SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



3* 



COLLECTING OX WHEELS. 



i;-, Harry Moore. 



A T daybreak, on August 20th, 1893, my brother 

 1 and I arrived at Dieppe, for a bicycle tour 

 across France to Geneva. Knowing that our road 

 would lead us through valleys and over hill, 

 mountain and plain, where, under a warmer sun, 

 we should meet with things rare or unknown in 

 our own sea-girt isle, I resolved to make a few 

 notes day by day as we went along. Butterflies and 

 grasshoppers were the great attraction. I was 

 specially desirous of making observations on the 

 distribution, scarcity or abundance, of Colias edusa, 

 and certain of the Vanessidae, as this was a subject 

 of some interest at home; but, above all, I wanted 

 a little field work with that pretty orthopteron 

 QZdipoda fasciatum (Fisch). In short, we both 

 anticipated a good time, and truth to tell we had 

 such. Cyclists " travel light," consequently we 

 had little space for entomological gear ; a pocket 

 net, cyanide-bottle, a few boxes and a supply of 

 ready-folded papers, constituted the whole outfit. 

 I ought to have had a stick for the net, but it was 

 not a convenient thing to carry. Very little serious 

 collecting was possible, only what might be by 

 the roadside, when we rested for a few minutes — 

 nothing more — save once. 



Dieppe was but four miles behind us, when our 

 attention was drawn, at about four o'clock in the 

 morning, to a swarm of large insects flying round a 

 tall poplar, one of a long row. They were hornets 

 (Vespacrabro) gathering fibre off the ivy stems. There 

 were hundreds of them, and numbers of wasps 

 were so engaged. Sometimes the hornets fought 

 among themselves in the air, and then with the 

 wasps. We saw hornets frequently during our 

 journey, but never again in any numbers ; perhaps 

 because we were not on the road early enough. 

 We killed three and missed several others, when 

 we thought it prudent to move on in case of 

 forming their closer acquaintance. The day was 

 not a good one for collecting — too boisterous. 

 White butterflies (Picris brassica, rapes and napi) 

 were numerous, rapes especially. Lyccena Icarus 

 and L. astrarche, mostly much worn. Ccenonympha 

 pamphilus, plentiful. Thecla w-album, a few between 

 Neufchatel-en-Bray and Serqueux. Quite a number 

 of larva? of Smerinthus popuh were seen on the road 

 as we went along, having been blown down by the 

 wind. We kept a look-out for cdusa, but saw none. 

 From Gournay to Mantes one has to work hard at 

 the best of times ; wind, rain and mud added to 

 the exercise. Between Gournay and Gisors we 

 saw few insects, save white butterflies and wasps, 

 which seem to brave all weathers. Near Bordeaux- 



de-St. Clair I took a number of grasshoppers. 

 Stenobothrus bicolor, S. rufipes, S. parallelus, and a 

 solitary Tettix bipunctata. At La Chapelle we saw 

 numbers of apple-trees covered with a heavy crop 

 of mistletoe, a novelty to my brother ; but a 

 familiar sight for some days afterwards, when we 

 noted it growing on poplar and what appeared to 

 be a lime-tree near Genlis. Experience quickly 

 taught us it was useless to expect a good eating- 

 apple where the parasite was present. 



At Mantes I felt myself at home again. Madame 

 was just as affable, but Mademoiselle had grown 

 old enough to be bashful. The Seine here is very 

 pretty, and down by the bridge one can enjoy 

 either a chat or a smoke after a hard day's 

 ride. Here we crossed my old route. The 

 way we had come was pretty enough, but not 

 particularly interesting, and certainly not over 

 good for collecting. The hills have to be ridden, 

 while via Rouen and the valley of the Seine you 

 ride between them. Riders with nets in their 

 pockets would do well to bear this in mind — 

 besides, the museums at Rouen are worth visiting, 

 to say nothing of the Cathedral and various 

 ancient buildings replete with historical interest. 



Between Mantes and Richebourg we saw several 

 Vanessa atalanta, Satyrus semele, Pararge megara, 

 Lyccena bellargus, and L. icarus — with numerous 

 white butterflies, of course. At Septeuil, I took 

 Stenobothrus bicolor and S. parallelus. Near St. Leger- 

 en-Yvelines, 115 miles from the coast, we saw 

 our first yellow butterfly (Colias hyale). From 

 St. Arnoult to Dourdan I had a walk of some five 

 miles, owing to the chain of my bicycle working 

 loose. We dined late that day, arriving by moon- 

 light. From Dourdan to Montargis was eventful ; 

 we were now south of Paris, and a southern fauna 

 began to appear. Before reaching Etampes we 

 saw the first specimen of Satyrus briscis, Linn, 

 which, though common in parts of central southern 

 Europe, is, I believe, unknown north of this locality. 

 The distinguishing feature of this part of our ride 

 was the extraordinary abundance of grasshoppers 

 (S. bicolor). For some miles they rose from the 

 road at our approach, and left the wheels like the 

 spray of water. At first it appeared as if they 

 were regaling themselves on the horse-droppings, 

 which was the case where possible, but closer 

 attention failed to find a satisfactory explanation 

 for their roadside proclivities. Upon leaving 

 Etampes we fortunately took the wrong road. Two 

 kilos out, we found ourselves on a first-rate collect- 

 ing ground, in the midst of several interesting 



