ENTOMOLOGY OF ICELAND. 323 



Iceland, but only ten species. Also that June was the best time 

 for Lepidoptera, — moths presumably. I have seen several 

 Noctuse and Geometridse, collected by him and a relative, as they 

 have been in the habit of supplying the museum at Copenhagen, 

 and also Danish and German private gentlemen, with insects and 

 eggs for some years past. But Mr. Steincke had no butterflies, 

 neither did he contribute evidence of any having been seen. 



My friend Dr. Valentine Knaggs, who visited Krisuvik a few 

 days previous to myself, when the weather happened to be very 

 fine and hot, told me that he saw a specimen of one of the larger 

 Fritillaries there, which, having no net, he could not capture. I 

 simply state the fact as recorded on his authority, and do not 

 venture to suggest the possibility of a mistake on his part, as his 

 father's knowledge of Entomology has doubtless rendered him 

 perfectly familiar with the appearance of Argynnis paphia, 

 A. aglaia, and A. adippe. He also stated the occurrence of 

 many very large Noctuae there. 



As though to make up for the total absence of diurnal Lepi- 

 doptera, the quantity of certain species of moths is something 

 astonishing. I do not recollect ever having seen Geometridte so 

 abundant elsewhere, — rising in a cloud from the scrub vegetation 

 when the dwarf willow or birch was lashed by the riding-wliip of our 

 guide, on the grassy slopes of the mountains, and likewise on the 

 meadows adjoining the homestead ; everywhere most numerous. 



There are no bright-coloured insects in Iceland. The moths 

 are generally either marked with grey or dusky, like the lichen- 

 covered boulders of lava, which the moths so closely resemble, 

 and on the surface of which, therefore, they often effectually 

 conceal themselves from view. The flower, par excellence, that 

 the Noctuas affect is Thymus serpyllum, which is common every- 

 where in Iceland, the one plant that flourishes closest to the 

 boiling springs of the Great Geysir and its brethren. I may add 

 that the best localities apparently for Noctuse in the island are 

 the vicinity of hot and sulphurous springs, whether at Geysir, 

 Krisuvik, or Laug (near Reykjavik), as though they revelled in 

 the warm air and soil. Noctua conjiua occurs very commonly, 

 and the colour of its upper wings is much varied in difl'erent 

 specimens. Of Larentia casiata, which appeared in full force at 

 Thingvellir on July J 4th, — of which species not a single specimen 

 was visible when I left that place for Geysir on July 11th, — the 

 melauic, as well as the paler, form is met with, as in Scotland. 



I do not recall having noticed any facts of value as regards 

 geographical distribution. The insects along the north coast, 

 and also the eastern coast, of Iceland seem to me to be precisely 

 the same as those on the western, only that those on the western 

 shore are far more numerous as regards individuals, probably 

 also in species. 



