148 



The " Entomologische Nachrichten," of July 15th, relates that "in Wu'rt- 

 temburg, from the 1st to the 8th of June, an incessant migration from S. 

 and W, towards N.E. and E. was remarked. At Wetzikon, Canton Zurich, 

 on June 7th, an immense swarm moved from S.W. to N.E., principally from 

 3 to 5 p.m. ; their flight was persistently in one direction, only changing 

 temporarily to avoid houses and trees. At Wetswell, on the same day, from 

 2 to 5 p.m., a swarm flew from W. to E., and it is calculated there were 

 1009 in the space of 10 metres, and that at least 11,000 flew past the 

 observer." The editor adds that no such swarms had occurred in the North 

 of Germany, but information had been received from Steyer, in Upper Austria, 

 "that on June 11th, surprising numbers flew from S.W. to N.E. ceaselessly, 

 between 1 and 2 p.m., 90 to 110 per minute were counted in a breadth of 

 about 100 paces, and the swarm is estimated at above, rather than under, 

 1,000,000." In England, during May and June, the number of apparently 

 hybernated examples was unusually large, and these were probably re-enforced 

 in the middle of June by emigrants from the Continent. At Torquay, in 

 South Devon, Vanessa cardui and Plusia gamma occurred simultaneously on 

 JuneJIOth, in the greatest profusion; and at Bournemouth, Hants, in August, 

 V. cardui was swarming in thousands and P. gamma in tens of thousands. 

 The former is even recorded as plentifully through the streets of Liverpool, 

 and the latter as being very abundant as far north as Pitlochrey in Perthshire. 



Both species were most abundant during August at Ostend in Belgium, 

 Saxony, Switzerland, and other parts of Europe. Vanessa cardui, singularly 

 enough, appeared the same year, in considerable abundance, in the Sandwich 

 Islands (see " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine," Yol. XYL, p. 161.), the 

 season being, probably, as much cloudier and more showery than usual, as in 

 Great Britain. An earlier flight is recorded in Loudon's " Magazine of 

 Natural History," Yol. L, p. 387, thus : " On the 8th or 10th of June, 1829, 

 Madame Wolff and her family, established during the summer in the district 

 of Grandson,, Cankin de Yaud, Switzerland, perceived with surprise an 

 immense flight of butterflies traversing the garden with great rapidity. All 

 these butterflies were of the species called the Painted Lady, the Belle Dame 

 of the French, the Papilio cardui of Linnseus, and Vanessa cardui of the 

 present system. They were all flying closely together in the same direction, 

 from south to north, and were so little afraid when any one approached, that 

 they turned not to the right or left. The flight continued for two hours 

 without interruption, and the column was about ten or twelve feet broad. 

 They did not stop to alight on flowers but flew onwards, low and equally." 

 The editor goes on to say " This fact is exceedingly singular, when it is con- 

 sidered that the caterpillars are not gregarious, but are solitary from the 



