LOCHINVER AS A LOCALITY FOR LEPIDOPTERA 173 



wood, have driven the naturalist farther afield in order to 

 pursue his quest ; and it is with delight that we hail those 

 few surviving localities which have remained in the same 

 undisturbed state for generations. 



Here and there such districts may yet be found ; and 

 although they may be familiar to the sportsman or botanist, 

 they will yet prove a wide field of research to the entomol- 

 ogist. Many such localities exist in the northern parts of 

 Scotland ; and by careful and diligent search it is wonderful 

 how many insects which hitherto have enjoyed the reputation 

 of being only of southern origin have shown themselves as 

 also occupying a more northern situation. Take for example 

 the Argynnis PapJiia, concerning which Mr. Newman 

 remarks, 1 " As it occurs not uncommonly in our northern 

 English counties, Northumberland, Cumberland, and Durham, 

 it may be inferred that its rarity in Scotland is rather 

 apparent than real." This butterfly I found in considerable 

 numbers at Lochinver, which lies almost at the extreme 

 north-west of Scotland. Vanessa Polychloros might also be 

 instanced, the appearance of which in Scotland I have noted 

 elsewhere. The Rhopaloccra, owing to the need of a more 

 genial climate, are not of such frequent occurrence or so 

 numerous as in England ; but Scotland lays claim to main- 

 species, such as Erebia Epipliron, Erebia .Ethiops, Satyrus 

 Semetey Lyccena AstrarcJie var. Artaxcrxcs, Ccenonympha 

 TypJiou, Lyccma minima, whose particular haunts still afford 

 much scope for investigation. In the north also main" 

 varieties of different species are found, nowhere better 

 exemplified than among the Noctuce. The dark varieties of 

 many kinds are well known : and how many more have yet 

 to be brought to light? 



Such localities as Rannoch, the Orkney and Shet- 

 land Islands, Dccside and Forth districts, have long been 

 known as almost veritable mines of entomological wealth, 

 and by our southern brethren have from time to time been 

 the site of valuable additions to their collections and know- 

 ledge. That such places are apt to become deteriorated by 

 becoming too well known is only too evident, especially 

 when they become the prey of an evil which at all times 

 1 " British Butterflies ami Moths," Newman, i^t Ed., p. 25. 



