﻿THE WESTMANN ISLANDS. 315 



inhabitants of that place were carried on to Seydisfjord (east 

 coast of Iceland), where they had to remain throughout the 

 winter and spring as well. Heimaey contains about 600 in- 

 habitants, and its craggy promontory of Heima Klettur (Home 

 Cliffs), surmounted by steep grassy slopes, is an island in stormy 

 weather, as only united with the rest of the place by a low- 

 lying neck of land covered with lava stones. Its tun, or home- 

 fields are divided by loose walls of lava stones, and there 

 are boulders and crags of the same down to the water's 

 edge, as there is scarcely any beach. Statice armeria flourishes 

 profusely over the said tun meadows and the grassy downs 

 as well. 



We arrived off the island at 4 a.m. on the 12th of June, and 

 though feeling weak and faint, having kept my berth the whole 

 of the previous day owing to the steamer's rolling heavily, I 

 reflected that no entomologist had ever yet visited the Westmann 

 Isles. It could be done, and it should be done. The additional 

 difficulty that, owing to the heaving of the sea, the companion 

 ladder was not lowered on this occasion now presented itself. 

 There was no alternative but to slew one's self over the ship's side 

 and so on to a rope ladder, which did not reach as far as the 

 tossing boat beneath, and then drop heavily on to the flour-sacks 

 which formed part of the cargo going ashore, and which I 

 succeeded in reaching, after being somewhat drenched with the 

 spray during my being rowed for about a mile through a choppy 

 sea. The next thing was to make the best use of the short time 

 allowed for the purpose of collecting, and my brief experience 

 fully convinced me that Heimaey is quite as good a field for that 

 purpose as the mainland of Iceland. My search continued for 

 over two hours, in a spot where one has neither one's own nor the 

 previous experience of anyone else to aid him in rapidly select- 

 ing the most suitable locality, when time is so precious. It goes 

 without saying that Heima Klettur is whitened by the guano 

 of innumerable sea-birds that frequent its craggy cliffs. Looking 

 seawards from the grassy downs of Heimaey, a fine panoramic 

 view is obtained of Eyjafjordur's sunny plateau ; and the snowy 

 peak of Hekla is also visible far inland. Heimaey's one settle- 

 ment, Kaupstadr, means the same as Copenhagen, — place 

 of selling or merchandise. It possesses a church, and sends a 

 representative to the Althing. 



I append a list of the insects observed or captured : — 



Coleoptera. — Notiopliilus bipustulcttus, Nebria gyllenhali, 

 Patrobus hypcrboreus, Calatkus melanocephalus v. nubigcna, Pla- 

 tysma vitreus, Amara quenselii, Creophilus maxillosus, Lesteva 

 bicolor, Byrrhus fasciatus, Aphodius lapponum, Otiorhynchus mon- 

 ticola, O. (? sp.), Barynotus schonherri, Cryptokypmis riparius. 



Dipteba. — Calliphora erythrocephala, Scatophaya stcrcoraria, 



JJb2 



