248 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



With these preliminary remarks I will now invite my 

 readers to accompany me on a short excursion, promising 

 not to take them more than a half a mile or so from the house 

 where our head-quarters are. Within the grounds are three 

 or four trees, and off one of them we begin the day well by 

 taking Ant idea siiiuata. This is rather a surprising capture 

 in an alpine glen, but is not unparalleled, for on a stone close 

 at hand we find Melanippe galiala, Larentia codsiata and 

 Emmelesia ericelaia silling side by side, and, on a rock 

 about a stone throw off, Larentia rujicinctata. Take a look 

 at that bed of yellow saxifrage, jSa-rz/ra^a aizoides, and after 

 boxing a few Zelleria saxifragcB we will begin to ascend the 

 hill. Here we see abundance of the pretty flowers of the 

 rock rose, and flitting about them Lyccena Arlaxerxes gives 

 many an opportunity of using our nets. Mounting a little 

 higher, we carefully scan the large stones that dot the slope, 

 and are soon rewarded by finding Dasydia ohfuscata and 

 Plusia interrogationis. A dark moth rises, and after a short 

 chase is secured, and turns out to be a. v ery hne Stilbiaanomala. 

 Coming to a ravine, we very quietly and cautiously inspect 

 an overhanging rock, and find Eupithecia constrictata and E. 

 pulchellata, sitting amidst a host of Larentia ccesiaia, &c. A 

 particular rock of this character {i.e. overhanging a mountain 

 stream) is known to us as the " sinuata rock," because it has 

 more than once yielded Attticlea sinuata. Further up the 

 stream we notice a number of moths flying gently about and 

 settling on the grass stems. These we soon discover to be 

 Ablabia argentana, a moth which at first we thought was con- 

 fined to one place in the glen, but which we now know is distri- 

 buted over several miles. Along with it, if we are lucky, we may 

 get Scopula decrepilalis, but it is rather late in the season for 

 that species. (By the way, I would take this opportunity of 

 asking any one who knows the habits of this species to kindly 

 give me some information about it. 1 have only met with it 

 twice, once in Inverness-shire, and once in Glen Tilt, and in both 

 times it was in a ravine. What I wish to know is, at what time of 

 the year is it most abundant, and what is its hour of flight ?) 



Pursuing our way up the stream, we come to some grassy 

 slopes, over which Erebia Epiphron is flitting about ; as 

 tisual, in more or less damaged condition. We have now 

 to cross a slope of loose stones, and had belter keep a 

 sharp look-out for Crambus ericellus, which, iu Glen Tilt 

 at least, frequents such places, and has the provoking habit 

 of diving into the crannies where it is impossible to get at 



