230 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [October, 



Saturday, the 29th, proved to be the best day of all. Leav- 

 ing the two fishermen to tend camp, Bolster and I, together 

 with the tireless " Percy," made the ascent of the West Peak, 

 the highest point of Mt. Katahdin, estimated to be 5215 ft. 

 above the sea. At the summit were three cairns which liter- 

 ally swarmed with insects, blown up from below. Bolster 

 fairly revelled in them, bottling them by the score. As I am 

 only interested in Lepidoptera, I must leave it to him to tell 

 the readers of the NEWS about his captures. I returned to 

 the table-land and devoted the day to C. katahdin, taking in 

 all forty-nine specimens ; but I found it no easy matter to net 

 them, as they are very wary, and as soon as they take wing 

 the wind, which is always blowing a small-sized gale up there, 

 carries them far away. When at rest on the ground with their 

 wings closed, it is almost .impossible to distinguish them from 

 the moss ; the coloring of the underside of the wings being so 

 similar that the mimicry is nearly perfect. Rain in this region 

 is a daily occurrence, and this day proved no exception, con- 

 sequently we forced to return early in the afternoon. 



Our provisions were getting low, so L/amont and Gough 

 started back for City Camp on Sunday morning ; and as Bolster 

 was somewhat under the weather, I was left to go up the 

 mountain alone. My trip was not very successful, as the wind 

 was so strong ( I could hardly stand up against it) that on my 

 return I had but three specimens of katahdin as the net result 

 of a day's hard work. There is no need to worry about this 

 little colony of butterflies becoming exterminated by collectors. 

 The trip is too difficult and expensive to tempt many Lepidop- 

 terists ; and after arriving on the ground the weather condi- 

 tions are too uncertain to guarantee success. There are days 

 at a time when the clouds are so dense over the mountain that 

 ascent is impossible, and then one cannot get a third of the 

 butterflies he sees, they are so quick to take alarm and be 

 carried out of reach by the breeze. I consider that I was par- 

 ticularly fortunate to go on the mountain at just the right time 

 and be favored with weather that made collecting possible. 



Moths were not plentiful at any stage of our journey, and 

 space will not permit of a list with this account. 



