5 6 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



LEPIDOPTERA (MOTHS) AND OTHER INSECTS 

 AT SCOTTISH LIGHTHOUSES, CHIEFLY IN 

 THE FORTH AREA. 



By William Evans, F.R.S.E. 



Introductory. 



The old saying about the moth and the candle gives 

 expression to a well-known fact in natural history, namely, 

 that on dark nights moths and certain other insects are 

 strongly attracted by artificial lights. If even the feeble 

 light of a candle is capable of alluring them, how potent 

 must be the attraction exercised by a many thousand candle- 

 power light, such as nightly casts its beams from the tower 

 of a modern " pharos " ! Given moths to be attracted, the 

 scene at a lighthouse tower on a favourable night is, indeed, 

 one which an entomologist would not be likely soon to 

 forget. Unfortunately, on our Scottish coasts neither moths 

 in large numbers, nor suitable weather conditions are greatly 

 to be depended upon. Nevertheless, as the sequel will show, 

 they do occur, and that not rarely. 



The present paper has its origin in a visit I made to the 

 Isle of May, at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, in September 

 1885, in order to see migrating birds at the lighthouse 

 lantern. Besides the birds, numbers of moths also came 

 to the light, among them the Brindled Ochre {Dasypolia 

 templi), a species at that time looked upon as a rarity in 

 Scotland. What I then saw, and still more what I heard 

 about the great crowds of moths that occasionally besiege 

 the lantern, impressed me with the desirability of obtaining 

 a series of collections for identification from a number of 

 the lighthouses on our coasts. The receipt, now and again, 

 of a match-box filled with moths from the Isle of May or 

 Barnsness, served to keep interest in the subject alive ; but 

 it is only during the last few years that circumstances have 

 enabled me to obtain specimens with any degree of regularity, 



