248 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



cotton grass made large patches as white as 

 snow. Osmwida B,egaUs grew here and there 

 luxuriantly. Then large tracts of heath were 

 passed, giving rich masses of colour to the 

 landscape. But although the sun was bright 

 and warm, the paucity of Lepidoptera was 

 remarkable, only a very few of the commonest 

 species, such as P. rapce, P. napi„ B..janira, 

 and an occasional V. urticcB, occurred during 

 a drive of eleven miles over a most varied 

 country. 



Porthgwarra, our home for a few weeks, is 

 a most charming little fishing village. Its 

 miniature bay or cove is hemmed in on each 

 side with huge masses of granite rock piled 

 up in the most wonderful and extraordinary 

 manner, and the rugged, wild, and majestic 

 granite cliffs from here to Land's End Point 

 are the grandest rock scenery to be seen on 

 any part of this bold Cornish coast. To stand 

 on these cliffs and gaze down hundreds of 

 feet into the boiling, surging waves, whose 

 white spray is being dashed high in the air, 

 is indeed an impressive sight, not readily 

 forgotten, and in itself worth travelling so 

 many miles to witness. 



The weather for the first week after our 

 arrival was most unpropitious for entomolo- 

 gical work, wind, rain, or sea-fog prevailing, 

 that collecting was almost impossible. A 

 search in the fox-glove flowers produced a 

 fair lot of E. pulchellata larvse, but I could 

 not find a trace of Jasionata, although possi- 

 bly too early for this species. Thistle and 

 burdock had a lot of larvae of V. carded (1 

 had never seen it feeding on burdock before), 

 and the nettle leaves showed plenty of larvge 

 of V. atalanta. 



The weather improving, I tried the effects 

 of sugar. In the absence of trees or wood 

 fences, the only available medium to sugar 

 were blocks of lichen-covered granite, and 

 these I did over what looked a promising 

 round. For result I saw two NoctusB, N. 

 f estiva (small, inclining to conjlua form), 

 and one Folyodon ; whilst mothing at flight 



produced one E. absinthiata and one E. 

 pumilata, C. hilineata being the only moth 

 that showed up as common. The granite 

 blocks were not good to sugar on — 

 they condensed the moisture of the atmos- 

 phere too readily, becoming wet ; so the next 

 fair evening tried to sugar a round of flowers 

 — wild carrot, ragwort, &c. — but again the 

 result was meagre in the extreme, only 

 oculea, pronuba, orhoiia, hlanda, and polyo- 

 don, put in an appearance, a plebeian com- 

 pany truly. With more cheerful weather 

 the second week of my stay, a trip over the 

 cliffs bright with the bloom of Erica tetralix, 

 E. cincerca, and caZ^w??^, which was just show- 

 ing for flower, L. cegon (the only blue I saw 

 during my staj ), was common, H. semele, S, 

 titlionus were plentiful, with a few P.phleas 

 and Megcera. A. aglaia by no means rare, 

 but it was flying rapidly over rugged ground, 

 which made its capture difficult, in fact, 

 dangerous work, as to run meant a probable 

 ugly fall. M. steUatarum was busy at the 

 thistle flowers ; a few P. cingulalis and ces- 

 pitalis were captured, and two or three 

 common Crambce ; T. filipendulce was fljing, 

 but in nothing like the numbers one sees on 

 the chalk hills of Kent and Surrey; these 

 cliff rambles were most enjoyable from the 

 glorious surroundings, but one's collecting 

 box showed very badly at the day's end. One 

 perfect summer's day, hot and light wind, 

 we went to Land's End Point, returning over 

 the cliff. Ihis trip ought to have produced 

 something good, as we passed over most 

 promising looking ground, but the only 

 insect seen, not previously mentioned in my 

 list, was C. Edusa, two specimens were flying 

 near the sea, one of which I captured as an 

 early example of Edusa, it being July lith, 

 which is certainly an unusual date for fresh 

 specimens, and it was evidently very recently 

 from pupa. 



The cliffs from Land's End Point to Porth- 

 gwarra are the breeding place for thousands 

 of sea fowl, several species of gull, cormorant, 



