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Notes on the Lepidoptera inhabiting Rosshire. — Wishing to learn something of 

 tho Insect Fauna of the North of Scotland, I, in the beginning of June, 1868, 

 transferred my Lares and Penates (to wit, nets, setting-boards, et id genus omne) 

 to the picturesque parish of Contin, in the county of Ross ; and pitched ray tent 

 beside the birch-clad rock of Tor Achilty. Before beginning an enumeration of 

 the Lepidoptera observed, a few words on the character of the country may not bo 

 out of place, besides being of use to any future explorer. Taking the picturesque 

 little Loch Achilty as a convenient centre, we find a series of rocky heath-covered 

 hills sloping down on all sides to the lake. These hills are nearly to their summits 

 clad with bii-ch forests, but one, from its numerous oak trees, is appropriately named 

 " the rock of the oaks," (Craig Darroch). To the north and south of the Loch run 

 the rivers Conan and Blackwater, bordered by hills of the same nature as those 

 surrounding the Lake. Nine miles to the north-east of Achilty lies the great dome- 

 shaped mass of Ben Wyvis (" the extraordinary Mountain"), famed for being one 

 of the few mountains in Britain that always possesses snow. Altogether the 

 scenery is among tho best in Scotland, and good scenery I think enhances con- 

 siderably the pleasures of collecting. Few things are more enjoyable than tho 

 *' pipe " while watching the hills getting bluer and bluer in the twilight, and the 

 shades of night slowly enveloping the sugared trees, while one thinks of all the 

 rare beauties fast flying to the treacherous feast. The soil of the district is very 

 sandy and rocky, and the climate dry and noted for its remarkable mildness. I 

 was told by a French botanical friend that the place greatly resembled in appear- 

 ance the Forest of Fontainebleau, a fact, which taken in connection with the 

 occurrence of certain insects here and with the character that Mr. Stainton gives 

 of Fontainebleau, is rather curious. What Mr. Stainton remarks in the " Annual " 

 for 1868, is to the following effect : " that Fontainebleau, with its sandy soil and 

 numerous rocks, is a particularly warm locality and that some insects occur here which 

 are not again met with till the collector has proceeded 250 miles further towards the 

 south." The insects I refer to are Acronycta megacephala, Macaria notata, &c., which 

 seem to be found from the south nearly to the north of England, appearing again 

 here in the north of Scotland, without (as far as our knowledge extends) inhabiting 

 any intermediate localities. In connection with the appearance here of southern 

 species, I may mention that I found, among plants, Rhamnus frangula, hitherto a 

 doubtful native of Scotland (recorded from Ayrshire), and Fumaria hihemica, not I 

 believe recorded from any locality in Britain north of Derbyshire ; and among land 

 Mollusca, Helix aculeata, Zonites excavatus, Pupa ringens, &c., none of which were 

 supposed to occur so far noi-th in Britain. 



Sugar proved very successful, especially in June (Mr. T. Blackburn's untiring 

 energy contributing greatly to this desirable result, while his pleasant company 

 enlivened the time when waiting for the darkness that luowZdnoi come). Altogether 

 59 species of Noctuina visited the sugar, as well as 13 other species of Lepidoptera 

 (including Orgyia antiqua entangled by the wings). I also noticed a squirrel one 

 day paying attention to the old sugar. Honeysuckle and heather blossom produced 

 many species, and the burrows of the goat moth a few. 



In the following Ust I have mentioned every species (to the end of the Tort-dcina) , 

 as few, if any, of the insects of this northern county have been recorded previously : 

 the Diumi and Nocturni are few in number as compared with succeeding groups. 



