The Beetles of the Moorlands 



escarpment or abrupt outcrop of the older rocks, Car- 

 boniferous, Silurian, Cambrian, which form the substance 

 of the great mountains beyond. 



In North and Mid Wales, in East Lancashire and West 

 Yorkshire, in Cumberland, Westmoreland and North- 

 umberland right up to the Cheviots and far beyond them, 

 all through the length and breadth of Scotland extend 

 these open treeless, roadless Moors, where one can wander 

 knee deep in ling and heather all through a summer's 

 day, and hear nothing but the distant bleat of mountain 

 sheep and the wail of the nesting Curlews. 



Of course the dweller in London, or anywhere in the 

 South, cannot make his expedition to such places in 

 quest of beetles a matter of a day or even an afternoon 

 as he can in the case of Downland ; at least a week-end 

 must be devoted to such a purpose, and any of the main 

 northern lines Great Western, North Western, Midland, 

 etc. will carry him somewhere whence a comparatively 

 easy walk will achieve the rest. As to the exact terminus 

 ad quern we must be guided by maps unless we know the 

 country we propose to visit rather intimately. Perhaps 

 it may be best, since this chapter is devoted to the 

 illustration of some of the beetle fauna of the Moors, to 

 take some concrete example and to imagine us, after a 

 few hours' railway journey from Paddington or Euston, 

 arrived at one of those small towns or villages which are 

 to be found on the upper courses of one of the rivers of 

 North Wales such as the Dee, the Clwyd or the Conway 

 an old bridge, a still older stone church, a comfortable 

 inn much frequented by anglers, a flannel mill or a slate 



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