50 Fritz Johansen and L C. Nielsen. 



seekers we must also regard the exceedingly common, large Tipula 

 arctica; as mentioned above they keep mainly to the waste places 

 Avith patches of vegetation; suddenly when we have no suspicion of 

 their presence the long-legged insects start up in front of us, leap 

 some distance on in front and settle again not far away; and the 

 same operation is repeated every time we come upon them unawares. 

 And this occurs often, for its colour blends so perfectly with the 

 stones on the ground, dried grass stalks etc., that if the animal were 

 not so clumsy in its flight, nor so often copulating, its capture would 

 be somewhat difficult. The gnats are now troublesome enough, 

 but when we get beyond July month and avoid the watery localities, 

 we do not see much of them. As at home the females fly about 

 more singly, whilst the males swarm together over the banks of the 

 lakes and pools. A number of them still occur as larvae in the 

 water; and in the larger waters where Salmo alpinus lives, the young 

 of the fish help to keep the stock of gnats within due bounds; in 

 the evenings especially we can watch the "parr" swimming in small 

 shoals in the quite shallow water and continually "making rings" 

 on the surface, whilst snapping up the gnats which fly over the 

 water; also, if we cut up these fishes we find Ihem crammed with 

 pupae and imagines. Of the flies the various "flower-flies" already 

 mentioned are commonest in the open, and along with Bombus and 

 the gnats it is they that "give the insect tone" on such a warm 

 summer's day. — The earlier so common Bomhus queens are now 

 not so frequently seen; a brood of small forms (the workers) has 

 now appeared and these care for the necessary collection of honey 

 and pollen. As the Salix flowers are past, they now seek other 

 plants {Pedicularis, Dryas) and they keep to the dry, hillocky ground, 

 where they are often seen seeking in under the Cassiope plants and 

 the like, — probably they have their nest there. Most marked of 

 all the insects, however, are the butterflies, as it is only in the 

 height of summer, that all are out and can be said to be common. 



И is remarkable that with but few exceptions the North-East 

 Greenland butterflies are not found on the most fertile places. On 

 mossy ground, for example, the only common butterfly is the yellow^ 

 Colias hecla, but this is also so much bound to such localities, that 

 if there is a fertile slope round a larger or smaller water-course, we 

 may be almost sure of seeing a Colias flitting about and be able to 

 follow with the eye how it keeps to the windings of the slope. On 

 large grassy plots (for example at the foot of the fells) we see several 

 of these beautifully coloured insects flitting about; wdien two come 

 nearer together they playfully cross and recross in the air before 

 separating; the one then perhaps settles on a Dryas blossom whilst 



