no ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [March, '08 



at about 7000 feet, a little below the limit of timber) and 

 thought. We were in between two peaks, Fairview 8875 feet, 

 according to the map I had consulted, and Saddle Peak 7900 

 feet. Presently Mrs. Nicholl asked, " Which of these is the 

 most likely peak for astarte ?' I had been at L,aggan before 

 and she had not, so I felt bound to give advice. "That, I 

 fancy," I replied pointing to the top of Fairview, some 1900 

 feet above us. I had no idea that she intended going up, for 

 the wind was fresh and cold and not a butterfly or moth was 

 to be seen moving. We appeared to be too early by a fort- 

 night for so high an elevation. However, she wandered off 

 in that direction and I still sat and thought. 



About an hour later, i. e., at about midday, I espied her close 

 to the summit. I had now made up my mind that we were wast- 

 ing time up in this windswept, belated region, and tried to signal 

 her to return to much lower levels. I failed to catch her atten- 

 tion, so started off to fetch her back. I had hardly commenced 

 the ascent when I caught a freshly emerged $ C. skinneri, that 

 species reaching to barely above the timber line, which at L/ag- 

 gan averages about 7200 feet. I had yet to go within about 

 500 feet of the summit when whiz ! flash ! What was that ? 

 A red butterfly. Astarte ? That cannot have had the temer- 

 ity to emerge from the pupa up here already this wintry sea- 

 son ! Mrs. Nicholl will be interested to hear I have seen some- 

 thing reminding me of astarte. I hurried up to the peak. 

 The wind had now dropped, or else I had got above it. The 

 huge loose rocks with which the mountain top seemed to be 

 piled up, caught and reflected the sun's heat and I seemed to 

 have reached a different climate. I soon caught sight of Mrs. 

 Nicholl flourishing the net. "Hello! Why didn't you come 

 up long ago? Astarte swarms. I've been having grand sport 

 for the last hour." And sure enough, there they were in 

 dozens ! But how they flew ! Now dodging around the rocks, 

 then whiz ! Flash ! Over cliff or else straight away out of 

 sight as though one had a train to catch, and not another 

 chance for a week. Sometimes two or three would meet and 

 fly almost vertically upwards, gyrating around one another 

 to a height of 50 or 100 feet, then separate and descend still 



