﻿362 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



William. The weather, which had marked the whole of the 

 summer, was about as wet and cold as a summer could be, but 

 we began without loss of time our raid upon the insects. The 

 evening was so wet that we confined our operations to the garden, 

 where we found Apamea basilinea, A. oculea, Metrocampa marga- 

 ritaria, Abraxas grossulariata, Camptogramma bilineata, Hypena 

 proboscidalis, and Zanclognatha grisealis (nemoralis). 



July 15th. — A fine, warm, sunny day, and we made the most 

 of it. Merionethshire is a land of fritillaries, but, as everyone 

 knows, these butterflies have their haunts. It was too early in 

 the season for Argynnis paphia, but, in an opening in the wood 

 among the Plas grounds, and near the lake, we netted A. selene 

 (worn) and A. aclippe, also Epinephele ianira, and, by beating, Me- 

 lanthia ocellata. A fine dark brown dragonfly, with yellow spots 

 and stripes [Mscliia pratensis), was also taken, but unfortunately 

 the colours of this insect are not permanent, and soon fade after 

 setting. The afternoon was spent on the heath-, fern-, birch-, 

 and oak-covered slopes, which border the ascent to the celebrated 

 Black Falls. All along A. aglaia and A. aclippe — apparently 

 fresh from the chrysalis — were common ; we took a number of 

 each species. Anaitis. plagiata often rose from the heathery 

 banks, and beating about among the tall ferns produced Angerona 

 prunaria. E. ianira, a sort of robin redbreast among butterflies, 

 — for few care to molest it, — was a frequent visitor, and pursued 

 its meditative flight undisturbed. A fine dragonfly, Libellula 

 ccerulescens, rose from the bank, and was promptly stopped. The 

 following is a description : — Head and thorax dark brown, with 

 the usual couple of yellow frontal stripes, and couple of dorsal 

 yellow spots, colours not permanent ; body ample, plum-coloured 

 blue, colours permanent, length ]j in., segmehts~~wilh- black 

 divisions ; wings transparent, nervures black, expanse 2| inches. 

 I see from my notes that the afternoon list ends with G. 

 bilineata, and that its profusion was fearful and wonderful. 

 Evening found us on the Festiniog road watching the honey- 

 suckle bloom on the hedges for a late Chceroca?npa porcellus or 

 C. elpenor. We were unsuccessful, although this is a favourite 

 haunt for both insects. Our captures were Uropteryx sambu- 

 caria, Rumia luteolata (cratcegata) , Boarmia repandata (excep- 

 tionally large and light-coloured), Acidalia aversata, Abraxas 

 grossulariata, Hypsipetes sordidata (elutata, variable as usual), 

 Cidaria populata, Eubolia limitata (mensuraria) , Phalera bucephala, 

 Noctua plecta, Triphcena pronuba, Aplecta nebulosa (all very light 

 forms), Cucullia umbratica (common), Plusia iota, Caradrina 

 cubicularis, and Aphomia colonella. 



July 16th. — A fine morning, spent in setting. We started in 

 the afternoon for the Black Falls, taking on our way Dictyopteryx 

 bergmanniana and Coccyx ustomacidana. A deluge of rain com- 

 pelled us to return home, where we arrived wet through. The 



