14 THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD. 
Fastnet Lighthouse, eight miles ont at sea, on the coast of Co. Cork. 1883.— 
“ November 2nd: Weather hazy; number of large moths, comparable only to a fall 
of snow.” 
Rhymes of Islay Lighthouse, situated on a rock off the south-westerly point of 
one of the West Scottish islands, and due north of Ireland, whence it is distant some 
thirty miles. 1885,—‘‘Night of September 7th. Hundreds of moths flying about 
lantern.” 
Heligoland Lighthouse, on the east point of the island, facing Denmark, which 
is the nearest mainland to it, and about thirty miles from it. 1883.—‘ August 6th- 
7th: Wind south-east, Considerable flight of Silver Gamma moth (Plusia gamma), 
but nothing to be compared with the perfect ‘snowstorm’ of this moth that passed 
in the autumn of 1882, all going west. October 11th: Wind §.S.W. There was a 
large flight of Hybernia defoliaria, mixed with H. aurantiaria; and also during the 
nights of the last week in October repeated flights of these moths.” 1884.—‘* Night 
of July 2nd-3rd. Thousands of Plusia gamma. Night of July 21st-22nd. Great 
numbers of Bombyx neustria, east to west. July 22nd-23rd. The same. 27th-28th. 
Numerous flights passing on.” 
Fiddra Lighthouse, on an island off the east coast of Scotland. 1886.— 
“August. Moths everywhere after darkness had set in; some very large and 
beautiful, and so numerous that they had to be swept down with a towel.” 
Would Light-vessel, ten miles off Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast. 1884.— 
“June 7th, 4.0 a.m., wind §.S.E. One Death’s Head moth caught alive; several 
small white moths rested.” 
These records are definite enough, and, in most cases, point con- 
clusively to the actual migration of several species besides Plusia 
gamma. 
One of the records given above is sufficiently remarkable for further 
consideration. This is that which refers to the migration of Hybernia 
defoliaria and H. aurantiaria. Both these species occur in late autumn 
and abound in many parts of Hngland—in fact, the former is one of 
the most common of the autumnal moths on the lamps, in the suburbs 
of London, during October and November—and both have wingless 
females, which could not migrate long distances under any condition 
whatever. H. defoliaria, in spite of its having a wingless female, has 
a great range of distribution, existing in favourable spots in the 
British Isles, and, extending right across the Old World to Japan, 
reappears again in Vancouver Island. It thus forms another con- 
necting link between the faunas of the Palearctic and of the Nearctic 
areas. 
The list of lepidoptera found in the small island of Heligoland 
(Ent. Mo. Mag., xix., p. 164) gives very interesting material for 
study, and the collector of the material on which the lst is 
based, Giitke, asserts (Heliqoland as an Ornithological Observatory, 
p. 87) that the movements of nocturnal lepidoptera are subject to 
meteorological influences, that this view is supported by repeated 
observations, which show that these insects travel past the island 
(Heligoland) under the same conditions as migrating birds, and, for 
the most part in their company, in an east-to-west direction. He 
says: ‘(They fly in swarms, the numbers of which defy all attempts at 
computation, and can only be expressed by millions.” ‘To illustrate 
this Giitke gives the following details: ‘‘ On the night of October 25th, 
1872, during a very extensive migration of larks, many thousands of 
Hybernia defoliavia, intermingled with hundreds of H. aurantiaria, 
travelled over the island. In the following year, on the night of July 
29th, the weather being warm and perfectly calm, thousands of 
Ennomos angularia, together with hundreds of Gnophria quadra, passed 
in the midst of a strong migration of young golden plovers, ringed 
