CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 53 



the winds. There were days, and weeks of days, when not an insect was 

 upon the wing; and if any butterflies or raoths were beaten out of their 

 snug retreats, one had but a moment's chance of capturing them. They 

 were either netted at once — which happened seldom — or were swept help- 

 less away on a wild course, which, since Arran is an island, would surely 

 land them — if one may venture so to put it — in the sea; and when, bv 

 some rare benignity of Nature, the sun did show himself, and the winds 

 were laid so that one could be abroad, and yet breathe regularly, it seemed 

 tobealtogether incongruous and almost profane — like whistling on a Sundav 

 — to go with a net to catch butterflies. And the fishing in the streams, and 

 in the sea when it was safe to venture out, was so good that many days were 

 given to it which, had they been otherwise used, might have added much 

 to a meagre list of captures. But when trout are rising, or when saithe 

 and big lythe are on the take, there are flies, other than Rhopalocera, that 

 have an engrossing interest. Sugar was a total failure until the end 

 of September. Such moths as were out preferred the flowers of the 

 ragwort, of which there was more than could be worked. Bennan does not 

 lend itself to sugaring. There are no trees upon its wind-swept heights; 

 there are no palings, and the field fences are chiefly made of old telegraph- 

 wire, concerning which the only recommendation that the collector can 

 discover is, that here a little sugar goes a long way; and the scanty 

 supports, put up with evident reluctance, as if the "hang" of the thing 

 was of little account, were a few hedge-stakes, more than sufficientlv tarred, 

 or a bar or two of iron that could carry nothing rustier than itself. But 

 there were some grand old boulders upon the beach, and some old gate-posts 

 showing the rough dressing of the Stone Age, and these — notwithstanding 

 their venerable antiquity — were sugared; so was a barn-door that was 

 handy, but, although it got the first touch of the brush, and was always 

 looked at last, it was not hit oS". There never was a Noc-tua at that door. 

 Rhopalocera : — Pieris hrasdcce, a few on the wing, the larvae swarming in 

 the kale-yard and in the turnip-fields. P. napi, common. Colias edusa, 

 as has already been recorded, was seen and captured close to Bennan, un- 

 happily not by the writer. Of Argynnis aglaia about a dozen were seen, 

 and four were taken, but they were faded and worn. Vanessa urticce, com- 

 mon, richer in colouring than southern specimens. V. atalanta and F. 

 cardui, two newly-emerged examples of each taken late in September. 

 Satyrus semele was everywhere on the cliffs, and almost as common as Epi- 

 nephele janira. Erebia cBthiops and Ccenonym.pha typhon, although searched 

 for, were not met with ; verv likely they were not looked for soon enough. 

 C. pamphilus was far from being common, and the Lycaenidse had as repre- 

 sentatives only Polyommatus phlceas, very common in September, and three 

 specimens of Lyccena icarus. Heterocera : — Whenever there was a glint 

 of sunshine, CharcBas graminis darted here and there over the heather, — 

 oftener there than here, — so that it was no easy matter to catch it. On the 

 moor, in the afternoon, Cidaria testata swarmed ; it might have been taken 

 by hundreds. The heather yielded up Noctua glareosa (1), Melanippe 

 hastata (1), and many examples of Cidaria fulvata and Ypsipetes sordidata. 

 Eighty larvae of Bombyx ruhi were taken on the heath, and one larva of 

 Trachea piniperda resting on bracken — a wanderer, no doubt, from some 

 neighbouring fir tree. On the ragwort flowers there were got Leucania 

 pallens and D. littoralis. one only of each. Hydracia nictitans and H. 

 micacea, common. Apamea ociilea, abundant and variable. Miana strigilis, 

 M.furuncula. Caradrina quadripunctata, very common. Agrotis tritici, 



