J64 



The Naturalist, 



the hope of seeing a specimen in the act of oviposition, and securing 

 eggs, but although I carefully examined the sprigs of thyme on which 

 females had alighted, I never succeeded in finding any eggs. 



In addition to Avion, Alexis and Agestis were both common, as was 

 also Acidalia oniata, and Limacodes testudo, and Platyptevyx unguicula 

 flew swiftly about among the beech trees. Insects as a rule, however, 

 were very scarce, and nothing worth mention was obtained by beating. 



In the course of three hours spent in the new locality I netted 

 about forty specimens of Arion, but as several of them were worn or 

 chipped I set them at liberty. Notwithstanding this I found by 2-30 

 p.m. I had more than thirty beautiful specimens safely pinned 

 in my box, and as by this time, after five hours' hard work in an 

 almost tropical sun, I felt tolerably used up, I decided to move on 

 into the nearest village about a mile away to the west, where my 

 companion and our carriage had already preceded me. After an 

 excellent lunch, to which we did full justice, and a pipe, we returned 

 to the Arion locality, but as it was then nearly 4 p.m. I only secured 

 two or three more specimens that day. On the following morning, 

 bearing in mind the old proverb about the early bird and the worms, 

 I was on the ground by 9 a.m., and in the course of two hours netted 

 over two dozen specimens of Arion, several of which, however, I set 

 at liberty. By 11 o'clock the heat had become so intense that all 

 the Arion had disappeared, and although in the early morning they 

 had been comparatively common, yet after this hour I vainly sought 

 for a specimen. 



One noticeable peculiarity about the Arion from this district was, 

 the very small size of many of the specimens, nearly a third of those 

 I captured being far below the average size, and several of them were 

 not larger than Alexis. I did not find the small form confined to one 

 sex, nor to any particular portion of the district, and I not un- 

 frequently captured a male of the small form in copula with a female 

 of the larger form, and a male of the latter form in copuld with a 

 female of the former. 



Having secured a good series of Arion in the course of my two 

 days' collecting, and being anxious to spare this local species as much 

 as possible, I determined not to spend a third day on the same 

 ground, so having packed up my bag and secured a conveyance, I 

 Teturned to head-quarters in the afternoon, thoroughly pleased with 

 the beautiful scenery of the hills and the result of my expedition. 



On the following morning I started alone for a new district, some 

 fifteen miles to the south-west, where my correspondent had informed 



