The Scottish Natxiralist. 145 



gothicina in 1873, but it does not appear every season. Some of 

 the varieties here are very dark. 



T. rubricosa. — Common at sallow, particularly at the later 

 blooming ones. I take it more commonly towards * 600 

 feet than lower down. Comes to light occasionally in my 

 study. 



T. incerta (instabilis). — Abundant, and excessively variable. 

 Some specimens almost black. To be found wherever the 

 sallows blossom, in equal abundance at all elevations. 



T. popideti. — Rare. I took one specimen at sallow in April, 

 1872, at an elevation of 600 feet. This is the only specimen I 

 know of having been taken at Moncreiffe. 



T. stab ills. — Abundant at sallow. I have taken this insect 

 at sugar some seasons before the sallows were out. This 

 season however it was far behind the sallows, at least it was 

 invisible until March 30th, 24 days after I observed the first 

 sallow blossom on the 7th of March. This was exactly 21 

 days later than in 1872, when I shook a specimen off a sallow 

 which did not shew a yellow blossom, and 29 days later than 

 two specimens I took on a sugared birch on February 

 23rd, 1874. One of the prettiest sights I ever saw was on this 

 occasion. It was a fine warm night, and the birch was a large 

 weeping one, on the trunk of which I had placed a small patch 

 of sugar; S. satellitia and C. e^^^aV/// literally swarmed upon it, and 

 as they satisfied their appetites they either crawled up the stem 

 and along the branches, or flew on to the pendant tresses of 

 the birch which hang gracefully to the ground, and there looked 

 like fruit hanging on a leafless tree. I counted 122 hanging in 

 this way on the pendant twigs, and the two stabilis among them. 

 As I remarked above, I saw a yellow blossom on a sallow in 

 my garden this year on the 7th of March, and the tree appeared 

 to be in full bloom on the 23rd. Upon a closer examination 

 I found, however, that, the southern faces of the catkins only 

 were acted upon by the heat of the sun, whilst on the side 

 facing the north they were still dark and scarcely downy. The 

 sun for a fortnight was bright and hot through the day, whilst 

 the thermometer ranged from 16 to 20 Fahrenheit at night. 

 The day-flying insects had certainly the best of it, as the hive 

 bees worked hard for a couple of hours through the day, 

 although, by the way, I did not see a wild bee till the first week 

 of April. 



T. cruda. — Abundant at sallow blossom, varies slightly in size 



