50 THE entomologist's record. 



there. We tried on the .shore for llmnaUum rttiiuliptnuw, a very local 

 insect, but Avere not lucky enough to come across it. 



The other things taken were : — L'alathus jiariju's, Sitoncs i/riseus, 

 Leistus fidrilxirbis, Micnjzouiii tibiale, etc. It is, perhaps, as well to 

 point out that C hijhrida is the only form which occurs on these 

 sand-hills; the allied species, C. iiiarkiiiia, does not, we were informed 

 by local collectors, occur there, and certainly we saw no sign of it. 



Returning to Birkenhead, we took train to Chester, and thence by 

 the Dee Valley line through Llangollen, to the qiuiint little village of 

 Carrog. While tea was preparing we strolled down to the river, and 

 were lucky enough to secure at once, by splashing the shingle, two 

 good Biiiibiilici, nainely, D. piuictulatiun and B. prasinuin, both being 

 fairly common. Several other generally distributed insects, such as 

 PtcrosticJms strenuus, etc., also occurred under stones in the dry part of 

 the bed — the long drought had made the river very low — darkness, 

 however, soon put a stop to our collecting. 



Saturday morning saw us early afoot. Crossing the river, we 

 gradually worked our way up the slopes of the opposite mountains. 

 Beating hawthorn blossom, we secured specimens of Ti'lcjihorus ahsoints, 

 a choice insect for southern eyes, and birch similarly yielded ('oripiihitcs 

 ijid-rciis and I 'oi/onor/iai'iHs hispidus, naturally, manyothercommon things 

 dropping at times into our nets. A little higher up, when the trees 

 began to become very stunted and sparse, we crossed a small mountain 

 runnel (after a hearty drink, not much enjoyed a little later, when 

 we came across a dead rabbit lying in the water a few paces higher up), 

 and searched carefully the moss lining its tiny banks. Here some nice 

 things came to hand— we were evidently amongst genuine mountain 

 fauna — (Ti/)iim(sa rarii'i/ata, Tachinus chnii/atus, and a LatltinhiuiH, 

 which caused much trouble in identification. Eventually it was decided 

 that it must be a small unspotted variety of L. tfrminatiun. This Dr. 

 Sharp has confirmed ; he says "it is a beautiful small and dark 

 variety. I can almost match them from Scotland, but not quite ; my 

 variations do not go to this extreme." 



Leaving this stream and crossing a stone wall, we are at length 

 on the open mountain side, amongst the heather, which grows thickly and 

 strongly all over these upland slopes, making the walking very trying. 

 The only form of collecting possible here is by turning over stones 

 (though we find under sheep's dung the mountain Aphudim 

 lappomun in plenty). The first truly mountain form we come across 

 is Calathiis vtii-niptcr^is, then soon Ftc rustic Jni^ vitirus puts in an 

 appearance, and presently, under stones close to the rough foot track, 

 which winds away over the mountain side to the distant slate quarries, 

 some beautiful specimens of Carabus (jlabratm turn up, a most splendid 

 insect, and perhaps, the most interesting of all our captures ; 

 C. cotfuulatus, of course, occurs. A Ptciosfir/nts, very like the common 

 madidn.s, is now and again found under stones, but a closer look at 

 once reveals that it is the mountain form, always, too, a scarce insect, 

 aethinps. Neither of these insects just mentioned has been, we believe, 

 taken on these hills before, though they occur on the higher mountain 

 masses of the Snowdon range. Of the other things found under the 

 stones, we may mention Pterustichus uii/rita, Uci/piis bnuuiipt's, 

 Latlirohium briuinijics, Cri/ptohi/pnus ripaiim, Bradijcellus collaris, 

 coi/nata, siinilis, etc. Some of these are mountain insects, others, of 



