﻿338 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



never been explored for Lepidoptera. I understand there is 

 accommodation to be found in both of them, and I was informed 

 at Kistrand, by Pastor Astrup, that the vegetation is even more 

 luxuriant there than is the case in the Porsanger Fjord. 



Mosquitoes were not much in evidence at Bossekop, Kolvik, 

 and Kistrand, but at Laxelv they were in countless millions in 

 the forest, and my experience there was the worst I have ever 

 had to put up with in this respect. 



The utter impossibility of accurately forecasting the date on 

 which one should be on the collecting ground in Arctic Scandi- 

 navia was strikingly exemplified by my receiving a letter from 

 Herr Sparre Schneider, which was written in May, and in which 

 he stated that the season at Tromso promised to be an early 

 one, whereas when I got to Bossekop in early June, I found that 

 in consequence of a cold spell everything was very backward 

 and the season a late one. 



I had a good opportunity of testing the effect of the perpetual 

 daylight upon the flight times of Lepidoptera, and the result of 

 my observations was that I found tjhe Diurni were not on the 

 wing before 8 a.m. and that the flight was practically stopped 

 by 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I was out at 6 a.m. on several 

 bright sunny mornings, but although an occasional Erehia 

 lajypona, or (Eneis noma was to be kicked up between 7 o'clock 

 and 8 o'clock, they did not fly of their own accord until the latter 

 hour. The Geometrse flew fairly freely in the afternoon, but 

 their natural flight time was from 6 p.m. to midnight and after. 

 It was very striking to see a large Geometer such as Gnophos 

 sordaria, a species resembling our G. ohfuscata, flying gently in 

 the full light at midnight, depositing ova. The Noctaje I saw 

 consisted mostly of Anartas. These flew in the bright sunlight 

 of mid-day. But the same habit obtained in the other species I 

 came across, includng Plusia hochemcarthi, and Pachnohia 

 hyperhorea. 



The species of Lepidoptera I met with in Finmark are as 

 follows : — 



Pieris napi. — This species was rare at Bossekop; perhaps it was 

 not fully out, for it is usually abundant there. It was not un- 

 common at Kolvik. The chief characteristic of the Northern 

 Scandinavian P. napii appears to be the profusion of dark shading on 

 the veins on the under side of all the wings, more especially on the 

 inferiors. This tendency culminates in certain of the males, in 

 which the shading on the veins almost covers the inferiors, and on 

 all wings terminates on the outer margins in broad wedges, not 

 gradually tapering to a point, as is the case in Central European 

 forms. This extreme form, of which I have examples from Bossekop 

 and Kolvik, and also from Abisko in Swedish Lapland, is figured on 

 Plate xiv., fig. 4, and I propose for it the name arctica, n. ab. 

 The females, which are of course all var. hryonia, have a strong 

 tendency to ochreous, especially on the under side of the inferiors. 



