357 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE SWEDISH PROVINCES OF 

 JEMTLAND AND LAPLAND. 



By W. G. Sheldon, F.E.S. 



Scandinavia has hitherto received hut Httle attention from 

 our British lepidopterists ; there are good reasons for this, for, 

 although according to Lampa's Hst Sweden and Norway together 

 hold one hundred and eight species of Ithopalocera — including a 

 round dozen which are not found elsewhere in Europe, except in 

 Russia, and about half as many more than can perhaps be found 

 with certainty and easier there than elsewhere — the experience 

 of past explorers has not been altogether successful, and I am 

 not sanguine that anything I can say on the subject is likely to 

 send my brethren of the net swarming thitherward. 



The distances to be traversed (my journeyings involved 

 travelling about five thousand miles) ; the comparative inacces- 

 sibility of some of the reputed best localities ; the uncertainty of 

 the weather, which not infrequently compels one to be a week or 

 more without the sight of a wing ; and the little knowledge that 

 exists of the exact time at which a species is to be found in a 

 locality, with the variation of dates of emergence in different 

 places and seasons, are amongst the difficulties one has to 

 contend with. 



I had, in view of these and other obstacles, been making 

 enquiries, as exhaustive as possible, during the past winter, with 

 a view to an itinerary that offered the best chances of success 

 with the butterflies of the region ; and I would like here to take 

 the opportunity of returning my best thanks for the very valuable 

 information given fully and freely by all to whom I applied ; my 

 thanks are especially due to my friends Messrs. H. Rowland- 

 Brown and A. H. Jones, to Herr Max Bartel of Berlin, and to 

 Pastor Pfitzner of Sprottau (both of whom have recently visited 

 Lapland), and to Herr Spane Schneider of Tromso, to whose 

 assistance is largely due any success that I achieved. 



The only articles on Scandinavian Lepidoptera I can find in 

 the English magazines are the following : — 



(1) " Notes on some Lepidoptera Captured in Norway," by 

 R. C. R. Jordan, M.D., Ent. Mo. Mag. xxv. p. 139. 



(2) " Notes on the Coleoptera and Lepidoptera (Rhopalocera) 

 of Norway," by G. C. Champion, F.Z.S., Ent. Mo. Mag. xxvi. p. 72. 



(3) "Butterflies in South and North Norway," by T. A. 

 Chapman, M.D., F.E.S., Ent. Mo. Mag. xxxv. p. 20. 



(4) " Lepidoptera in the Neighbourhood of Roldal, Norway," 

 by the Rev. F. A. Walker, D.D., F.E.S., ' Entomologist,' xxv. 

 p. 36. 



(5) "Among the Butterflies and Flowers of Norway," by 

 R. S. Standen, F.L.S., F.E.S., ' Entomologist,' xxxi. p. 193. 



