The Scottish Naturalist. 189 



Hcpialus vellcda, with its var. gallicus and intermediate forms, 

 is very common about Forest Lodge, where no bracken grows, 

 so that the larva must feed on other roots. I found a specimen 

 as high up as 1800 feet, near Falar. Not far from Forest Lodge 

 also I found a cocoon of Dicramira vinula upon a stone — rather 

 a curious situation for a larva which almost invariably uses 

 gnawed bark or wood in the construction of its cocoon. In this 

 case lichens had been used in place of bark. The moth emerged 

 in due season, but did not present any peculiar features. On the 

 hills, the mountain form of Nemeophila plantaginis^ in which the 

 yellow colour is replaced by white, occurs, but rarely. 



A good many Noctuae inhabit the glen, but, with one or two 

 exceptions, most of them are species of wide distribution in the 

 Highlands. Amongst those less common maybe noXia^^Acrofiycta 

 euphorI)ice. var. moiitivaga (see note on another page). The dark 

 half-unicolorous varieties oi Xylophasia rui-ea are commoner here 

 than I have seen elsewhere ; while of the rare and interesting 

 Cryjjwdes exidis^ Sir T. Moncreiffe and Mr Herd have each 

 taken a specimen. Nearly as rare (but in Glen Tilt, as far as 

 captures go, much rarer) is Pachnobia hyperborca, of which the 

 first British specimen was taken on Ben-a-Ghlo by Mr Douglas 

 many years ago. One chief object of our visit to Glen Tilt last 

 summer was to try and find this species ; but the weather was so 

 unpropitious the whole time that we never had a chance of 

 properly looking for it. This moth lives very high up on the 

 top of the hills ; and the only trace we saw of it — if trace it was 

 — was an empty pupa-case which I found in the moss about 3000 

 feet up. Pliisia i?iterrogatioHis, which occurs here and there, and 

 Anarta co?'digera, which we have only seen in one spot as yet, 

 complete the list of the more interesting Noctuae. 



Geometrse are also fairly represented, and include rather a 

 curious combination of mountain and northern species with those 

 which, in Britain at least, are usually considered to be southern 

 rather than northern insects. For example, the occurrence of 

 Anticlea sinuata^ Melanippe ga/iata, Fsodos coraciiia, Dasydia 

 obftiscata, Lat'eiitia flavicindata^ within half or three-quarters 

 of a mile, is certainly a noteworthy fact, when it is remembered 

 that the headquarters in Britain of A. sinuata is the low country 

 round Cambridge. In Glen Tilt it would be quite possible to 

 capture it and the northern Corcmia munitata with one swoop 

 of the net. 



In the woods Vemisia canibrica is not scarce. The two 



