CAPTURES AND FIKLD REPORTS. 159 



The Lepidoptera of Lewis. — Mr. H. McArthur has started on an 

 entomological expedition to the island of Lewis, where in former years 

 he has obtained some most interesting insects. Collecting in the 

 Orkneys, Shetlands, and the Western Isles of Scotland is not always an 

 unalloyed pleasure. There are difficulties to contend with and discom- 

 forts to be borne, which probably few of us feel disposed to encounter. 

 It is therefore largely due to Mr. McArthur, and a few other enthusiastic 

 collectors, professional or amateur, that our cabinets contain specimens 

 from these remote localities. His last journey to Lewis was in 1887, 

 and we believe that little entomological material has been brought 

 from the island since that date. 



Erratum. — P. 130, last line, for "female" read "male." 



CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 



VANESsiDiE IN 1900. — With reference to some notes on the genus 

 Vanessa that have appeared in your last two or three issues, I thought, 

 perhaps, that a few observations on these insects made in Glamorganshire 

 might prove interesting. Vanessa urticce has been somewhat scarce as 

 compared with the three years previous. V. polychloros is, as far as my 

 observations go, very scarce in this district ; during 19U0 I saw but one 

 specimen (September 3rd). V. {Cynthia] cardui is during some seasons of 

 frequent occurrence, but during this season I did not see it anywhere in 

 this district, although I saw it several times on the other side of the 

 Channel (Weston-super-mare). It is of V. to and V. atalanta that I write 

 chiefly, and of these two Vanessids I saw a larger number at one time than 

 has ever before been my lot to witness. During July I saw, in various 

 localities in this neigbourhood, numbers of the larvae of V. io, which led 

 me to expect an abundance of the perfect insect. On July 9th I tooli ten 

 full-grown larvae, eight of which pupated on July 11th, the other two on 

 July 12th and 13th; on July 21st they all emerged. On Sept. 3rd I 

 visited " Casteli Coch," near Taff's Well, about seven miles from Cardiff, 

 and on entering a field that was perfectly blue with Centaurea cyanus, I 

 was struck with the number of F. io and V. atalanta, but this was nothing 

 as compared with what was to come, for on passing out of the field and 

 entering a narrow path, at the bottom of a woody slope, which was thickly 

 clothed on either side with the same pretty blue flower, I was confronted 

 with swarms of these two Vanessids, together with a host of bees and 

 other Hymenoptera and various Diptera. I do not ever remember seeing 

 such a remarkable sight as presented by the two butterflies (of which there 

 must have been several hundreds) as they rested expanded in the hot 

 sunshine, or chased one another from flower to flower, their brilliant 

 colours contrasting with the green and blue of the foliage and flowers, and 

 the more sombre brown of an occasional Argynnis paphia or the deep red- 

 brown of V. c-albiim, forming a picture of almost kaleidoscopic beauty. 

 The last-named Vauessid is of pretty general occurrence in Glamorgan- 

 shire, but never, so far as I have seen, in any numbers. I noticed that the 

 bees were very intolerant of the presence of the butterflies, driving them 

 off the flowers repeatedly, and indeed io and atalanta seemed to adopt a 

 belligerent attitude towards one another. I hope to visit the same place 



