A WEEK AT BRAEMAR. 81 



A Week at Braemar. 



By EUSSELL E. JAMES. 



In a summer of almost unbroken sunshine circumstances have 

 prevented me from doing more than a very moderate amount of 

 collecting. Nevertheless I have managed to fulfil a longstanding 

 promise to myself of a visit to Braemar — the British home of Anthrucera 

 exidam. What Braemar could be under bad conditions I can well 

 imagine, but as we saw it, it was to a Southerner, an Entomological 

 Paradise. The very conditions which made the holiday so ideal 

 frustrated our designs upon the two species for which we had 

 specially planned the trip, and when I arrived on July 7th I found 

 my companion — -Mr. Galpin, of Oxford — most disconsolate. I must 

 admit that he had a case. In the first place he had come at 

 great inconvenience, and only after I had painted our prospects in 

 glowing colours, figuratively dangling long series of A. e.vnlans and 

 Psoclos trepiclaria before his eyes, and then I turned up a day late. I 

 arrived on the day on which I had all along intended to arrive, but he 

 insisted that I had mentioned the day before, and unfortunately for me, 

 had documentary evidence to prove it ; I had undertaken to make all 

 the enquiries as to the best ground to work, so until I arrived he was 

 at a disadvantage. Add to this that the day had been dull and 

 inclined to rain, I had sent no word of my movements, and the 

 railway motor breaking down had again made me two hours late, and 

 it will be realised that the situation facing me was a delicate one. 

 Mr. Galpin had further gathered the information that owing to an 

 abnormal June both A. cxidans and P. trepiclaria had been well over 

 for a week past. We had poor success that night and the gloom 

 reached its lowest ebb, bat the next morning the hot spell commenced. 

 We henceforward had a great time, and in the end were more than 

 repaid for missing A. e.vulans and P. trepidaria. 



We had obtained special permission to work the Invercauld deer 

 forest on the further side of the Dee, and it was there we spent most 

 of our days. The morning of the 8th was an ideal one, and in spite 

 of discouragement from Messrs. Tait, Mutch and Home, who had all 

 been at Braemar for some time, and evidently spoke with knowledge, 

 we deemed it our "duty " to at least see the e.odans ground. We 

 pushed on up to about 2,500 feet and found their tale only too true ; 

 no sign of anything at the higher levels except one or two Scoptda 

 alpinalis. However, the view was glorious, we had a fine sight of some 

 red deer, and moreover on the way down got a good general knowledge of 

 this part of our ground. We subsequently learnt from the head-keeper 

 that A. exulana bad been out in early June, and that P. trepidaria was 

 swarming on all the heights three weeks before our arrival. The 

 keeper's information is probably reliable, as he has had considerable 

 training at the hands of Mr. Percy Bright and others, and all the 

 hints he gave us as to " Obeliscatas " (his version of D. obfuscata) and 

 other species proved to be very accurate. 



A. exidans seems to be confined to one, or at most two, of the 



mountains, but occurs over a considerable area, and apparently in 



spite of continued onslaughts is in great numbers. P. trepidaria on 



the other hand seems to occur abundantly on most of the higher 



April 15th, 1912. 



