ENTOMOLOGICAL TRAVELS IN NORWAY. 13 



frequently sank in the nights of July below the freezing 

 point, and never rose in the day above 10° Reaumur [55° 

 Fahrenheit] ; usually the thermometer stood between 6° and 

 8° [46°— 50° Fahr.] 



Notwithstanding this the Lepidoptera were not more 

 sluggish than with us, where the temperature is thrice as 

 great. I also found the Geometrde CcBsiata, Nohiliaria 

 and 3Iumtata in active flight in the middle of the cold 

 nio;hts and durino; fine but dense rain. Only the A?iartcB, 

 which cannot fly without sunshine, were at a disadvantage, 

 and it seems extraordinary that so many species of this 

 genus should occur, and, as appears, in such numbers, since 

 bad summers are here the rule, and there are years when it 

 rains unceasingly for six weeks. 



This also would account for the poverty of the district in 

 Diurnal Lepidoptera, and the comparative scarcity of those 

 which do occur, many of which seem not to require bright 

 sunshine for their flight ; at any rate I often saw not merely 

 Syrichtlius Centaurece, but also Aj-gi/nnis Fref/a, Erehia 

 Manto, and Lyccena JPhereies, flying whilst the sky was 

 cloudy. 



On my return I took the road along Rorasdal, one of the 

 most romantic and wildest valleys in Norway (which leads 

 in a north-westerly course to the sea), to Veblungsnaes, on the 

 Romsdalsfjord, M'here I tarried two days. Hence I made 

 an excursion on the 31st July to the opposite shore of the 

 Fjord, which presented meadows interrupted with hazel and 

 alder, bushes and slopes clothed with firs and juniper. The 

 1st of August I made an excursion to Knudsaetern (Herds- 

 man's Cottage) on the Stigfjeld, distant about one and a half 

 German miles. The way thither led through a valley, 

 through which streamed a wild brook, which had recently 

 been flooded in consequence of a waterspout ; in this valley 



