﻿314 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



later on I found that the reason was that his only spare bed- 

 stead was but five feet six inches long over all, and, as it had 

 raised solid wooden head and foot, it was obviously not a suitable 

 place of repose for a man something over six feet in length ! 

 However, he was energetic and obliging, and during the evening 

 the district was ransacked, with the result that shortly before 

 midnight he was seen approaching, with a neighbour, bearing in 

 triumph a bedstead of a size almost long enough to accommodate 

 King Og of olden time, and in which I was installed with great 

 ceremony in due course. It proved to be a very comfortable 

 couch ; in point of fact, I passed most of my time on it whilst 

 at Borselv, for the weather at this period was the worst I have 

 ever experienced in any country — an icy cold north-west gale 

 blowing, with squalls of rain, almost the whole of my stay. I 

 did eventually get a few hours of sun, during which, however, 

 I could not find the particular species that was the chief reason 

 of my visit — Latiorina orhitulus, var. aquilo, which Schoyen met 

 with abundantly in 1879. With good weather, Borselv is a 

 very desirable place to stay at, and I should, with these condi- 

 tions, expect to find there most of the Diurni occurring in the 

 district. 



There is a good driving road from Kolvik to Laxelv, which is 

 situated at the extreme southern end of the fjord, some thirty- 

 five kilometres from the former place. On July 10th I hired a 

 Lapp to drive me to Laxelv ; the journey is vividly impressed 

 on my memory by the eccentricities of the driver, who, after 

 subjecting me to several hairbreadth escapes from disaster and 

 the loss of my umbrella, succeeded in overturning the cart 

 within one hundred yards of my destination. Fortunately I had 

 not liked the appearance of that particular stretch of road, and 

 did not happen to be in the cart just then, or my wanderings 

 would most probably have come to an end — at any rate, for a 

 time. All my luggage, except my boxes of specimens which I 

 was carrying, was thrown out, and came within an ace of 

 floating down the Elv, which was only a few feet away from the 

 scene of the upset. 



At Laxelv I found quarters with the schoolmaster, Herr 

 Nilsen, whose house is romantically situated on an island formed 

 by two branches of the river, birch-clad, but with glades and 

 meadows of charming Arctic flowers, and in every respect a 

 delightful retreat. From Herr Nilsen and his excellent Fru 

 I received every kindness, and morning and afternoon there was 

 always one of his numerous family of frank and friendly small 

 children ready to ferry me across the Elv. It did not in the 

 least matter whether it was a boy or a girl ; they were equally 

 efficient in piloting me safely across the turbulent waters. 



Laxelv will always dwell vividly in my memory. It was here, 

 on July 11th, I first saw that exquisite Arctic butterfly, Colias 



