158 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Diptera. Moreover, I believe it has not the merit of being 

 original, but was compiled from the work or observation of some 

 Frenchman. And among the ninety odd species here recorded 

 are included Arachnida, Acari, &c. 



I refrain from giving Staudinger's and Paijkull's lists in 

 extenso, for fear of trespassing on your valuable space ; but I give 

 the following extracts, from various sources, as an addition to the 

 knowledge that we possess on the subject of the Icelandic Fauna. 

 At a later period of the year I hope to enlarge this knowledge by 

 actual observation during a visit I propose to the island this 

 summer, 



(1.) " In the neighbourhood of the river (Bruara, or Bridge River), we 

 saw many small butterflies, blue and white, both fluttering and flying 

 kinds." — (Svraington's ' Pen and Pencil Sketches of Faroe and Iceland, 

 186'2.' p. J 05). 



(2.) "I did not see a collection of insects in the museum, but I have 

 just heard from my friend, who reports having seen one or two butterflies, 

 one was bkie, also several beetles, and some moths." This is an extract 

 from a letter of a correspondent of mine who visited Iceland in 1888. 



(3.) " One of these swamps put me in a position of much difficulty and 

 embarrassment during one of ray solitary excursions. I was sauntering 

 quietly along, when suddenly a little butterfly fluttered past me. It was 

 the first I had seen in this country, and ray eagerness to catch it was pro- 

 portionately great. I hastened after it, thought neither of swamp nor of 

 danger, and in the heat of the chase did not observe that the mounds 

 became every moment fewer and further between." — Ida Pfeiffer's ' Visit to 

 Iceland,' p. 81. Madame Pfeiffer does not add that she caught the insect 

 in question, and it is just possible, that not being a professed entomologist, 

 she may have mistaken a moth for a butterfly. 



(4.) For the accompanying list of half-a-dozen species of butterflies 

 reputed to occur in Iceland, I am indebted to Mr. Kirby's kindness : — 

 Colias pelidae ; C. nastes ; C. hecla ; Argynnis freyja ; (Eneis jutta ; (E. 

 ceno. I believe, however, that the existence of these species in Greenland 

 is the only argument for their supposed existence in Iceland, Greenland 

 and Lapland being portions of the mainland of America and Europe, and 

 this makes all the difference. 



(5.) " If the main difference between a moth and a butterfly is that the 

 wings of the former lie flat, and those of the latter stand upiight when the 

 insects are not on the wing, then I think I may certainly assure you that 

 there are butterflies in Iceland. I remember distinctly having chased them 

 in ray youth. Last time I was in the island, the year before last (1887), I 

 was on the look out for moths and butterflies, knowing that the existence of 

 the latter was disputed, but I never saw one individual of either Uind all 

 the time. I ascribed it to the fact that the country was surrounded by 

 closely-packed Arctic ice all through July and August, the warmest months 

 of the season ; and that off and on the chilliness of the atmosphere was 

 insufferably keen. But, in warm summers, I remember from my boyhood 

 the fields and meadows were quite alive with winged insects ; moths 

 or butterflies, I could not say with certainty. I should have imagined, 

 judging from my recollections, that the chief haunts of moths (and butter- 



