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THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



[October 



The natives, amongst other things, make baskets and ropes out of the 

 dried leaves. Owing, however, to the fearfully hot sun, the insects 

 « ere very wild and their capture was a matter of great difficulty even in 

 the early morning. We beat a great many out, but took only a very few 

 of them. The larger ones were especially provoking. They came out 

 with a whizz, and were off before a movement could be made to secure 

 them. I missed the beautiful Ophiodes tirrhcea of the South of France and 

 Algeria in this way, much to my disgust. Pievis daplidice was principally 

 taken on the mountain sides ; it was much commoner than " brassicaa," 

 and almost as common as " rapae." Lycama bcetica was exceedingly 

 difficult to capture. In its rapid and uncertain flight its blueish- 

 grey tint fitted in with the dazzling light of the sun and the grey 

 crumbling ground, and it was well nigh impossible to capture, more 

 especially as it was generally abundant on mountain sides almost as 

 steep as the side of a house, where pursuit was an absolute impossibility. 

 Polyonnuatus phlaas abounded, as did Colias edusa in certain places. The 

 former is a rather finer insect than with us, befng larger and 

 darker, and I fancy also that what I shall unscientifically call the tail, 

 is somewhat more accentuated than with our British species. I 

 captured a very small C. edusa in a valley by itself, and did not see a 

 single other specimen anywhere in the neighbourhood, which struck me 

 as being rather curious. Satyvus janira, which is somewhat different to 

 ours, I only saw in one locality, but there it was abundant. Satynis 

 agevia, the underside of which is slightly different to ours, was principally 

 found in the gardens. Deiopeia pidchella I found resting on a rock, 

 surrounded by the sea, one day when I was out bathing. Regarding 

 the GeometrcE, their scarcity was really remarkable. My friend took, I 

 think, two small Acidalia. He also took one or two of the Micro 

 lepidoptera, Avhich were also very scarce. In addition to the species I 

 have mentioned, we saw, but failed to catch, Macvoglossa stellatavum ; a 

 clearwing with which I w T as unacquainted, and many noctuae, which, as 

 I previously mentioned, had so rapid a flight that we were only able 

 to guess at their colouring and form. 



My friend, I may also mention, captured Vanessa atalanta, which 

 differed in no way from our own specimens. Taking one thing 

 with another, my collection of lepidoptera was not as good as I 

 hoped it would be, but it must be borne in mind that we were only there 

 ten days, that it was one of the driest times of the year, that we were 

 only able to visit one side and only part of the interior of the island, 

 that we were totally ignorant of the habits of the Canary lepidoptera, and 

 totally ignorant, also, of the best places to visit. Before quitting 

 the lepidoptera, I would like to mention that the only larvae 

 we found were half-a-dozen of the noctuae on the maidenhair, which we 

 were unable to rear, and one large (noctuae), which I picked up in a dusty 



