44 Fritz Johansen and I. C. Nielsen. 



mon fly (Linmeria Deichmanni) has its threads fixed to the sub- 

 stratum and is using the hirval skin as a sheltering cover. If we 

 examine the fresh shoots of Potentilla and Papauer we find a number 

 of hirvae of Trombidiiim or tlie common, small bugs {Clamydatus 

 pulicarius'^) fixing themselves in the innermost parts of the plants, 

 and various larger and smaller spiders are common everywhere. 

 Lastly, if we look down into the water of the freshwater lakes, we 

 find a no less rich animal life there; it is filled with ChironomuSy 

 Tanypus, Culex nigripes and other larvae of gnats, and of new forms 

 we find masses of Ostracod nauplii on the tangled moss of the banks, 

 and the young of Apus glacialis, like a pin's head in size, are hopping 

 about in the water in the manner peculiar to these animals. Much 

 more common, however, are the almost microscopic Daphnia young 

 just hatched, but they are somewhat difficult to see in the water 

 owing to their transparency. 



We have now reached the middle of June. It is now almost 

 impossible to follow the appearance of all the insects, and the fol- 

 lowing therefore can not make any claim to being an exhaustive 

 account. Going up over the bog on a fine day we hear a hitherto 

 unknown sound and soon observe a large bumble-bee {Bombus 

 hypercoreus) come buzzing quickly past. If we follow to where it 

 settles, we find it busily dusting the flowering catkins of the willows, 

 picking out the one after the other, or crawling in under a moss- 

 grown stone, come out again and try another place and so on. The 

 meaning of the latter action can be ascertained if it remains under- 

 neath; removing the stone w^e can dig into the ground; it then 

 appears than this is a spot which is suitable for a new dwelling- 

 place for the bee, or perhaps it is the old dwelling-place and w^e 

 may be fortunate enough to find this. It consists of a clump of 

 cells, which lie free in a natural depression in the soil or in a 

 lemming's burrow. The nest I found was hidden by a small mossy 

 carpet, through which the Bombus female had made an outlel. While 

 at work this bee is much taken up with its own business and is 

 therefore easily caught; not a few hibernating females can be seen 

 on such a summer's day. The other Bombus species {B. balteatus) 

 is also met with now. They are typical insects of the mossy ground 

 and the localities with plenty of vegetation, and it is surprising to 

 find how little the weather, time of day or dampness of the ground 

 influence their activity. As an example of this I may mention, that 

 when wet days with steady downpour or very dense fog set in 

 towards the end of June 1907, Bombus was the only flying insect I 

 saw, even if it was not so abundant as on sunny days. Further 

 (according to the Journal, '^Vc), "I came at midnight lo the bog 



