March, 1881.1 
217 
Til 1 C1L O PTE 11 A AND 
JSEVROPTERA OF THE 
IN AUGUST. 
UPPER ENGADINE 
BY R. McLACIJLAN, F.R.S., &c. 
In the “Entomologist’s Annual” for 1871, pp. 15—17, 1 published 
a few notes on Swiss Trichoptera , some of which related to materials 
collected by Mr. Stainton in the Engadine in 1870. At that time the 
hope that I might some day go over the same ground scarcely existed 
with me. However, on August 6th, 1880, I left home at 8 a.m. for 
the Engadine, and travelling direct via Boulogne, Paris, Belfort, and 
Basle, arrived at Zurich at 12.30 p.m. on the 7th. Leaving Zurich on 
the morning of the 9th, I was at Chur in the afternoon of the same 
day. Having posted my portmanteau for Pontresina, I walked on to 
Churwalden in the evening, and slept there, joining the diligence 
party at 8.30 next morning,* for the Engadine via the Albula Pass. 
The burning of the old bridge over the Ehine at Eeichenau, which oc- 
curred a day or two previously, probably diverted, for the moment, 
some of the traffic over the Julier Pass via Thusis, so that from 
Churwalden to Samaden (within three miles of Pontresina) the 
travellers formed quite a large party, accommodated in two large 
diligences and three “ supplementaires.” The weather was tolerably 
fine, but cold : snow had fallen the previous night on the Albula Pass, 
and the mountains had a thin covering of fresh snow ; large patches 
of unmelted old snow also lay here and there in hollows far below the 
road, for the summer had not been a warm one in Switzerland. At 
the Albula Hospice (/582 feet) the rush of shivering travellers in 
quest of hot coffee was almost ludicrous. Delay was occasioned in 
waiting for lateral posts, &c., and it was past 9 p.m. before we reached 
Pontresina, where the portmanteau had previously arrived by a night 
post. To my dismay all the hotels were crammed, and any chance of 
obtaining a bed in one of them was hopeless ; not a pleasant prospect 
at that time of night, and especially as I had planned a stay of ten 
days. However, a room in a small house, difficult of access, and still 
more difficult to descend from in the morning, was procured, and here 
I stayed until the 20th, taking meals only in one of the hotels. f 
* By this means the inconvenience of having to leave Chur at 5.30 a.m. was avoided. 
+ The simplicity of the Engadine is a thing of the past. “ Society ” has taken possession of 
the district, at any rate in August, and I more than once heard Pontresina St, Moritz and St 
Moritz Bad likened to Brighton carried into the Alps. At Pontresina 80n beds arc ’now not 
sufficient to accommodate the visitors in August. As a hint to future travellers who (like nivself 
on this oceasiouj may be alone, it is well to say that fair sleeping accommodation may sometimes 
be obtained in houses belonging to a resident who lets out the rooms, and, if it be preferred' 
meals can be obtained in a German restaurant, thus avoiding the hotels altogether In July the 
place is not so full. The Americans, so ubiquitous in the Bernese Oberland, have net yet appeared 
in the Engadine in force. J ' 1 1 
