117 



The first record of the occurrence of Danais plexippus in Britain is in 1876 

 (E. M. M,, Vol. xiii. page 107), a specimen having been taken by Mr. 

 Llewelyn, at Neath, in South Wales, on September 6th, of that year. 

 Another was taken at Hay ward's Heath, Sussex, on October 17th, of the 

 same year. The recorder, the Rev. T. Crallan, in the " Entomologist " (Vol. 

 ix., p. 264), states that for some two or three years there have been rumours 

 of the appearance of an unusual butterfly in his neighbourhood. 



Possibly these were not the first specimens taken in Britain, as probably 

 those recorded by Newman, on the last page of his ,e British Butterflies/' 

 under the name of Doritis apollo, belonged to this species, viz., Sir C. Lemon 

 wrote " that he had taken a specimen of Apollo in Cornwall, but suggested 

 that it might have been imported with plants in his hothouse." " I beg to 

 inform you that I yesterday met a gentleman who assured me that he saw 

 Apollo at Hanwell, about six years ago." — Henry Austin, in " Zoologist," 

 for 1856. " I have been to-day to see the person who took Apollo. He 

 was lying on the cliff at Dover, in August or September, 1847 or 1848, when 

 the butterfly settled close to him, and not having his net, he captured it by 

 putting his hat over it. He had not the slightest idea what it was till he saw 

 it figured in some work afterwards." — G. B. Wollaston, in " Zoologist," for 

 1856, page 5001. 



A specimen of Danais plexippus is recorded by Mr. Jenner Weir (" Ento- 

 mologist, vol. xix, p. 12), as having been taken near Snodland, Kent, on 

 September 21st, 1881 ; but the number seen and caught in 1885 far exceeds 

 all that have been previously noted. A round dozen, at least, have been re- 

 corded from our southern counties, Cornwall contributing quite half the 

 number, though Devon, Dorset, and the Isle of Wight have also been 

 favoured with the visits of the imposing stranger. 



In 1886, a specimen of Plexippus was taken at the end of September in 

 Pembrokeshire, about two miles from the coast ; one at the Lizard ; one near 

 Swanage, in Dorsetshire ; and another at Bournemouth. One was also taken 

 on the 2nd of October in Guernsey. 



Although upwards of twenty specimens of this butterfly are recorded as 

 having been captured in South Wales, Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, 

 Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Sussex, Kent, and Guernsey ; only three have 

 have been reported from the Continent of Europe, viz., one in La Vendee, 

 Trance, by Mons. Grassal,in September, 1877; one at Gibraltar, in October, 

 1886 ; and the other at Oporto, in Portugal, on September 29th, 1886; and 

 some appear to have been observed in the Madeira or Canary group of islands. 



It is wonderful to what great distances butterflies and moths are blown 

 out to sea. Plexippus has often been seen flying at a great height more than 



