254 THE entomologist's record. 



bisetata were disturbed from the overhanging trees — one specimen 

 being wholly suffused with dark grey, and the remainder of those taken 

 included several ab. fimbriolata. From the dark form and a banded 

 example ova were obtained and the larvae are at present hybernating 

 upon the remnants of their foodplant, knotgrass. An example each 

 of Brachiiiia riifeftcens and Setina inorella were also taken, the latter 

 apparently just emerged ; and about 6 p.m. Bhndophaea co)W)ciella 

 was on the wing about the oaks. The following were also more or 

 less abundant throughout the wood, An/ijreMhia nitidella (no ab. 

 ossea), Spilonota dealbana (including the grey suffused form), *S'. 

 ocellana, Argyresthia gaedartella, ]>iftyopteryx loefiinijiana, D. forska- 

 leana, Tortrix xylosteana , T. crataegana, T. rusana, T. viridana and T, 

 corylana. 



Three weeks in the Abruzzi. 



By GEOEGE WHEELER, M.A., F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



An unexpected opportunity of visiting the Abruzzi in July, 

 particularly since for me entomology was to be admittedly the 

 principal point of the expedition, was indeed a thing to be hailed with 

 joy, even though the time at my disposal was all too short. The 

 whole district is practically unworked (with the exception of the Gran 

 Sasso d'ltalia, the highest point of the Apennines), and, though 

 during my stay at Roccaraso, I saw in the distance two nets, 

 belonging I am told to German collectors, yet I believe that,, 

 entomologically speaking, " we were the first that ever burst into 

 that " — unexplored land must be substituted for " silent sea." I 

 made up my mind from the beginning that information was a much 

 more important thing to acquire than cabinet specimens, so that the 

 collection I brought back with me is remarkable rather for its interest 

 than for the number of its specimens or the excellence of their 

 condition. This being to some extent of the nature of pioneer work, 

 it will, I think, be more useful to depart somewhat from the general 

 run of papers on better known localities, and to enter into more 

 detail as to the geography ot the district, the means of transit, the 

 nature of the "hotels," and so forth, than would be needed in writing 

 of Switzerland or the Riviera. I propose, therefore, to begin with a 

 few general observations, and then to take each of the places visited 

 separately, ending with a list of all the species taken or observed, 

 with the localities in which each was to be found. I shall add in 

 parentheses the names of places in the Apennines, but outside the 

 Abruzzi, i.e. (" Subiaco "), and in square brackets ["Rome"] for 

 such species as I took in my one afternoon on the Palatine Hill. 



We were favoured throughout with magnificent weather, one 

 glorious day succeeded another, and this, in itself, was, in such a 

 summer, a priceless boon ; a bad thunderstorm during my one after- 

 noon at Fiesole was the only disappointment. On the whole, 

 especially at the higher altitudes, the number of specimens was greatly 

 in excess of what I had been led to expect from previous experience of 

 other parts of the Apennines, though there was nowhere quite the 

 profusion that one is accustomed to in Switzerland, or even in certain 

 favoured parts of England ; the lower-lying localities, however, 

 produced a much poorer fauna, which is doubtless accounted for by 

 the fact that the valleys are cultivated to the extreme of possibility, 

 while the cornfields on the heights are largely interspersed with short 



