IS'ftTES AND OBSERVATIdi^S; 166 



Rhopalocera were by no means unusually scarce I should be glad to 

 hear of any theory to account for the rarity of this species in a district 

 apparently so well fitted for insect life, while in the surrounding districts 

 it appears to have been plentiful, viz., in Cambridgeshire (Entom. xxv. 275), 

 and I have seen a number of specimens from the coast of Suffolk round 

 Aldeburgh.— F. P. Bedford ; 326, Camden Road, N., March 29, 1893. 



Sugaring. — In reference to Mr. Garrow's remark (Entom, 136) as to 

 the failure of sugar on moonlight nights, several times last year I took 

 insects freely at sugar, even when the moon was shining brightly. In 

 July I captured several Leucania turca when the moon (which was nearly 

 full) was shining on the insects as they sat at the sugar. During the last 

 week the Tseniocampidae have visited sallow blossoms in large numbers, 

 with the full moon shining in an absolutely cloudless sky. If they are 

 attracted to sallows, why not to sugar also ? — J. H. D. Bedles ; Kidding- 

 ton Eectory, Woodstock, April 3, 1893. 



Entomology of Grimsey. — The Entomology of the island of Grimsey, 

 situated 12 or 20 miles N. of the north coast of Iceland, and almost oppo- 

 site the Eyjafjorde, has never, so far as I am aware, been investigated. The 

 place is difficult of access, and unvisited by the steamers from Copenhagen 

 that periodically call round the coast of Iceland, and its inhabitants are 

 reported to be rude and barbarous. Unlike the numerous islets and sker- 

 ries that form an archipelago in the immediate neighbourhood of the west 

 coast, Grimsey is sufl&ciently far from the mainland to possibly repay an 

 enterprising naturahst by some characteristic features of its own. The fol- 

 lowing is an extract from a letter of Th. Thoroddsen, the geologist of 

 Iceland, relative to Grimsey : — " Keyhjairh, 2 1st April, 1890. It would 

 be of great interest for the distribution of insects in arctic regions to get 

 some information on the Entomology of Grimsey ; but it is very difficult 

 to get to that island, as the mail steamers do not call there. In the year 

 1884 I was so fortunate that I could visit that island with a Danish man- 

 of-war, but stayed there only a few hours. A letter about my call there is 

 published in ' Nature ' (vol. xxx. 770j. I collected only few plants, which 

 I have given to the Botanic Museum of the University of Copenhagen." 

 The most available means of visiting Grimsey would doubtless be to charter 

 a sailing-boat from Akeneyli, at the southern extremity of the Eyjafjorde, 

 about 30 miles from the Arctic Ocean ; or else to prevail on the captain of 

 the Danish steamer, by offering him a sufficient consideration, to make a 

 short detour, to allow of a few hours' visit to the island, as I imagine it is 

 within his discretion to call at other ports besides those mentioned in the 

 sailing bill. — F. A. Walker. 



A FINE Summer prkdicted. — The following extract is from a letter 

 which appeared in the ' Chester Chronicle ' of March 25th: — "Our es' 

 teemed friend, Admiral Massie, of Chester (he was a midshipman at the 

 battle of Navarino, 1827), frequently calls on me for the ' Weather Record.' 

 On the 21st he paid us a visit, and asked how is the wind and barometei*. 

 I told him the wind at 6.15 a.m. was steady at North-West by North. 

 With a twinkling eye and smiling face he at once corrected me : — ' Nor-rard- 

 West by Nor-rard, nautical phrase, you know.' ' Now then,' said he, ' we 

 are likely to have six months grand weather. Through a cycle of years, 

 if the wind blows steady before, on, and after the 21st, it has indicated good 



