THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 115 



the "blight" in some way or other, but how no one knew. 

 The wind was so troublesome that I could not find any male 

 moths, except X. Hamana and M. Cribrum, which swarmed 

 on thistles ; X. lithoxylea was on every post, and A. villica 

 and E. Mi flew like mad in the sunshine ; I cut a few larvae 

 and pupae of L. Phragmitidis and N. Typhge from stems of 

 reed and Typha. Sugaring at night produced nothing. I 

 crossed the river in the morning, and collected a few larvae of 



C. castrensis and a few small things, but the rain soon drove 

 me from my collecting-ground, greatly to the relief of the red- 

 shanks and peewits that are breeding on the islet : one red- 

 shank (or " took," as they are called here) was very bold and 

 clamorous ; it kept running on the mud just ahead of me, and 

 bobbed its head up and down as if in derision. On turning 

 round a reedy corner I came on a brood of young coots on 

 the bank : they scrambled into the water, but the weeds 

 were so thick that they could not make headway, and I 

 caught them all with ray net. A few minutes later I also 

 caught three young moorhens sti'uggling in the weeds, and of 

 course let the poor things escape after examining them. 

 While stooping to pick up a larva a shore pipit glided off her 

 nest under my hand. Larks' nests, almost invariably with 

 five eggs, were in profusion. I caught a few worn Lignata 

 and some fine Fluviata in the evening. Sugaring produced 

 1 C. Elpenor, 1 Abjecta, Conigera, Obsoleta, Ulvae, several 

 Chilos, 1 Emutaria, 3 Fluviata. A. interjectaria was very 

 common on the sugar ; I took a series, hoping to find them 

 different from those captured on the uplands, but they are 

 identical. I was rather surprised to find T. viridana common 

 on the sugar ; there is not a tree or bush for a mile round. 

 I swept several C. Pamphilus off the wet grass, so large and 

 brightly coloured that I at first tried to persuade myself it 

 was a new butterfly. We came home as the tide turned ; we 

 were thoroughly tired, covered with mud, and " stung like a 

 tench " by the marsh insects ; and as regards entomological 

 collecting the excursion was a failure; yet we are determined 

 to have a sail down again in a few days, when I hope to have 

 better luck, and give you a more interesting account. — 



D. T. Button; June 23, 1868. 



Entomological Notes from Fifeshire. — In Lepidoptera we 

 are very badly off here. I have sugared nearly every evening, 



