300 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 
the service of a little boy. It will be recollected that the road runs in 
front of the woodcut, that there are but three pieces of the tree now 
standing, that the two seen in the cut are supposed to have once been 
united, and, with the third and several other pieces, now destroyed, to 
have formed one huge tree. Without forming an opinion on the portions 
that I have not seen, I may say that it does not appear altogether im- 
probable that the two portions seen in the figure were once united, but 
the third portion is most certainly a separate tree. The height of the 
ground on which they stand is about 4,000 feet above the sea. 
Catania was reached the same evening by train in an hour anda 
half from Giarre, and a week was most pleasantly spent in this de- 
lightful city. The collection of Natural History of Professor Aradas 
was often visited ; it was very rich in shells, especially of native species. 
It also contained some fine specimens of fossil vertebrate remains from 
the caves of Sicily, and some magnificent samples of native minerals. 
Dredging was found very unprofitable near the harbour, owing to the 
great masses of lava which spread out for a considerable distance into 
the sea. Near the mouth of the River Simothus, the bottom of the 
sea consisted of a dark mud brought down the slopes from Etna; but 
the fertile lands (Campi Leontini) on either side of the river, from 
which heavy crops of wheat and barley had just been garnered, were 
good collecting grounds for insects and birds. Now and then there was 
in the heat of the day, and also towards sunset, a heavy, oppressive 
smell from this ground, and we thought it better to take the precau- 
tion of taking a few grains of quinine “each morning before going off 
to our hunting-places. 
On the morning of the 6th, about six o’clock, we left for Nicolosi. 
The road ascends the whole way up the slope of Mount Etna, and its 
beauties are too well known to be again described. As we approached 
the little village of Torre de Girifo, the rich fields of flowers end the 
patches of pistachio and dwarf oak trees looked so tempting that we 
were forced to stop and make trial of our future collecting grounds. The 
sun was bright, every now and then shaded over by light white fleecy 
clouds; the coolness of the morning was still over the mountain’s side ; 
large tree-like shrubs of Genista etnensis festooned the green of the pis- 
tachio and oak trees with spiays of golden-coloured flowers; Papilio 
machaon, Pieris daplidice, and Melanargia galathea were alighting every- 
where on the flowers. Gonepteryx cleopatra was darting about here and 
there, ever in the way; while such species as Polyommatus alexis, P. 
medon, Chrysophanus thersamon, Pamphila linea, P. acteon, and Spilo- 
thyrus marrubi absclutcly swarmed. An hour’s collecting showed 
us that individuals abounded, but that species were somewhat rare. 
Arriving at Nicolosi, we first paid our respects to Sig. Gemmellaro, the 
survivor of the brothers Gemmellaro, whose exertions have done so 
much to elucidate the lava currents of Mount Etna, and who still takes 
care of the ‘‘ Casa Inglese ;”’ then we wandered all about the village, 
ascended and descended into the craters of the Monti Rossi. Syntomes 
phegea, Zygena erythrus, Z. punctum, Sesia philanthiformis, and 8, 
