1887.] 129 



settling on Cornus suecica instead. One bad specimen of AbJalia 

 pratana was also caught; some of the specimens of C. popidata were 

 dark, like the Eannoch ones, others the usual colour, but all lai'ge. 

 The pole which marks the summit was soon gained, but this is not the 

 place to speak of the wondrous way in which the city of Bergen lies 

 spread out as in a map beneath your feet, or how the islands and 

 inlets make the sea beyond look like so many blue lakes hemmed in 

 by low mountain ranges. I left the Eloien and wandered on over a 

 region of heather, cotton grass, and stunted juniper, with very few 

 plants that are not seen in Alpine regions in England or Scotland ; 

 the sun was shining brightly, but no butterflies ; as I passed on, 

 didpnata ceased to be common, and Larentia ccesiata took its place ; 

 my first halting place was a little mountain tarn called Skomager-diket, 

 and here I sat for a little time trying to catch an JEschna^ which 

 haunted the lake, but would keep out of reach : midges, however, 

 came too close ; at last, I went off over the mountains to Blaamanden, 

 and enjoyed the views and the desolate wildness immensely, but for 

 hours I saw no human being, no bird, no animal ; true there were a 

 few frogs, and of insects there was JBomhus Icipponictts humming 

 I amongst the heather, plenty of JEristalis of different species, and 

 ■ ccesiata flying from the boulders as you passed them, yet the solitude 

 was very great, and the absence of life wonderful. 



On my return home, nothing new was noticed until I came to the 

 sunny sheltered spot before mentioned, when Erebia Blandina was 

 again seen flying down the cliff-side beneath me, as also one Pararge 

 Iliera, a small dark and beautiful specimen, this I took, and also one 

 cJ Lyccena Icarus, very bright, large, and fine. Shortly after, Simde- 

 this Fabriciana was caught, and a small Tinea seen, but lost; the 

 tortoiseshell was still flying about in his old haunt, but I did not 

 attempt to take him. Larentia didymata was in plenty : I saw 

 hundreds, but what struck me as a remarkable change in habit, was 

 that it is here evidently a day-flying insect, the ^s. especially so, 

 indeed, I saw no ? s on the wing, they were at rest, or in copula, but 

 the males were hovering and searching about the herbage in great 

 activity and great numbers ; as far as my observation goes in England, 

 it is like other Geometrce, a moth of the twilight : but here it is a 

 ! lover of the afternoon sunshine — and this is the result of three after- 

 noon's investigation. It is curious to speculate upon the different 

 habits of the three Geometrce to-day noticed in plenty ; L. didymata, 

 awake in the sunshine and enjoying its life in it; populata, sleepino- 

 so soundly that I could box any that were found and wanted ; ccesiata, 



