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124 Phillips: NymphaUs in midwest Vol. 20, no. 2
in the spring, often in great numbers. Successive generations during the spring and summer appear to be responsible for the annual northerly appearances of this species. But to the authors' knowledge, the species has never before been observed in a southward, fall "migration."
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NYMPHAUS CALIFORNICA IN ILLINOIS AND IOWA
In reference to my article entitled, "NymphaUs j-album captured at fluorescent light in Chicago" (Jour. Lepid. Soc, 15: 101, 1961), I would like to make a correction. Recently Mr. R. R. Irwin of Chicago, in checking over some of my specimens and field notes, called to my attention that my NymphaUs taken at light was not N. vau-album j-album (Bdv. & Lee.) but was N. californica (Bdv.). Evidently I had not examined the specimen carefully, since one would never expect to find NymphaUs californica this far east, while j-album should occur here, even though I had never found it.
The mystery is how did californica get to Chicago? It seems impossible for it to fly here across the mountains from the west. One other strong probability is that this butterfly was transported here either by truck or by train from the west while in the pupal stage. It could be that the larva crawled onto a boxcar or a truck and made its chrysalid, then emerged after it arrived in this area. There are tracking places not too far away from the location of capture, as well as train sidings and yards.
Another strange fact occurred, however, in the same year at Cedar Falls, Iowa. While collecting along the railroad tracks to the west part of the city, I captured what I supposed was j-album, but it turned out to be another californica. The Chicago specimen was collected August 20, 1952, and the one from Cedar Falls was taken August 31, 1952. Catching two specimens in the same month of the same year over 300 miles apart indeed enhances the mystery.
The identity of both of these specimens has been verified not only by Mr. Irwin but also by Mr. Alex K. Wyatt of the Chicago Natural History Museum. According to Mr. Wyatt, my record of finding N. californica in Illinois is the only one, to the best of his knowledge.
Leonard S. Phillips, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois
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