Red Admirals on track

[Kenelm Philip]

> Is it possible that at the point in time when they said "Shipping Red
> Admirals, is particularly inappropriate because they are not naturally
> found over much of the United States" that the red admiral was not
> naturally found over much of the united states?

In the 1904 edition of Holland's 'Butterfly Book', referring to what
was then called _Pyrameis atalanta_, he says:

"This familiar butterfly, which is found throughout North America, Europe,
northern Asia, and Africa..."

The 1943 edition of Comstock's 'How to Know the Butterflies' says:

"This butterfly occurs over nearly the whole of the European and North
American continents.

If indeed _V. atalanta_ was not found in the northern U.S. when that
statement about shipping them was written (certainly long after 1943!)
then I think we would have heard about that surprising (and temporary)
restriction in range. And the author of the statement must have neglected
to check a few older books...

	It seems far more logical to assume that the Red Admiral just sort
of skittered into a statement that was really about other, more southern,
species.

							Ken Philip
fnkwp at auf.edu




 
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