24^ [January, 1^09. 



russica in fungoid growth, with numbers of its larva, &c. One Carida 

 Jlexuosa was also found on decaying birch, also Cis Jacquemarti, and 

 Sinodendron under the loose bark, where I saw oue elytron of the rare 

 AtJious undulatus. 



A (7oss?<5-infested birch tree in the Black "Wood, kindly pointed 

 out to me by Mr. W. Reid, proved a great attraction for Cetonia 

 'ftoricola, of which only a single specimen was taken elsewhere on 

 bracken. On one occasion I saw at least twenty of the Cetonia busily 

 imbibing the flowing sap, in a space which could be covered by one 

 hand. Soronia punctatissima, larger and darker than southern ex- 

 amples, was very abundant in this tree, with a few S. grisea, Thamiarcea 

 cinnmnoviea and liospita ; and in the " frass " at its foot two or three 

 examples of the dark type-form of Xantholinus tricolor, so different 

 from the large light coloured variety I have been accustomed to take 

 at the seaside in the south, were met with. 



I should have been greatly disappointed to miss Trichius fasciatus, 

 as well as Acanthocinus csdilis, and was just not too late for the former 

 species, of which three specimens were seen and two taken flying over 

 heather bloom in the Carie glen on July 2J)th ; the resemblance of 

 this pretty insect on the wing to a small humble-bee was very striking 

 at first sight. 



The summit of Meall-a-Phuill or Gharbhavel (•' Grayvel ")— the 

 traditional locality for the great Coleopterous prize of Rannoch, 

 Amara alpina — was too far from Kinloch to admit of my reaching it 

 and returning the same day, and a projected ascent from Camghouran 

 fell through ; but I worked hard, without result as far as this beetle 

 is concerned, on all the hills nearer to my head-quarters, including 

 "Beinn-a-Chui!laich" (2925 feet), " Carn Mearg " (8419 feet), and 

 the " Big Ben " of the district, Schiehallion (3547 feet), all considerably 

 higher than " Grayvel." The famous view from the summit of 

 Schiehallion was limited by the mist on the day of my ascent to about 

 five yards, and the top of the mountain being scarcely more than a 

 pile of loose frost-riven rocks, very little life, either animal or vege- 

 table, was present ; but about halfway down I found a single specimen 

 (unfortunately not quite perfect) of the very rare Oxypoda longipes, 

 Muls., under a stone in a damp grassy place. The usual hill Carahidce, 

 etc., were apparently much more plentiful on steep well-drained slopes 

 at about 2000 to 2500 feet elevation than on the actual summits, where 

 the black mountain form of Carabus catenulatus, and (rarely) Patrobus 

 septentrionis were almost the only species met with. At the more 

 moderate heights I found N'ebria Ggllenhali, Galathus melanocephahis 



