224 THE entomologist's record. 



insects, such as Sericoris littoralis, Plutella cruciferariim and P, annida- 

 tella, and a specimen in good condition of Scoparia angustea, resting 

 on a grassy bank in a cleft in the perpendicular wall of rock. 



Dotted over the otherwise uninterrupted surface of the tableland, 

 clumps of trees stand out, sheltering, as a rule, some farm-house 

 from the prevalent northerly winds, which have bent many a tree-top 

 and stunted much of the foliage. The largest wood in the north of the 

 county, planted about 80 years ago, is to be found near Stirkoke, three 

 miles from Wick. Here a miscellaneous collection of such deciduous 

 trees as alder, birch, oak, ash, mountain-ash, hazel, and sallow, struggle 

 upwards to the light, overshadowed by tall spruce firs, whose lower 

 branches are dead and decaying. All are more or less smothered with 

 lichen, for the ground in parts is swampy, the drains being choked up 

 by the spreading roots of the trees. Here from almost every bush 

 Paedisca solandriana was beaten, the most prevalent variety being of a 

 dark reddish-brown ground colour, mottled with whitish-brown, 

 excepting on the edge of the otherwise undefined dorsal patch. Two 

 specimens only of the pale whitish-grey form with purple-brown dorsal 

 blotch were taken, and one of a pale ochreous ground colour with a few 

 dark chestnut -brown markings, somewhat resembling var. trapezina. 

 Next in abundance to P. solandriana came Cidaria immanata, the 

 specimens having the central band varying from dark grey, dusted 

 with white, to black or brownish-black, the portion beyond rich 

 chestnut-brown and the apical region similar in colour to the central 

 band, the difierent colours beautifully separated by slender white 

 transverse lines. Other species noticed were Sciaphila virgaureana, 

 beaten from bushes, and ArgyreMhia conjiigella from mountain-ash. 



There is very little natural wood in the north of Caithness, but 

 here and there some bushes may be seen by the sheltered bank of a 

 stream; and one such place— the Camster burn — affords a most 

 interesting collecting ground. From the moors in the centre of the 

 county the burn flows between heather banks until, about eight 

 miles from the sea, it passes through a small valley, which is 

 densely covered with such bushes as sallow, birch, hazel and aspen. 

 On a closer inspection the birch bushes in particular were seen to 

 be almost defoliated, and all the leaves that remained were crumpled, 

 brown, eaten, and silkspun. The cause was evident on using the 

 beating-stick, when, from the apparently lifeless bushes, a positive 

 shower of moths came forth, filling the air for a few minutes with 

 their fluttering forms and then settling once more on the bushes or 

 the rocks. Chief amongst these was Paedisca solandriana, exhibiting 

 great variety in colour and markings, var. sinuana being present, in 

 addition to those varieties taken in the Stirkoke wood, and also one 

 interesting form with a pale longitudinal streak extending through the 

 middle of the wing from the base almost to the termen, and cutting 

 up the ordinary markings. One specimen — a $ — has the forewings 

 of a rich dark brown, the only marking being this longitudinal streak 

 in a deep ochreous colour. Ephippiphora similana also abounded, the 

 specimens being rather small, and a few Cerostoma costeUa and Argy- 

 resthia retinella had successfully struggled as larvffi for their share of the 

 birch leaves which now the larvae of Donas coryli-weve finishing. From 

 bank, bush and rock Cidaria immanata arose, all of the dark, handsome 

 aberration described above, and Hypsipetes sordidata was also common, 



