Absent Butterflies Insect's were very few earlier in the year,
and in my district there has been an inexplicable- absence of butterflies. Even the cabbage whites (the only butterfly in the list that does any particular harm) have been few. Some common " blues" a few walls," and that almost completes the list, so one amateur hunter complains ; and a similar lament is general in the neighbourhood. The Buddleia Veitchiana has at- tracted no single red admiral or peacock. Nevertheless, it seems to be an almost common experience that some of the rarest and most particular butterflies grow more numerous and take a wider range. The comma has been seen in a score of counties, and probably has never before in the known annals been so widely distributed. The white admiral—that most handsome creature—increases and some of the Conti- nental butterflies, notably the Painted Lady and the Humming Bird Hawk Moth, appear to practise, like the birds, a more regular immigration. The mystery of the " Monarchs " which, it is stoutly alleged, have flown the Atlantic, remains unsolved.
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