i8g 4 .] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



233 



Entomology in the Canaries is attended with a very great amount of 

 exertion, and he must be an enthusiast indeed who can run about all 

 day under a temperature of 130 0 to 135 0 , not on smooth, grassy 

 plains — that is bad enough — but over stubbly ground, strewn with 

 huge boulders, up and down mountain slopes, covered thickly in places 

 with that very unpleasant plant — especially when you have thin 

 clothes on — the great cactus, various species of "Euphorbiae" (amongst 

 others the giant E. Canariensis), the milky juice of which stains your hands 

 and garments, and which treacherously snaps off at the wrong moment 

 if you attempt to catch hold in order to prevent a nasty fall. To add to 

 these inconveniences, you are sometimes compelled to wade knee deep 

 in lava cinders, slipping back two steps to each one forward, and at 

 other times to crawl up smooth blocks of lava, as slippery as glass, 

 with a solitary and rare fig-tree here and there to help you on ; 

 I think therefore it will be admitted that if the sport is interest- 

 ing, the pursuit of it is particularly arduous. I must not forget to 

 mention also that the country being very mountainous, and of 

 volcanic origin, you come unexpectedly upon deep fissures, ravines 

 and precipices, when in pursuit of an insect, to the imminent risk 

 of your neck. 



In general, I noticed that the large gardens which are to be found 

 in the estates of the rich " hidalgos " in the mountains are the best 

 hunting grounds, both for diurnal and nocturnal lepidoptera, especially 

 the latter. The large butterfly, Danais avchippus (Boisduval), 

 delights in settling on the broad leaves of the bananas, abounding 

 in all these fairy-like gardens. The banana, it may be mentioned, 

 is largely grown in and exported from Canary, principally to 

 Liverpool and London. D. Avchippus is a rather difficult fellow' 

 to catch, especially when he settles on these leaves, as you 

 have to creep underneath the tree and net him with a difficult 

 upward stroke. He has a very powerful flight also, and if 

 you once miss him, is off like a shot. One thing I particularly took 

 note of, this insect almost invariably returns to the same spot. It was 

 not very rare in the mountain gardens, but I only saw it once in the 

 open country. Between 7.45 and 8.30 p.m. was undoubtedly the best 

 time to get nocturnge. My friend and myself used to sally out — we 

 were staying at a place called Telde, up in the mountains at the time, 

 — armed with a primitive Spanish lantern (" linterno " they call them), 

 with one of the glass panes broken, and a very sickly-looking candle 

 as the only light. Noctuse abounded at this hour, but the variety 

 was small. They consisted chiefly of various " plusiae." Deilephila 

 Celevio, and D. livovnica were caught on the white larkspur, and most 

 of the nocture also. In the day time the great place to find noctuae 

 in the gardens was under the banana leaves, left in the sun to dry. 



