NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 281 



and Dover have appeared. A very comprehensive History of the 

 British Butterflies, which should be in the hands of all macro- 

 lepidopterists, and must prove a delight to all our younger students, has 

 been written by Mr. i^ale, and can be obtained from Mr. Robson of 

 H.irtlepool. The British Noctuce and their Varieties, vol. i., deals 

 exhaustively with the early families of the group, and vol. ii. is nearly 

 ready for subscribers. Mr. C. G. Barrett has a large and comprehen- 

 sive work on British Lepidoptera in hand; and this meagre list appears 

 to deal with all the material outside the journals. 



From this it may be seen that lepidopterists, in looking over the 

 twelve months' work, will do so with mixed feelings, and although there 

 is little enough of actual scientific value to record, a few valuable 

 additions have been made to our knowledge, which must prove of the 

 utmost value in the advancement of our science, and help us towards 

 that perfection at which we all aim, but which must, froni the nature of 

 our studies, take us an enormous time to reach. — J, W. Tutt. 



Notes of the Season. — A Fortnight at Rannoch. — On the 6th 

 of August, my brother and I left Edinburgh, for Rann(jch in Perthshire, 

 which locality is probably known to all entomologists, at all events by 

 reputation. It is thirteen miles from the nearest railway station, which 

 is at Struan, on the Highland Railway, where we arrived at about 2.30 

 in the afternoon. After a drive through magnificent scenery of moors, 

 mountains and rushing rivers, we arrived at the Bun Rannocli Hotel at 

 about 4.30, where we received a hearty welcome from Mrs. Macdonald, 

 the landlady ; and I here take the opportunity of recommending this 

 hotel to any one desirous of spending a pleasant time at Rannoch. I 

 was fortunate enough to meet with another entomologist staying in the 

 hotel, who very kindly informed me what was to be done at the time. 

 Enbia epiphron {cassiope) was over, as also was Cceno/iympha tvphon 

 {aavits), but Erehia cBthiops {biandi/ia) was just coming out, and was 

 common in its special locahties. He also recommended us to make 

 the acquaintance of Mr. T. W. Salvage of Brighton, who was staying 

 in the neighbourhood, and whose long experience of the locality would 

 greatly assist us in findii g the best localities for the species occurring 

 in the neighbourhood. We did nothing the first night, except that while 

 taking a short walk along the shore of the Loch before dinner, we cap- 

 tured a specimen of Larentia ccRsiata. The next morning was windy 

 and showery, which condition of weather continued for the rest of the 

 day. I was about starting out to try a little larva beating (the weather 

 bemg, as I thought, too wet and windy for imagines), when I was for- 

 tunate enough to meet with Mr. Salvage, and arranged to spend the day 

 with him. We accordingly started in search of Larentia flavicinctata {rufi- 

 cinctata), one of the best Geometr/E to be got at that time of the year 

 at Rannoch. The best way of obtaining this species is by searching 

 for them at rest on the limestone rocks on the mountain sides. They 

 are difficult to find, as their colour almost exactly resembles the colour 

 of a yellow lichen growing on the rocks. They almost invariably (so 

 my companion informed me) choose the limestone rocks, and it is of 

 hardly any use looking for them elsewhere. We found it much too 

 windy for obtaining this species, for after careful searching on the side 

 of Shiehallion for about an hour, my companion had taken 2 specimens, 

 and myself none. We took, however, several fine Z. ccBsiata, which is, 



C 



