40 CATALOGUE OF INSECTS 



but as the chasms approach the sea-coast, where they all 

 terminate, the banks lose their very precipitous appearance, 

 and expand into vallies. Small brooks, locally termed burns, 

 run through them ; but from the porous nature of the lime- 

 stone, the waters seldom reach the sea: and in Castle Eden 

 Dean, 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 watercourse 

 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 

 Dean 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 perpendicular, reduce its breadth to half that dis- 

 tance. 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 Cyprepidium calceolus is 

 here, and almost here only to be met with. Towards the 

 sea, the banks have a more barren appearance, 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 ti'ees and bushes growing on an exposed sea 

 coast. The banks of the dean are generally moist, consequent 

 on the density of the foliage, and numerous springs in the lime- 

 stone; but here and there dry exposed grassy spots occur: and 

 on the principal of these, nearly opposite the mansion of the 

 proprietor, Rowland Burdon, Esq., the beautiful Hipparchia 

 Blandina is to be found in abundance, being its only English 

 habitat. I have been thus diffuse in describing the place, 

 because I am persuaded that the connexion between entomo- 

 logy, geology, and botany, especially the two former, has not 

 been sufficiently attended to ; and, from my own short expe- 

 rience, I think a pretty good idea may be formed of the insects 

 likely to be found in any district, if its geological features are 

 taken into careful consideration. The following insects con- 

 stitute only a part of those met with by my friend Mr. Currie 



