150 THE OLDEST BUTTERFLY 



trict is indeed pretty well known, but it would be 

 well to prepare full catalogues of the plants found 

 in every distinct centre of alpine vegetation, with 

 their comparative abundance at each place. Thus 

 in the immediate vicinity of Mt. Washington we 

 should have separate comparative lists of plants 

 of the elevated plateaus, of the borders of the 

 Lakes of the Clouds, the base of the southerly 

 cliff of Mt. Monroe, the boggy area above the 

 Fall of the Thousand Streams, the neighborhood of 

 the snow-field in Tuckerman's Ravine, the Alpine 

 Garden, etc., with special notes upon the heights 

 at which they are found as nearly exact as possi- 

 ble. The study, too, of the other insects of this 

 region is just as instructive as is that of the but- 

 terflies or the plants. Thus among the moths of 

 the genus Agrotis alone, Mr. Grote finds no less 

 than three species, imperita, islandica, and carnea, 

 which occur, besides on these lofty summits, only 

 in Labrador and in Lapland or Iceland, while a 

 considerable number of other moths and of Cole- 

 optera are also known, inhabitants otherwise only 

 of the high north. 



It wiU naturally be asked how it is possible that 

 insects, and especially such delicate organisms as 

 butterflies, can maintain themselves in such a bleak 



