ENTOMOLOGY AT BARMOUTH. 295 



estuary Mr. Kerr was our guide to a spot where the butterfly 

 literally swarmed. The best way to capture it is to get on the 

 hillside, as much as possible on a level with the tops of the scrub 

 oaks. After mid- day the butterfly goes to rest, and hardly one 

 is to be seen. Mr. Kerr foretold they would reappear about five 

 o'clock, and there was never truer prophecy. At the appointed 

 time they were on the wing again, more abundant than at mid- 

 day. But, although fresh out, in 1905, like T. w-album, few of 

 our captures were perfect. In this locality one or two Pararge 

 megmra were observed. 



And no one who has been there can ever forget the lovely 

 mountain forest scenery of the Artro Valley, eight miles north of 

 Barmouth. On the marshes by the railway on our journey to 

 the valley, Melitcea aurinia = artemis occurs in the season. The 

 valley practically begins at the village of Llanbedr, and nets 

 were soon in requisition. On the way up a spot was pointed out 

 where Euchloe cardamines (generally distributed throughout the 

 neighbourhood), Nemeobius lucina, Nisoniades tages, and Macro- 

 glossa bombyliformis can be taken. Higher up the valley, on the 

 marshy patches among bog- myrtle, A. selene and A. euphrosyne 

 are abundant in their season. I saw and nearly captured a worn 

 specimen of the latter. Both in 1904 and 1905 A. paphia, 

 A. aglaia, A. adippe, Cosnonympha pamphilus, Pararge egeria, 

 and Hesperia sylvanus were captured. The fritillaries were so 

 abundant that on one occasion in 1904 I took two A. aglaia and 

 one A. adippe with one sweep of the net. We saw only one or 

 two egeria in 1904, but they appeared to be fine and fresh. In 

 1905 a good many were seen and netted ; but they were all worn, 

 and evidently remnants of the first brood. On a low-lying flat 

 in this valley we again came upon the marsh trifolii, and flying 

 with filipendula in 1904 ; but, curiously enough, we did not see 

 them together in 1905. Higher up is the fine Nancol Fall. At 

 rest upon a rock near the fall was a rather worn Hepialus 

 hectus. The Nancol is a tributary of the river Artro, and^ the 

 fall struck me as being an almost exact duplicate of the Fairy 

 Glen, Bettws-y-Coed, but with a greater volume of water, and 

 altogether more dangerous. 



July is a between-time for larvae, generally speaking ; that 

 is, it is a month between the imagos of most species and the 

 caterpillars. The following larvae, however, were observed: 

 Dianthoecia capsincola, in capsules of Silene injiata; Phalera 

 bucephala, on oak ; Euchelia jacobcece, on ragwort flowers ; and I 

 counted nine broods of V. urtica one day on roadside nettles 

 close to Barmouth. 



The district is evidently a rich one for Diptera. We met a 

 collector who showed us a choice collection taken chiefly on the 

 marshes. On Arthog Marsh the great ox gadfly, Tabanus bovinus, 

 was more numerous than welcome. This dipteron can pierce 



