54 ENTOMOLOGICAL EXCURSION. 



wetted us all to the skin. After deliberately proceeding through 

 this kind of weather, with sundry falls, and divers bruises 

 occasioned thereby, for about an hour and a half, we reached 

 a little stone hovel, erected by the workers of a copper mine 

 as a shelter for themselves and their tools. Here we stood 

 awhile, cold and drenched with wet, and held a consultation 

 or council of war — the usual consequence of a defeat. We were 

 three quarters of the way up the mountain ; it continued to 

 rain and hail in torrents ; there was no prospect of shelter 

 elsewhere, whether we proceeded or returned ; we had 

 neglected to take with us any spirits, in spite of the advice 

 of the waiter at the inn ; and now we found out our error : 

 for wet, cold, wearied with the long, laborious, and slip- 

 pery ascent, and sore with repeated falls, we really seemed 

 to need some renovating influence from within to counteract 

 so many ills from without. To proceed or to return were 

 equally uninviting. Whilst in this state of uncertainty, the 

 rain suddenly ceased. We sallied forth at once, and were 

 unanimous in our determination to proceed. The path was 

 now steep and stony ; the clouds, like huge curtains obey- 

 ing the impulse of an invisible line, rolled up the mountain 

 sides in the same majestic manner in which, a short time 

 before, they had descended; and, through an aperture, we 

 gained a glimpse of the country below — crag piled on crag, 

 interspersed with lake and mountain- stream, bathed in sun- 

 shine, and altogether gloriously glittering with the recent 

 rain. The view was grand but transitory : the clouds again 

 rolled down the precipices — the fairy scene was gone — and we 

 reached the summit of Snowdon, enveloped in so thick a cloud 

 that we could scarcely distinguish each other when standing 

 close together. On the flag-staff, and under stones, we found 

 abundance of Helobia Marshallana and Patrobiis rnfipes. 

 The ladies of our party, who had gone on to Llanberris to 

 procure horses, now joined us, to our great gratification; and 

 kindly supplied us with sandwiches and wine, which we found 

 particularly acceptable. It is a little remarkable, that, in their 

 ascent of the mountain from Llanberris, they had not had a 

 single drop of rain. 



In descending, the Helohicv were running about in all direc- 

 tions among the stones ; but we were too wet and cold to 

 pay much attention to them, especially as our bottles were 



