﻿24 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



tions will be mitigated, for, judging from those I conversed with 

 on the subject, they are exceedingly unpopular with the great 

 majority of the Swedes themselves. 



I had a very bad experience with the weather at Abisko during 

 my stay from June 16th to July 18th. There was not much 

 rain — the rainfall of Lapland is quite small, the average being 

 only sixteen inches per annum— but the weather was cold and 

 sunless throughout- During the whole of the time there were 

 only two cloudless days — June 18th and July 12th ; out of thirty- 

 two days, eleven were absolutely sunless, and on many of the 

 others the sun was very fugitive, and one could do but little. 

 Up to the end of June the weather was passable, but after that 

 date it got much worse, and during the last six days of my stay 

 the sun did not appear at all. The temperature also was very 

 low. There was a thermometer outside the hotel, from which, 

 between July 6th and July 18th, I took the temperature daily at 

 8 am. and 2 p.m. The highest reading was 57°"2 Fahreneit at 

 2 p.m. on July 12th, and one day at that hour it did not exceed 

 42°-8. The average at 8 a.m. was 48°-?, and at 2 p.m. 50°-5. 

 The slight difference between the early morning and afternoon 

 temperatures was accounted for by the sun being above the 

 horizon during the whole twenty-four hours of the day. With 

 these temperatures one wonders that butterflies would fly at all, 

 but it did not seem to much matter how cold it was so long as 

 the sun was shining : such as were out flew merrily. At the 

 date on which I reached Abisko the season was apparently an 

 early one, and species were well up to the expected dates ; but 

 of course the cold period put a stop to emergence or greatly 

 delayed it, and specimens got fewer every day. One species 

 found by Mr. Eowland-Brown I did not see, and others were 

 evidently just emerging at the time of my departure. I had 

 intended staying until tbe end of July, but the weather outlook 

 was so hopeless at the middle of the month that I decided to get 

 away, and the reports from other districts in the north being 

 equally bad, it did not seem to be of use trying elsewhere. 



Undoubtedly, 1911 in Arctic Europe was a very dull and cold 

 summer ; in southern Scandinavia as far north as Stockholm 

 the weather was very hot and dry, but north of this line the 

 reverse took place. I am informed that it is often the case 

 that when in Britain we get a good summer, in Lapland it is 

 cold and wet ; and when it is cold with us it is usually a fine 

 season in the north. 1910, for instance, which it will be re- 

 membered was one of the most inclement summers we have 

 experienced for many years in Britain and Central Europe, in 

 Lapland was singularly fine. 



Of course the conditions I met with greatly governed the 

 number of species and specimens found ; in Jemtland I came 

 across twelve species of Khopalocera, and at Abisko sixteen 



