iSgi.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



47 



coast to that loveliest of Sutherland Straths — Strathnover ; but the 

 wet weather made collecting impossible. Driving along, the only 

 insects to be seen were the wasps and bees, with an occasional Small 

 Tortoiseshell butterfly flitting about the roadside thistles, which a blink 

 of sunshine enticed from its retreat. This species seemed a little 

 smaller than the usual southern type. From Bettyhili I travelled on 

 to Tongue — one of the most beautiful spots in Scotland, and crossed 

 the romantic Kyle of Tongue, rowed by the most intelligent and 

 courteous of ferrymen, into Melness, where I spent a week with some 

 relatives. Here I had no better luck, the heather and moss being 

 constantly dripping with the rain. Having some friends staying in 

 the heart of the great Reay forest, I drove up Loch Hope side, then 

 through bonnie Strathmore to the head of Glen Gollie— one of the 

 most inaccessable and lonely places in the Highlands. I stayed two 

 days at Gobernuishgach, a very pretty place, with a terrible name. In 

 Glen Gollie I saw a few Cidaria testata and immannta, but tliey were 

 quite useless as cabinet specimens. C. didymata was here very common, 

 the type being very pretty, and much darker than tlie soutliern form. 

 I could see nothing else in the way of Lepidoptcva in these regions. At 

 dusk. Lord Manners came from the forest with a fine, large stag 

 which he had stalked, and it was a picturesque sight to see the party 

 returning, with the trophy strapped over the horse's back, and the 

 stalwart keeper and ghillies in attendance. x\fter two days' pleasant 

 stay at Gober, I returned to Melness by way of Strathmore, and found 

 the heather literally swarming with tlie larvs of Bomhyx nihi, K\\ the 

 way from Dun-dornadilla (the fmest example of a round tower in 

 Britain), past Ben Hope to Hope Lodge, tlie larvae of this insect was 

 to be seen plentifully. I collected a number of them, v/hich I sent to 

 Miss Prescott Decie, of Tenbury, and it would be interesting to know 

 if that lady succeeded in rearing them, and if so, was the imago similar 

 to the usual type ? The larvae of Spilosonia fuliginosa were also to be 

 occasionally met with, and also a few of Satiiniia cavpiiii and Boiuhyx 

 querms, or calliincp, perhaps, would be more correct. Two species of 

 coleoptera were to be met everywhere on the Sutherland roads — 

 Geotropus vevnnlis and Carahus violaceous. They were constantly in 

 evidence. 



My experience of the last two autumns shows that insect collecting 

 in Sutherland is unprofitable at the end of August and in September. 



