86 [September, 



they reached a current which ■would waft some of them to these shores ; the majority- 

 would probably fall over part of Central and North-West Europe, and many perhaps 

 into the sea. 



Dr. Jordan says {ante p. 64) that " butterflies are not, like locusts, impelled by 

 the devastations of their own swarms to move onwards." In this he is right up to 

 a certain point j but may there not be in butterflies and moths an instinctive some- 

 thing which urges them to seek "fresh woods and pastures new " for their progeny ? 

 In a former note on this subject (Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. xxi, p. 208), I suggested that 

 the migratory instinct of a species of Lepidoptera addicted to wandering is excited 

 or suppressed by meteorological influence. This view I still entertain. I would 

 ask, is it not probable, that if in certain seasons the weather should be of a character 

 favourable to the welfare of a particular sxjecies of the Rhopalocera, for example, 

 and the species should attain the perfect state in exceeding abundance — is it not 

 probable, I say, under such circumstances, that the insect may, having a care for the 

 future of its race, be actuated to leave the place of its birth and endeavour to es- 

 tablish itself in some distant locality ? With this object in view, what better plan 

 could the insect adopt than that of soaring aloft and suffering itself to be air-borne to 

 its new home ? There are certain objections to such a theory, but, as far as I can 

 see, none which are fatal if migratory instinct is admitted as a first principle. — 

 EiCHARD South, 12, Abbey Gardens, St. John's Wood, N.W. : August 2th, 1887. 



Small birds and the Lepidoptera eaten hy them. — Twice I can clearly remember 

 seeing a swallow snap up a tolerably large moth — once it was, I believe, a Cidaria 

 russata, and last year, in Jersey, one carried off an Aids ? I was chasing, before my 

 very nose ! I have often seen the robin with Noctua, and the common sparrow also, 

 frequently have I seen the latter chasing yellow-underwings ; from the greater titmouse 

 I one day took a Tripha&na fimbria in sadly battered condition. I have seen the 

 common flycatcher take butterflies more than once. I can well remember how 

 gracefully one swept from the bough of a chestnut and caught a Lasiommata Mgeria 

 in its flight, then curving round returned to its perch again. The other day, however, 

 I saw one serve a Tortrix larva in the same way, it was suspended from a beech tree 

 by a silken thread and was eaten like a fly. I did not previously know they would 

 eat larvae. — E. C. R. Joedan, 105, Harborne Eoad, Edgbaston, Birmingham, 

 July 11th, 1887. 



Harma Secataa, Hewitson. — Having occasion to look at the drawer containing 

 Mr. Hewitson's specimens of JSarma, my attention was suddenly arrested by seeing 

 the albino form of Lachnoptera Laodice under the name of S. Secatcea. How 

 Hewitson could have made so grievous a slip it is hard to understand. — A. Gr. Butlee, 

 British Museum, Cromwell Eoad, S.W. : August 5th, 1887. 



liote on Pyrausta punicealis. — I former years I used to associate this little 

 Pyrale with chalk-downs and the like. During this month (and the end of the last) 

 it has been common in my garden here, frequenting a small patch of mint less than 

 a yard square. At times, more than a dozen could be seen at the same moment. I 

 have never before seen it here. In 1886 the mint was luxuriant ; this year, owing 

 to the drought, it has barely sufficed for current kitchen requirements, and I have 



