24U [November, 



NOTES ON A VISIT TO CORSICA. 

 BY THE RIGHT HON. LORD WALSINGHAM, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. 



A short visit to Corsica during the month of May fully confirmed 

 the impression long gathered from various sources, especially from the 

 accounts given by my friend Mons. A. Constant, that this would 

 prove to be a veritable entomological paradise. Certain newspapers 

 have lately published semi-sensational paragraphs about the rich col- 

 lections and tbe remarkable " butterfly " that I was supposed to have 

 brought home, and many of my friends have congratulated me upon 

 the "beetles " they think I have added to my collection ; but as the 

 habit of the uninitiated is to ignore the limited pursuits of specialists 

 and to include all insects under some one definition, even if they avoid 

 the euphonious title adopted in America for this purpose, it is time 

 to correct the impression that entomology in any wide sense was the 

 object of my visit. I was actuated mainly by the desire to find some 

 of the species of Micro- Lepidoptera described by Mann, Constant 

 and Ragonot with which I was imperfectly acquainted. 



Arriving early in May I spent a few days in the neighbourhood 

 of Ajaccio, which was at that time a perfect garden of wild flowers, 

 Cistus salvicefolius prevailing in its general profusion. Several good 

 species occurred there, some hitherto unrecorded from Corsica, e. g., 

 Adela paludicolella, Z., and on the projecting point opposite to the lies 

 Sanguinaires I found a small Aristotelia {Ergatis olim.) allied to 

 brizella, attached to FranJcenia pulverulenta, both in the larval and 

 perfect stages, which appears to be at present undescribed ; but as 

 Mann's collections were chiefly made in the months of June and July, 

 many of his species in which I was specially interested failed to put 

 in an appearance. Hoping to meet with some of the earlier larvae, the 

 high "divide" of Vizzavona was the next point visited, the winter snow 

 still lying on the road between the railway and the little mountain inn, 

 but quite melted away on the southern slopes of Monte d'Oro above 

 and beyond the termination of the beech forest ; here the vegetation was 

 still very backward, but two specimens of one of my chief prizes were 

 found at rest on rocks on the evening of my arrival, and gave great zest 

 to the pursuit during the next few days, in which I secured a good series 

 of this species, (Ecophora Ragonotella, Cst., and of a Talwporia allied 

 to conspurcatella, 7i., which at present it would be rash to name. The 

 habits of these two species are somewhat remarkable : nothing is 

 known of the larva of the (Ecophora, but the moth flies only in the 

 early morning, the first hour after sunrise being the best time for 

 collecting it, and seems to be specially attached to the lichen covered 



