Insects. 7519 



Notes on a Trip to Loch Rannoch. By Edwin Birchall, Esq. 



A LEISURE week, during the past summer enabled me to gratify a 

 long -cherished wish to visit this celebrated entomological locality. 

 Entering Scotland by the estuary of the Clyde, the mountains of 

 Argyleshire and the rugged hills of Arran close in upon the river and 

 give to its reaches the aspect of lakes, but as the stream contiuues its 

 course towards Glasgow the great river gradually assumes a ditch-like 

 aspect, running between low marshy banks, the deep-water channel 

 being indicated by small stone erections, each surmounted by a pole 

 crowned with an empty whiskey barrel, — rather an original emblem of 

 Scotch taste and nationality. 



A pleasant day was spent with my friend Thomas Chapman, at his 

 county residence on the shore of Loch Long, and a stroll up the hill 

 behind the house, among many other insects, produced Scopula alpin- 

 alis, S. decrepitalis, Coremia munitaria, and Larentia flavicinctaria, 

 none of which I had before seen alive. Next morning 1 was en route 

 for Rannoch ; rail to Dunkeld, thence coast to Pitlochie, rapidly took 

 us within thirty miles of our destination ; but from this point visitors 

 must make their way as well as they can. Our old friend Foxcroft 

 used here to put his traps into a barrow, and with sturdy independence 

 wheel it before him into Rannoch, often doubtless on the way desert- 

 ing the shafts to make a dash at a passing " Glory," or pin a sleepin*' 

 Nubeculosa on the stem of a rugged birch ; and I may here mention 

 that he seems to have been universally known and much respected at 

 Rannoch, and apparently very sincere was the regret expressed at the 

 news of his death. 



The road runs for several miles through ancient birch-woods, then 

 along the banks of Loch Tummel, and skirting the base of the mighty 

 Schehallion commands glorious views of mountain and lake. Inde- 

 pendently of its majestic aspect, Schehallion possesses interest of a 

 varied nature ; it is said to have afforded shelter to Bruce after the 

 battle of Montrose ; on its side the truth of the theory of gravitation 

 was practically demonstrated, and the planet was weighed in the 

 philosopher's scales ; and, lastly, it is the locality for that rarest of 

 British Noctuae Pachnobia alpina. 



Loch Rannoch is about ten miles in length, and, except a narrow 

 belt of cultivated ground bordering the lake, is buried in woods, 

 morasses and mountains — a very Paradise for the naturalist, no matter 

 what his peculiar bent may be. There is a good inn at Kinloch- 



