INTEODUCTION. 
xxxiii 
was uneventful, and the results did not repay me for the discomforts 
encountered, owing to the cholera and having to live almost entirely on 
Japanese food. The best localities were the neighbourhood of Nagahama 
on Lake Biwa, Tsuruga on the sea-coast, Kanazawa in Kaga, and Fushiki. 
I should have done far better if I had settled for a month in a good collecting- 
place among the mountains of Central or N. W. Japan. 
The 5th of August found me at Hakodate, in the Island of Yesso. I at 
once proceeded to Lake Konuma, a short day's journey. This proved to 
be a beautiful collecting-place. There is a comfortable tea-house on the side 
of the lake, surrounded by forests composed of a great variety of trees and 
traversed in every direction by paths, and the mountain Koma-ga-take within 
easy reach. After a short stay I proceeded to Nemoro, on the east coast of 
Yesso, by sea ; this proved a disappointing place for Lepidoptera, so I con- 
tinued my journey in a small steamer to the Kurile Islands, visiting Shikotan, 
Iterup, and Urup. The entomological fauna of those islands proved very 
poor, and collecting there was arduous work, owing to the islands being 
almost entirely covered with a dense growth of trackless bamboo-grass ; they 
are only inhabited by a few Ainus and colonies of Japanese, who spend part 
of the summer in fishing for salmon, of which there are almost incredible 
numbers. After the oil has been extracted from the fish in presses, the 
remains are used for manuring the rice-fields of Central Japan. A certain 
quantity of the fish is also smoked or canned for food. 
Returning to Nemoro I made my way, mostly overland, to Hakodate. 
Taking another flying visit to Lake Konuma, I left Yesso and took ship for 
Sendai, on the east coast of Japan ; from there I worked my way overland to 
Yokohama, arriving at my destination at the end of September; here I 
found niy assistant, Mr. Smith, awaiting me. He had spent August and 
September collecting in the Fuji-yama and Nikko districts with considerable 
success. 
After a few days I left Yokohama and spent three weeks on the usual 
tourist routes. Up to this time my travels had been through districts seldom 
or never traversed by Europeans, and I was not long in finding out the 
difference in treatment and prices from what I had been accustomed to up till 
