SATYRS. 



covered with coarse grass, heather, and ferns : 

 the insect was flitting about chiefly among 

 the fei ns, and was so numerous that in two 

 excursions I caught upwards of three dozen." 

 And, again, Mr. Somerville,at page 181 of the 

 fourth volume of the same journal, writes, on 

 the 25th of August, 1858: "During the 

 past few weeks I have taken a number of fine 

 specimens of this insect on the borders of 

 Dumfriesshire." Mr. Birchall informs me he 

 finds it in the Highlands generally. Dr. 

 Buchanan White says it " occurs abundantly 

 in some of the Highland valleys of Perthshire, 

 as at Pitlochrie, Rannoch, &c.,but is rather 

 local. This species does not range so far up 

 the mountains as Cctnonympha Davus, for, 

 from some observations made last summer in 

 Inverness-shire, it appears that Erebia Medea 

 was scarcely seen above eight hundred feet, 

 while Ccenonympha Davus attained an eleva- 

 tion of upwards of two thousand feet ; the two 

 species being found together from two hun- 

 dred feet up to eight hundred feet above the 

 sea level. Both species are, I believe, found 

 at the sea level." Dr. White took Medea on 

 the 30th July in 1867, and on the 21st July 

 in 1869. Writing of Strathglass, in Inver- 

 ness-shire, Dr. White adds : " The most 

 universally distributed butterfly was Erebia 

 Medea, which absolutely swarmed in all the 

 open marshy places in the woods, sometimes 

 even coming into the g&Y<len8."-Entomologists' 

 Monthly Magazine, No. 74, p. 47. 



In England I have but few localities to 

 record. 



Durham. "This, the most interesting of our 

 local butterflies, was first met with in Eng- 

 land by the late Mr. William Backhouse, in 

 Castle Eden Dene, about thirty-five years ago. 

 Inl829Ifindhe had the pleasure of capturing 

 it in the above locality, where it abounds in 

 the early part of August in the more open 

 grassy places of the Dene. I may here 

 mention that Castle Eden Dene is the largest 

 and most beautiful of a series of romantic 

 dells, or denes, which, consist, as it were, of 

 immense clefts or chasms in that part of the 

 secondary series of rocks termed the magneeian 

 limestone. These denes are, for the moat 



part, narrow and confined, and so densely 

 covered with wood as to render them too close 

 for the active pursuit of the entomologist : 

 but as the chasms approach the sea-coast, 

 where they all terminate, the banks lose their 

 very precipitous appearance and expand into 

 valleys. Small brooks, locally termed burns, 

 run through them, but from the porous 

 nature of the limestone the waters seldom 

 reach the sea; and in Castle Eden Dene, 

 where the stream is larger, and fed by two or 

 three small rivulets, at the distance of, perhaps, 

 a mile apart, the supply poured down by one 

 disappears, and in one place very suddenly, 

 ere it reaches that part of the main water- 

 course where the next empties itself. In 

 winter, however, the melting of the snow and 

 heavy rains apparently convert the dry bed 

 into a torrent ; and, judging from the width 

 of the channel, a large body of water must 

 rush down the valley. Castle Eden Dene is 

 about four miles long, and averaging nearly a 

 quarter of a mile in width, though in some 

 places the rocks, often a hundred feet per- 

 pendicular, reduce its breadth to half that 

 distance. Vegetation is most luxuriant, and 

 its botanical treasures have long rendered it 

 famous in the works on that part of natural 

 history. Suffice it to say, the rare Lady's 

 Slipper (Cyprepidium calceolus) is here, and 

 almost here only, to be met with. Towards 

 the sea the banks have a more barren appear- 

 ance, and assume the peculiar marks of the 

 tract of rocks to which the district belongs, 

 producing a great variety of the grasses and 

 other plants delighting in an arid and poor 

 soil. Here the juniper and privet are, by the 

 force of the winds, thrown into those curious 

 flat growths which must have struck every 

 one who has seen the trees and bushes grow- 

 ing on an exposed sea-coast. The banks of 

 the Dene ai*e generally moist, consequent on 

 the density of the foliage and numerous 

 springs in the limestone : but here and there 

 dry, exposed grassy spots occur; and on the 

 principal of these, nearly opposite the mansion 

 of the proprietor Mr. Rowland Burdon the 

 beautiful Erebia Medea is to be found in 

 abundance. I have been thus diffuse in 



