lyi'O.] 21 



COLEOPTERA AND LEPIDOPTERA AT RANNOCH. 

 BY J. J. WALKER, R.N., F.L.S. 



A visit to Rannoch, the classic Entomological station of Scotland, 

 had for many years been one of my unfulfilled wishes ; and it was 

 therefore with no small satisfaction that I found myself en route for 

 the North on July 18th, glad enough to escape from the stifling heat, 

 dust, bustle and smells of Chatham Dockyard to the fresh breezes and 

 delightful scenery of the Highlands. 



After a seventeen miles' drive in the post-cart from the little 

 railway station in the middle of the great Moor of Rannoch — surely 

 one of the most forlorn and desolate looking places it has ever been 

 my lot to see— I arrived at Kinloch soon after noon on the 19th, and 

 found excellent quarters at that traditional resort of entomologists, 

 the Bunrannoch Hotel, where I remained until August 9th. My first 

 excursions not only showed me that 1 was much too late for many of 

 the better insects, but that Kannoch is a really difficult district to 

 collect over, and that every " good thing " taken had to be fairly earned 

 by hard work. Although the whole of the ground looks most pro- 

 mising, and it is difiicult to select any one spot as more favourable for 

 insects than the rest, a great many species, especially in the Lepidoptera, 

 are restricted to a very limited space, and unless a stranger is guided 

 to these localities, he runs the risk of missing many of the Kannoch 

 specialities altogether. I am therefore much indebted to Dr. H. 

 McCalluui, the resident medical man, and a keen Lepidopterist, who 

 introduced me to the head-quarters of several interesting species ; as 

 well as to Mr. W. Eeid, of Pitcaple, whose genial and instructive 

 company I enjoyed during the first half of my stay. 



Any collector visiting Uannoch will find his work greatly facili- 

 tated by the use of a bicycle, as the excellent level road extending all 

 round the Loch gives easy access to all the points from which the 

 most productive spots can be best reached. Not being a cyclist 

 myself, nearly all my excursions had to be made on foot ; and after 

 rambling and scrambling about over rough country from morning till 

 night, often climbing more than 2500 feet, and turning over several 

 tons of stones in search of beetles, it may readily be imagined that 

 1 was not disposed to turn out for sugaring or other night work, so 

 the NociucB are practically absent from my list of captures. Eannoch 

 had not escaped the general drought of the past summer, and only 

 one day during my stay could be called even damp ; but there was a 

 good deal of dull grey weather with dense mist on the hill-tops, and 



