6018 



Insects. 



the observers to * settle down ' to the conclusion, ' This must be the animal called the 

 sea-serpent/ Had the monster I described not been taken, T should have believed, as 

 firmly as Capt. Harrington does, that I could confirm the statement of the commander 

 of the * Doedalus,' and that * the animal belonged to the serpent tribe/ 



" Everybody knows what different notions are generated by momentary and unex- 

 pected appearances of things as compared with the things themselves when examined. 

 Perhaps the nostril of the ' Daedalus' sea-serpent was seen in the recollection of one 

 spectator, the mouth in that of another, the eye in that of another, and so on. I take 

 leave to question the possibility of these 'being most distinctly visible' when the object 

 at its ' nearest position ' was 200 yards distant, the sea getting up, and the observers 

 travelling in an opposite direction, the passing of the two being apparently at the rate 

 of twenty miles an hour. Naturalists will say whether an animal to answer to the 

 habits and attributes of that in question would have a nostril. 



" I am sure that Capt. Harrington, of the 'Castilian,' saw an extraordinary ob- 

 ject, and described it according to his impression, and having a great respect for ' a 

 first-class certificate in the mercantile marine' (as I hold a ' first-class extra' myself), 

 and also for ' Sir Colin Campbell, now in the East,' to whom Capt. Harrington is so 

 well known, I feel equally sure that, so accredited, he has published his account with 

 no other than a good object. Nevertheless, these circumstances do not prove to me 

 that Capt. Harrington saw the sea-serpent, because that ' queer fish ' so very nearly 

 and completely took me in until I took him in. 



'"I am. Sir, your most obedient servant, 



" Fred. Smith. 



" Newcastle-on-Tyne, February 19." 



On the Geographical Distribu tion of Butterflies in Great Britain. 

 By T. Boyd and A. G. More, Esqrs. 



The present paper originated in a desire to ascertain how far the 

 plan of Mr. H. C. Watson's ' Cybele Britannica' is available in the 

 sister science of Zoology, and for our experiment we have selected the 

 butterflies as the best known and most generally studied of British 

 insects. It is now offered to entomologists as a sketch which future 

 observation may fill up, — as something to which the youngest, if only 

 he be accurate, may make useful additions, and so aid in forming a 

 list w^hich shall be valuable in a scientific point of view. 



Any one at all acquainted with Entomology, its present immature 

 condition, its peculiar liability to error, and the state of feeling among 

 collectors, will easily perceive that nothing beyond a bare sketch of 

 the distribution of any family of insects is at present possible. We 

 are aware that the accompanying list might have been made much 

 more complete had a wider range of authorities been taken; but 



