112 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



The railway — Ofotenbanen — from Gellivare to Narvik, which, 

 by the way, is the most northern in the world, has been elec- 

 trified on the Swedish portion, that is, from Gellivare to Eiks- 

 griinsen next the Norwegian frontier. Two passenger trains 

 are, or were, run dail}^ one each way ; one going to Narvik passed 

 Abiskojokk at 10 a.m., and the other, gomg inland to Kiruna, 

 Gellivare and Boden, passed about 8.80 p.m. 



So leaving in the morning of June 27th I went on to Narvik^ 

 and immediately boarded the small steamer for L^dingen, and 

 directly changed there to the larger steamer, the " Polarlys," 

 which had been waiting for us, bound for Hammerfest, which, 

 after we had coaled at Troms^ during the night and passing 

 Skjerv^, was my next stop, unfortunately a three days' one, 

 arriving at this most northern town at 6 p.m. on the 28th, just 

 two hours late for the little boat that plies to Alten twice a week. 



Here I was stranded with practically nothing to do two days 

 — Sunday and Monday — brilliant sunshine with a temperature 

 someway about 80°Fabr. I was told that it had not been so hot 

 for many years — knowing that each day's delay reduced my 

 chance of getting fresh specimens of certain estimable Arctic 

 species for which I had travelled so many hundreds of miles. 



The island of Kval^, at any rate round Hammerfest, does 

 not appeal to one as a promising collecting-ground, but walking 

 round the bay on Sunday, not expecting to find anything of 

 consequence, I noticed a yellow copper flying rather commonly, 

 and some Brenthids which I felt sure were freija. So on the 

 Monday morning I went to the same spot and found Chryso- 

 phanus phlceas var. hyjjophlceas {americanus, d' Urban) rather fre- 

 quently, a fine form, and on the rocks overhanging the bay 

 Brenthis pales var. lapponica, Erebia lappona, and several very 

 dark, though worn, Aglais urtica var. polaris were seen. 



I am sure I saw another species of Brenthis like freija, but 

 the wind was strong and constant, and anything rising was 

 immediately carried away. 



I left Hammerfest at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1st, with a 

 feeling of intense relief, though I am bound to say the Hotel 

 Cora Jiinsen was very comfortable and the food good. The 

 weather had changed during the night, and the wind was 

 bitterly cold. The journey through the Vargsund and the 

 Altenfjord to Bossekop took fifteen hours, the boat arriving at 

 about 1 a.m., and I found that the hotel — save the name — had 

 changed hands, was in a state of upturn and was not available. 

 In these climes people seem to walk about at all hours of the 

 night ; there is always somebody about, no doubt due to the per- 

 petual daylight, and I suppose the arrival of the steamer on this 

 occasion would make this more apparent. I got hold of a boy to 

 make inquiries about a room, but he was unsuccessful in finding 

 a place. It was a beautiful night, quite warm, the sun was 



