NOTES ON COLLECTING. 105 
though it will be well remembered for the long spell of magnificent 
weather, was preceded by a spring cold and wet, when little could be 
accomplished by the lepidopterist. Phigalia pedaria and Hybernia 
marginaria appeared about their usual date, however, as on February 
25th I picked up both in Cadder Wilderness, and on March 4th, from 
several fs of the latter, I obtained a beautiful very dark almost -anellamatig 
aberration at Johnstone. This dark form is not uncommon in the 
Paisley district. Larentia multistrigaria was out on March 11th, a fine 
specimen being taken from a wall at Milngavie. On the 15th, the 
first specimen of Hupithecia helveticaria emerged.in my breeding cage, 
and continued to come out intermittently till May 12th, the majority 
of the specimens being of var. arceuthata. On May 18th I obtained 
Tephrosia bistortata at rest, on a larch in Glen Falloch, it being the 
only species of lepidoptera observed that day, as rain fell almost 
incessantly, and a bitterly cold wind was sweeping down the glen. 
Mr. Anderson Fergusson and I found, to our discomfort, that we were 
stranded there for the whole day, there being no return train till the 
evening. We, however, laboured away through all the rain, in search 
of Coleoptera and were very successful, but we were pretty specimens 
on reaching home. On June 10th I went to Arrochar for Scopula 
decrepitalis, 1t was, however, disappointingly scarce, as only some seven 
or eight fell to the net. I should have obtained many more, but the 
wind being high they were carried out of reach before I could strike, 
and an outflanking movement was quite out of the question, owing to 
the huge boulders and deep brackens scattered over the portion of the 
hillside on which I was collecting. Several Melanippe tristata, Coremia 
spadicearia, and Panayra petraria were taken, and a single type of 
Eupithecia seabiosata, but the capture of the day was a fine aberration 
of Brenthis selene. The specimen is unusually dark on the upper 
surface, while on the underside, around the transverse series of spots 
parallel to the hind margin of the posterior wing, there is a suffusion 
of black scales, which almost entirely obliterates the spots, with the 
exception of the two central ones placed in the yellow area, these black 
scales are also repeated at the apex of the anterior wings. An after- 
noon at Gourock, on the 17th, produced Larentia salicata, Fupithecia 
satyrata var. callunaria, EF’. nanata, Mivodia schulziana, and Dicrorampha 
herbosana in some numbers. On the 24th I was at Lamineton, but 
the only lepidoptera seen in abundance were the Pierids and Coenon- 
ympha pamphilus. An evening at Crookstow, on July 7th, found Plusia 
testucae, Apamea basilinea, and Hepialus velleda common, and a single 
specimen of HMupithecia pygmacata; on the 8th, Satyrus semele, and 
Polyommatus icarus were out 1 abundance at Irvine, and a single 
specimen of Anerastia lotella was captured. My holidays were spent 
at Barr village, south Ayrshire, during the last fortnight of July. The 
weather throughout was excessively hot, leaden grey skies and the 
atmosphere very fiery. Insects are like human beings, I think, and in 
weather of this nature they apparently have no inclination to exert 
themselves. I never saw the Rhopalocera so abundant before, 
however. In the moist hollows on the parched and dry hillsides, 
Polyommatus icarus, Pieris napt, and Epinephele janira, when disturbed, 
would flutter out from amongst the rushes literally in dozens. P. 
napt interested me most, as I am always on the look out for aberrations. 
I obtained one 2? with the yellow of the underside of a decidedly 
