82 Mr. G. C. Champion's Entomological 



Barbadillo, whence the rest of the journey — perhaps fifty 

 miles in all — was made in a country cart. Later on, we 

 shifted our head-quarters to Moncayo, two days' journey 

 from Canales, and about sixty miles distant. On arrival 

 at Canales, we were unable to obtain accommodation at 

 the place recommended by our friends in Burgos, and as 

 the public " posada " was extremely uninviting, we had to 

 hunt up lodgings elsewhere, eventually finding rough 

 quarters in an empty house, which proved, however, to be 

 inhabited by legions of Cimcx Icdularius. This village is 

 the uppermost one on the Najerilla river, an affluent of 

 the Ebro, and just below the ridge separating the pro- 

 vinces of Burgos and Logrono, and as it was a good centre 

 for collecting we remained there from June 27th to July 

 9th. Though rather low (elevation about 2500 feet), 

 the adjacent mountains were accessible on all sides. These 

 latter ranging up to quite 7000 feet, with the hollows near 

 their summits still filled with snow. The northern slopes 

 of some of the narrow valleys here are clothed with beech 

 forest, and on the south side there is a good deal of oak 

 scrub, which is very dense in places. Oa the ridge near 

 the village of Huerta there is an extensive pine forest, and 

 this proved to be a productive locality. The mountains 

 elsewhere are clothed with heath almost to their summits, 

 and here and there are patches of Genista, which, however, 

 is not in sufficient abundance, when in flower, to give a 

 colour to the slopes, as is the case at Bejar. From Canales 

 two expeditions were made to a limestone cave — the Cueva 

 de la Calera— but without success as regards cave-insects, 

 the few beetles found about the mouth belonging to 

 common species. In some of our excursions here the 

 scarcity of water in these limestone mountains added not a 

 little to the fatigue of the long tramp. Almost the only 

 people encountered during these trips, apart from the 

 occasional " pastores " or shepherds, were individuals en- 

 gaged in cutting down the abundant asphodels for feeding 

 their pigs, the plants being made into bandies, and carried 

 down on their donkeys' backs. Leaving Canales on July 

 9th, we caught the diligence starting from Mansilla, a 

 mining village a few miles down the valley, and reached 

 Anguiano the same evening, the road for about three 

 hours lying through the extremely picturesque g'>ige of 

 the Najerilla (which is not mentioned in the guide books 

 and is apparently unknown to tourists), the last-mentioned 



