Insects. 397 



prove that the insect may sometimes hybernate, for if it could remain unscathed through 

 part of the winter, it is most probable that it could do so through the whole until some 

 sunny day in March instead of November should revive it. On the 10th of October 

 I took a female of that beautiful variety Helice, perhaps some of your correspondents 

 can inform me if it ever occurs in the male insect ? — R. C. R. Jordan ; Teignmouth, 

 November, 1843. 



Note on the occurrence of Colias Electra at Sidmouth. On the 12th of September 

 last Colias Edusa was in great abundance in the clover-fields at Sidmouth and Bud- 

 leigh Salterton, Devonshire : there were thousands in one clover-field between Sid- 

 mouth and Lyme Regis. I remarked two beautiful white varieties. — Thomas Lighton. 



Note on the occurrence of Colias Edusa and C. Hyale in Northamptonshire. I saw 

 in Northamptonshire a male Edusa flying very swiftly, on the 14th of July, and a fe- 

 male that was taken near Whittlesea mere on the same day. When shooting near Trip- 

 low, Cambridgeshire, the second week in September, I saw two male Edusas and one 

 male Hyale on the wing. I likewise saw a pair of Hyale that were taken about the 

 same time near Cambridge. — F. Bond ; Kingsbury, Middlesex, November 10, 1843. 



Note on the occurrence of Colias Edusa in the Isle of Wight. In addition to the 

 numerous notices of the appearance of this beautiful insect in England, during the 

 past season, which have found place in your journal, I may mention the Isle of Wight, 

 where it has been of very frequent occurrence up to about the middle of October. Al- 

 though said to be visible only every four years, I think I have seldom failed to observe 

 it annually with us here, though very sparingly except at periods which may agree with 

 the above interval ; but this I cannot assert with certainty. I recollect it was equally 

 plentiful as now in the island, two, three, or perhaps four years ago. The rich, warm, 

 saffron tint of the wings, certainly entitles Colias Edusa to rank with the most beauti- 

 ful of British butterflies; and if gayness of colouring alone were the criterion of beauty, 

 it would take precedence of the much rarer but more elegantly pencilled C. Hyale, 

 likewise a native of this island, but very scarce. It is singular that the near relative 

 of this insect, the sulphur butterfly (Gonepteryx Rhamni), usually so common here in 

 ordinary seasons, has this year been rather scarce, and whilst the mostly abundant Va- 

 nessa 16 has appeared in smaller numbers than it is wont to do, I never saw V. Ata- 

 lanta so profusely on the wing as it was this autumn. Vanessa Polychloros, which 

 generally is the first of the diurnal Lepidoptera to greet us on sunny days in March, 

 and again at the end of summer, has this year fallen numerically below the average ; 

 whilst the painted lady {Cynthia Cardui) has been rather frequent. Papilio Machaon 

 occurs occasionally in the island, and I saw a specimen on the wing last August, be- 

 tween Calbourne and Brixton, but it is a rare insect here, as is also Apatura Iris. I 

 have likewise missed Pieris Cratregi and Limenitis Camilla in my botanical rambles, 

 usually not the most un frequent of my former objects of attraction and pursuit, and 

 though now unmolested, not the less gazed at and admired by me still. — Wm. Arnold 

 Bromfield; Ryde, November 1, 1843. 



Note on the occurrence of Colias Edusa. I saw many specimens of this butterfly 

 this autumn in the neighbourhood of Forest-hill, and caught three of them. — Francis 

 Richardson ; Peckham, November, 1843. 



Note on Colias Electra or Edusa. I shall be obliged for more records of the cap- 

 ture of this insect : although those now published go far to confirm the quadrennial 

 theory, yet we must have still more abundant evidence of its appearance, and also'of 

 its general absence during the intervening years, before the matter can be considered 



