SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES FROM BRAEMAR. 255 



alternate year theory, but when one is led to expect it in the same 

 numbers as A. cculam, and is told that by holding the net near the 

 ground they blow in in dozens, and then by very diligent work only 

 obtains three specimens, the theory is strongly confirmed. Rattray, 

 the keeper, gives further confirmation. He says that last year it was 

 flying in thousands on Ben Abord and Ben Avon and this year he 

 scarcely saw a specimen. So I have nothing to tell of this species, 

 beyond the fact that the three I took were walked up on the extreme 

 top of the hill from the shortest of the heather. Some time was 

 spent here also scratching up the lichen and moss, in the hopes of 

 finding Fachiwbia alpina pupae, but two empty cases and a number of 

 ancient and empty ones of Psodos trepidaria, probably dating back to 

 past years, were all I found. It is very destructive work for the nails 

 and finger tips, and I should think that every F. alpina pupa is well 

 earned. 



After A. exulans the insect of the year was Parasemia {Ne))ieojjhila) 

 planta<jini^ and its var. hospita. This variety also surprised Mr. Home 

 by its numbers, as he looks upon it as a rarity in the district and 

 actually has not a local series — his coming from the English Lake 

 district. Seeing plenty, however, is a different thing from catching 

 plenty, and the total capture of 39 specimens of the variety and rather 

 more of the type, represented a great deal of hard work and not 

 a few tumbles. A few were walked up each day, but the great majority 

 were taken in the afternoon on the way down from the e.vulans ground. 

 By this time they were flying wildly over the hillside, and could only 

 be caught by sheer hard running, as they rarely settled. Var. hospita, 

 from its colour, was far the easier to watch, but, on the other hand, it 

 generally had a longer start, as it could be seen so much further oft'. 

 The proportion of the variety was roughly about one to four or five of 

 the type. The best day was the 7th, when I took three in the morning 

 and eleven more on my svay down in the afternoon, as well as about 

 twenty of the type, by which time I felt I had done enough, and was 

 ready for a long drink at the nearest stream. The type varied con- 

 siderably in the amount of black on the hind-wings, one or two nice 

 varieties occurring, both pale and dark. From six females taken (all 

 typical) three batches of ova were obtained, and I am anxious to see 

 if these produce the hospita form as well as the type. Two of these 

 females have hindwings distinctly inclining to red. 



^Jcle^u/dr^s [Larentia) salicata was another species that I practically 

 missed last year, the few I took being the merest wrecks. They were 

 already well out this year from the beginning, but were not generally 

 abundant. I took a few each day right on top of the (wulans hill and 

 a few more at dusk. But its great locality I did not find until 

 July 15th, and by that time they wanted a lot of picking over. The 

 place in question is a group of rocks up in the hills, about two miles 

 west of Loch Callater. Here they swarmed, often as many as a dozen 

 on a rock. On the grassy slopes here Sropida alpinalis and Pijrausta 

 ostriualis were in great abundance, and also some Kiidoria (Scnparia) 

 alpina, which, however, was getting over. L'rainbus fiirratelltis should 

 also occur here, but I failed to find it. 



On my way back down Callater Glen 1 disturbed my first fMrentia 

 /iacicinctata {rxticinctata), and a long search near the spot on the 17th 

 produced one more specimen. It was of course early for the species, 



