 

 indigenous race of both atcdanta and cardiii are occasionally 

 reinforced by migrations. In Spain, whose arid plateaux are 

 often covered with dense growths of thistle, this species swarms 

 locally; and it is probable that from time to time, through 

 defoliation, migrations to new pastures become a necessity. 

 Hence, probably, vast flights of the insect occur wherever similar 

 circumstances arise, and the habit has been derived. 



[Apatura iris has not been, as yet, certainly taken in Ireland ; 

 but a few specimens are said to have been taken at Eathmullen, 

 Co. Bonegal, an unlikely occurrence so far north, by Mr. John 

 Cowie. Also I heard a rumour of its existence at Charleville 

 Forest, Tullamore. If the climate is sufficiently favourable for 

 its survival, the vast oak forests, which anciently covered great 

 tracts of Ireland, may well have harboured this fine species.] 



(To be continued.) 



