54 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



COLLECTING AT RANNOCH IN 1918. 

 By F. G. Whittle. 



I HAD the good fortune to be again in the Rannoch district in 

 1918. I fixed my quarters at Caraghouranjust west of the Black 

 Wood, and had a tolerahle amount of success, though I missed, 

 as in 1917, some of the more desirable species for which Rannoch 

 is famous. Moors and hill-side?, where the heather had been 

 burnt, sheltered among the charred sticks, or possessed a certain 

 attraction for, various species of the genus Feronea. In the 

 neighbourhood of such patches mixtana was abundant and in 

 good condition ; lipsiana, hastiana, viaccana and rufaiia in much 

 smaller numbers; ferrugana in scores, but the interesting range 

 of variation shown was entiiely due to the amount of weathering 

 they had undergone, the August emergence — from which I hud 

 expected much — showing less variation than would a similar 

 number of south-east Essex specimens. Depressaria ciniflonella 

 was frequently turning up, and Monima incerta, brown-grey, 

 slaty-grey and red-brown forms, occurred on tree-trunks. Gelechia 

 junctella was found at the foot of a birch in the Black Wood on 

 April 16th, and a few were netted flying over a lichen- and moss- 

 studded stone wall by the road-side. Retinia posticana was found, 

 as pupse, in the lateral, low-down buds of young trees of Pinus 

 sylvestris. This was on April 26th, the few moths bred com- 

 mencing to emerge on May 26th. On April 22nd Xenolechia 

 cethiops first appeared flying over charred heather. Endromis 

 versicolor was out on the 23rd, and was not difficult to obtain by 

 examining alder and birch Wy the loch-side. I think I saw 

 more of this species by the Camghouran burn than elsewhere. 

 One freshly emerged 2 which I found on ling attracted several 

 S S- On April 26th I got my firtst f-pecimen of Eriopsela 

 ericetana flying over a moor, where there was plenty of birch, 

 heath" and vaccinium, but no aspen. I took two other s})ecimens 

 between that date and May 20th, close to the Camghouran burn, 

 where there is plenty of vaccinium and several nice asjions. 

 I note that that E. li. Bankes (' E.M.M.,' 1910, pj). 110-114) 

 gives June 15th as the date of the first appearance of this moth 

 at Aviemore, and -June 28th as that of the last. A few larvae of 

 Eueretagrotis agatJiina were picked up on April 27th. Coccyx 

 strobilella emerged freely from spruce cones May 16th, and an 

 example of that very brilliant beetle Carahiis nitens was picked 

 up by a neighbour and kindly presented to me. Nepticula 

 myrtillella was flying over vacciuium near Cross Craig on the 

 20th. On the 31st, on the slope above the farm at Camghouran^ 

 Nepticula sorbi, Phylloporia histrigella and Lithocolletis vacci- 

 niella were taken. Lasiocampa querciis var. callun(B ? emerged 

 on June 1st. I exposed her on my window-sill, and, the con- 

 ditions being favourable, she received a good many visitors. 



