LEPIDOPTERA COLLECTED IN THE EDINBURGH DISTRICT 89 



NOTES ON LEPIDOPTERA COLLECTED IN THE 

 EDINBURGH DISTRICT. 



By WILLIAM EVANS, F.R.S.E. 



FOR many years, more indeed than at times I care to con- 

 template, the Lepidopterous fauna of Midlothian and the 

 immediately surrounding counties has had a peculiar attrac- 

 tion for me. Almost from the outset an ample record of 

 species captured or observed has been kept, and some three 

 or four years ago the idea of drawing up a revised list of the 

 Lepidoptera of the district took definite shape. But the 

 bulk of the " Micros " a veritable liliputian army had still 

 to be reckoned with ; for, like the majority of collectors, I had 

 hitherto confined my attention mainly to the " Macros." 

 The attack on the Micros, which had previously been of a 

 half-hearted kind, was taken up in earnest in the autumn of 

 1894, and continued throughout 1895 a singularly good 

 year, by the way, for Lepidoptera, the fine spring and summer 

 following an exceptionally hard winter. Indeed, it may 

 safely be said of 1895 that a better season for entomological 

 work in general has seldom been experienced in the district : 

 at any rate I do not remember ever having here seen more 

 insects dancing in the sunshine than during some of the 

 hot days of the May and June of that year. Railway 

 banks, hedge and ditch sides, edges of woods, meadows, and 

 other favourable spots were at times literally alive with 

 Halonotce, Stigmonotce, Dicrorampha;, Eupcecilia, Lampronice, 

 Micropteryges, Argyrcstliitz, Gracilaria, Coleophortz, Elachistce, 

 Lithocolletes, Nepticulce, and other Micros, so that a couple of 

 sweeps of the net was often sufficient to imprison a score of 

 specimens. On the other hand, 1896 which was charac- 

 terised by a wet summer and autumn, following a particularly 

 mild winter was almost as conspicuous a failure as 1895 

 was a success, and consequently yielded but small augmenta- 

 tion to my data. What the present year may yield remains 

 to be seen, but in any case some time must elapse yet before 

 my facts are sufficiently complete to warrant the issue of the 



