NOTICES AKD REVIEWS. 23 



alluded to. Many passages tempt to quotation. As the readers of the 

 Record will probably be chiefly interested in the entomological portions 

 of the work, these will be selected as the source of one or two extracts. 

 Frequent reference is made to the marvellous resemblance of the 

 Lepidoptera to the plants, &c., among which they occur and to the way 

 in which nature has brought this about, thus leading to their protection 

 from their enemies, and securing the perpetuation of the species. Here 

 is one such taken from the chapter on the Western Highlands : — 



" All ! there is a specimen of a " carjDet " moth as it is called (Cidaria 

 immanata), black with faint wavy lines on it, and there is another and 

 yet another. Why ! is not that the same kind of moth that we found 

 so abundant on the birches by the Donich Burn ? but those were all 

 pale, of a beautiful silvery grey tint, and were difiicult to detect on the 

 bark of the birches. Yes, it is the same kind, the very same, but how 

 different in appearance, how variable in hue ! What has caused 

 the difference ? This is not far to seek. The birds in these Alpine 

 regions have to search keenly for food. A pale moth on this black 

 rock would be conspicuous and would fall a ready prey, but we have 

 noticed how difficult the dark ones are to see. The dark ones are best 

 protected, therefore most of them escape, and the dark race has become 

 permanent here. On the birch trunks the dark ones would be con- 

 spicuous, the pale ones jirotected ; hence the dark ones are eaten, the 

 pale ones left ; a pale race would be favoured under these conditions 

 and would establish itself there." 



The following account of the " Love-making of the Ghost " is a good 

 example of the author's descriptive powers : " See yonder ! away on 

 that open piece of grass land, a large white moth swings to and fro with 

 pendulous motion. Its sheeny white colour is striking and remarkable ; 

 it attracts your attention. It looks as if it were tied to a string, so 

 regularly does it oscillate. Mark another and yet another, all oscillat- 

 ing in the same regular fashion. What does it mean ? Have they a 

 purpose in their oscillation ? Watch ! Whilst you wait you perceive a 

 faint but pleasant odour as of almonds ; as you wonder whence it comes 

 a dark-coloured moth suddenly passes before your eyes ; you see it 

 strike the white moth you are watching, and they disappear as if by 

 magic. Where are they ? Gone, absolutely vanished into the mists of 

 these marshes, perhaps flying now a mile away in different directions. 

 Perhaps it was an accident. Perhaps the white eerie-looking pendulum 

 was disturbed by the sudden collision with that dark moth and took 

 fright. Let us watch another. The same scent, another rush of a dark 

 moth, a similar collision, a similar sudden and absolute disappearance. 

 You watch again and again always with the same result. Light your 

 lantern, if you have one ! Look on the herbage at your feet I There, 

 scattered all over the grass and hanging from it in every direction, are 

 large yellow moths, whilst attached to each is a white one such as you 

 watched. Did it not fly away then into the misty distance ? No ! the 

 dark moth that flashed across your eyes is the yellow one below. The 

 scent which you noticed had attracted her from afar. She had come to 

 seek her mate, consjiicuous by his sheeny whiteness. The sudden 

 knock against him was simply to inform him of her i:)resence and of 

 her readiness to receive his love embx'ace, and there are those hap^^y 

 moths, which had disappeared so suddenly from sight, hanging from 

 the gi-ass culms at your very feet." 



