316 THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD. 
“May 9th, 1893. Iu 3°56’ N. lat. and 27° 20’ W. long. Butterflies all over 
the ship; the sailors knocking them down with their caps from one end of the 
ship to the other,” 
Captain Ellis also informs me that during these days the ship had 
passed through the region of the doldrums with calms and rain squalls 
between the N.E. and §.E. trade winds. To the best of Captain 
lillis’s recollection and opinion all the butterflies belonged to one 
swarm and were of the same kind on both occasions. The ship was 
then nearly on the line between Cape St. Roque and Sierra Leone, and 
580 miles from the former, 960 miles from the latter. Although the 
African coast was far more distant than the South American, I cannot 
doubt that the insects came from the former. Indeed, I put down 
tropical West Africa as first among the suggestions thrown out in my 
note (vol. xii., p. 80). The only other possibility is tropical South 
America, a country in which H. misippus has comparatively recently 
established itself and is spreading rapidly. The insufficient observa- 
tions that have been made in South America do not justify the belief 
that the inaria form of the female is present in large proportion, 
while two out of the three females captured at sea belonged to this 
variety—a proportion entirely consistent with our much more exten- 
sive series of observations upon this species in West Africa. Further- 
more, the species is not sufficiently abundant in South America to 
render it probable that these vast swarms can have come from there. 
The observation throws much light upon the comparatively recent 
intrusion of the species into South America, and its even later 
spread to the Canary Islands, and goes far to explain its extraordinarily 
wide distribution in the Old World. 
Iam making a special study of this most interesting species, and 
should greatly value the help of any of your readers on two points. (1) 
Any information which may lead to the establishment of the inclusive 
dates between which the late Thomas Belt was at the Montes Aureos, 
Brazil. (A specimen in the British Museum from the Godman-Salvin 
collection was collected there by Belt, and is, as far as I am aware, the 
earliest recorded example from the New World.) (2) The capture of 
large series of the species, especially of females, in any of its American 
localities. These are British Guiana and Brazil in South America, 
and the Island of Trinidad, Southern Florida in North America, and 
many West Indian Islands. The specimens are best sent in “‘ papers,” 
with exact dates and localities written upon each. The African form 
of the female is said to be slightly darker than the Oriental, corres- 
ponding with the darker richer colouring of its model, Limnas chrysippus, 
and, however this may be, the proportion of the iraria form of female 
differs greatly in different parts of the geographical range. A 
sufficient series of New World females, carefully examined and com- 
pared, may be expected to throw light upon the direction of recent 
lines of migration. 
The specimens brought by Captain Ellis are in the Hope Depart- 
ment, where they can be seen at any time.—Oxford University 
Museum. November, 1900. 
Tortrix pronubana in Guernsey. 
By Rev. FRANK E. LOWE, M.A., F.E.S. 
In 1898 I was able to record the appearance in Guernsey of Tortria 
pronubana, which had hitherto, I think, been known only as a 
4. alana aaa 
