84 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



northward along the coarse of the Gilpin to the north of Whit- 

 barrow ; Holker Moss is an outlier to the south-west of Grange, 

 and many others are found to the southward along the low-lying 

 Lancashire coast-line. 



These mosses are, in the neighbourhood of Witherslack, the 

 haunt of Coenonympha tipJton, the Large Heath. Meathop Moss, 

 which is the most accessible from the "Derby Arms," forms a 

 long strij), elevated several feet above the general low level of the 

 surrounding country. It is dug for peat at the north end, where 

 a vertical face some 6 ft. high is exposed, and this is not nearly at 

 the highest part. The vegetation is mainly heather (0. vulgaris), 

 Erica tetralix and Sdrpus (EkocJiaris) aespitosus, the " Deer's 

 Hair," which grows in fine hemispherical tussocks composed of the 

 stiff, setaceous flowering stems and young leaves springing from 

 dense upstanding bases. There are also patches of cotton grass 

 and reindeer moss. Andromeda grows abundantly, and the bog 

 asphodel (A^". ossifragum). Sphagnum is found in holes and ditches, 

 but there are no extensive tracts of this moss. A straggling 

 wood of small Scotch firs and birches runs along the ridge 

 for some distance. A buzzard had her nest, with half-grown 

 nestling birds, in a fir at one end of it. Herring and lesser 

 black-backed gulls nest on the moss and stand up on the tussocks 

 in indignant expostulation at intruders. Their eggs had been 

 very freely taken for food earlier in the year, and there were 

 still some nests with eggs. Their varied cries — laughing, talking, 

 querulous — -mixed with the long, rippling breeding note of the 

 curlews, were constant while anyone was in their neighbourhood. 



Whenever the sun came out the Large Heath {C. tiphon) 

 appeared flitting over the moss. We really had very little con- 

 tinuous sunshine during the four days of our stay, though there 

 were fairly frequent sunny intervals. Our last morning (Friday) 

 was, however, bright and fine, and then tiphon was on the wing 

 in abundance. It is not always easy to catch, as it has a way 

 of flitting on down the wind, now and then settling for a few 

 seconds and then on again, and pursuit over the rough, tussocky 

 surface beset with many bog-holes is not too easy. Sometimes 

 one finds them feeding at the Erica flowers and often at rest on 

 the heather or grass. As soon as the sun goes in they cease to 

 fly of their own accord, though they may still be put up and 

 pursued down wind, or taken at rest on the sheltered side of a 

 tussock. Many males were in fine order, and the females, 

 though much fewer, were generally very fresh. 



The form inhabiting these mosses is the var. pJiiloxcnus, Esp., 

 the " British southern form " of Dr. Buckell, who has written an 

 excellent review of the Bi-itish varieties of tiphon* It extends 

 southward to Delamere Forest in Cheshire, and just over the 

 northern borders of Shropshire and Staffordshire. Philoxenus 



* F. J. Buckell, ' Ent. Record,' vol. vii, 1895-6, p. 100. 



