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THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



inner margin ; or again, deep reddish ochreous forms, and occasionally pale 

 oclireous specimens shading to whitish toward the costa, with or without a 

 longitudinal dark grey streak. The larva of A. ulmata is abundant on the 

 elms in Mr. Oakley's park, in September, in which month too, I found the 

 beautiful larva of C, asteris fairly common on the golden rod) in the woods 

 towards Tan-y-Grisian in 1877 (though I have never succeeded in finding it 

 there since) ; while 0. Uterana occurred among the oaks, and P. caledoniana 

 and aspersana on the heathy glades. 



On Moelwyn I could find no moths more interesting than C. culmellus and 

 inquinatellus, but a weird caw from .the rocks near the summit drew my 

 attention to three choughs, to which I repeatedly got near enough to dis- 

 tinguish their bright red legs and beaks clearly. These were the only speci- 

 mens of this interesting bird seen on this visit, though in former years I have 

 seen considerable flocks of twenty or thirty together in the wild country 

 round Pen-y-Gwrid. 



A walk on the hills toward Portmadoc produced nothing but E. palum- 

 baria, M. galiala, P. palumbella, and a few even commoner species, but I 

 delighted to make the acquaintance of a stag " in velvet." It appears that 

 a few red deer have been turned down on these hills, and live there in a 

 semi-wild state. When I first saw my friend he was lying down, and my 

 attention was drawn to him by a movement of his horns, which in the bright 

 sunshine (it was a fine day for a wonder) looked like dead and weathered 

 heather stems. After a patch of heather has been fired or otherwise killed, 

 the sun and rain soon make the bark peel off leaving a peculiar, greyish 

 white, smooth surface to the branched stems, which glistens in the sun, and 

 can be distinguished at a considerable distance, and if he had not moved, I 

 should certainly have failed to distinguish his antlers from such stems. On 

 seeing him. I got well above him, and to leeward, and creeping over a brow 

 not 150 yards above him, was able clearly to note the soft covering to his 

 horns, before two hinds, which were feeding in a hollow just behind him, 

 caught sight of me, and trotting past him, roused him, and off he went too. 



A day's excursion to the slate mine at Tan-y-Grisian was spoilt for collect- 

 ing by a pitiless downpour of rain, which lasted all day. On one of the 

 slate fences, close to the entrance of the mine, I found a nondescript, uni- 

 colorous, bone-coloured kind of moth, which has puzzled everyone who has 

 yet seen it, one well-known authority being even doubtful whether to refer it 

 to the Nocture or Tortrices. In appearance it is as uninteresting as possible, 

 the most striking feature being an outrageously long abdomen. 



Near the " Oakley Arms Hotel," where as usual they made me most com- 

 fortable with a real home-like welcome, I caught several specimens of 0, 



