NOTES OF A TRIl' TO THE SIERRA DE LA DE^rANDA AND MONCAYO. 85 



Notes (chiefly on lepidoptera) of a trip to the Sierra de la Demanda 

 and Moncayo (Burgos and Soria) Spain {with wap and three plates). 



By T. A. CHAPMAN, M.D., F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



There is no doubt that Spain is a most fascinating country for the 

 entomologist. Switzerhxnd does, or did, exercise such a fascination, 

 not only for the entomologist, but for many other classes of tourists 

 and travellers. Spain is, however, for the entomologist, much more 

 attractive, whether it will still be so, when it is as well known as Switzer- 

 land is, perhaps, another (piestion. For the moment and for myself, 

 I must admit I coiild not resist the temptation last summer to visit it 

 again. There are many drawbacks, and, if you really mean to get to 

 good localities, you must be prepared to submit to many inconveniences, 

 to rough it a little, or even a good deal, and this has fewer attrac- 

 tions when one is on the downward, than when on the upward, 

 grade. When there, one certainly says not unfrequently that one has 

 had enough of it, but the disagreeables slip backwards in the memory, 

 and the attractions ever assert themselves, and so it came about 

 that Mr. Champion and myself found ourselves crossing the channel 

 on June 22nd last, and on the following afternoon we arrived at 

 (iuethary, a charming little watering-place, a few miles south of 

 Biarritz and about as many short of the Spanish frontier. Here Mr. 

 ( 'hampion found several of those curious submarine Staphylines, but 

 I met with nothing of any importance, the only thing that interested 

 me being Hermima crinalia, no rarity, but remarkable as possessing 

 on its front legs a whole museum of those fans and brushes which are 

 so frequent in the Deltoids. Thyineliciis actaeon and Melanarc/ia 

 jialathea were common, and I found a larva of FJuvanessa antiopa 

 hung up for pupation on a rush in the middle of a swamp, having 

 travelled some 20 yards from the tree on which it had fed. 



On the 25th we moved on to Burgos, of which we formed a better 

 opinion, entomologically, than we had done last year, realising that it 

 had an elevation of 2800 feet. Though Mr. Champion got a good 

 beetle or two, nothing, however, fell to my share here worth recording. 

 Our stay was, in fact, too short for doing much. From Burgos we pro- 

 ceeded to Canales de la Sierra. By the kindness of the Sierra Company 

 we travelled by their mineral railway to Barbadilla and proceeded to 

 Canales by cart. In connection with this portion of our voyage, I 

 must express our obligation to the courtesy of the officers of the company 

 at Burgos, especially to Mr. E. B. Smith and Dr. Frankland Dent, not 

 only in regard to our mere travelling, but for the information they 

 gave us of the nature of the Sierra to which we were going, with some 

 useful details as to accommodation and likely localities. The railway 

 passes through much country that looked more or less tempting 

 entomologically, but nowhere passed very near any of the higher 

 Sierras, nor did there appear to be any available accommodation by the 

 way. At Pineda de la Sierra there was some likely-looking ground, 

 and a considerable elevation was here attained. At Barbadilla, the 

 present terminus of the railway, we spent a few hours and met with 

 lAiiiqndes boetica in abundance, Fidonia fanuila in some numbers, and 

 a small ^Egeriid (Sesiid) flying freely amongst sorrel and low plants. 



At Canales our adventures in securing accommodation were rather 

 amusing and threatened for a time to wreck the expedition. We 

 March 15th, 1904. 



