GENERAL NOTES. 
143 
There is but one monastery at How-lik, a large Buddhist establishment perched on a 
terrace in the midst of the wood in a gap of the hills, and at a height of perhaps a thousand feet, 
the hills and wood rising some hundreds of feet higher. The adjoining country is very hilly, 
especially at Shui-hing, but there are no summits much over three thousand feet in height. The 
path along the bank leading up from Lok-yum to the monastery is nicely shaded by shrubs and 
trees on either side for about a mile from the river bank, a few of the trees being really large 
specimens ; there is also a fair amount of undergrowth and flowering plants along the bank for 
nearly half the distance : the rest of the way is rather bare until the How-lik wood itself is reached, 
some five or six miles inland from the river. 
The Lo-fou hills, about sixty miles E. of Canton and some 20 miles N.N.E. from Shek- 
lung form a rather extensive and somewhat isolated granitic mountain mass for the most part bare 
of trees, but covered with long coarse grass and herbage. Nearly a dozen Buddhist and Taoist 
monasteries lie scattered along the southern, eastern and north slopes—some just at the base 
between the spurs, others at varying heights up to about 800 ft., except the temple at Put-wan-tsze 
(now in a ruinous condition and uninhabited) at a height of 3,500 ft. Around all these temples, 
except Put-wan-tsze, are woods of more or less extent, usually filling the sides and bottom of large 
ravines down which one or more streams flow. Few of the trees are of any considerable size except 
some of the firs at two or three of the monasteries, but compared to the usual S. China country 
the Lo-fou district is well wooded with small and moderate-sized trees of many species, and the 
small and monotonous fir of most S. China hills is replaced by two or three much finer trees. 
There is also a fine growth of flowering shrubs and plants and other undergrowth. 
The top of the Lo-fou mass is very extensive and on the average perhaps 3,500 ft. in. 
height, with many hummocks rising higher in all directions, one attaining upwards of 4,000 ft. In 
company with Mr. F. Muir of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Assoc. Experiment Station I visited 
these hills in the latter part of October, 1906, but we found that from an entomological point of 
view we were rather late in the season. Though October is undoubtedly the best autumn month 
for insects as a whole on the coast, at Lo-fou the very numerous flowering shrubs, trees and plants 
were most of them already in fruit; probably April and May in the spring and August and 
September in the autumn would be the best months for insects at Lo-fou-shan. However, Mr. 
Muir, who worked all Orders except Lepidoptera, found many species which he had not taken at 
Hongkong and the coast region—amongst them an interesting green mantis with pointed eyes and 
large markings on the tegmina, and pink wings, belonging to the Harpagidce , which was common 
on the flowering plants, resting conspicuously on the upperside of the blooms. It is a smaller 
species than the common green mantis of Hongkong, and unlike the latter usually sought to escape 
capture by flight. The Hongkong species (Hierodula saussureii) w r e did not see at all. Mr. 
Muir also specially noted amphibious Neuroptera and Syrphid flies as being numerous, and we 
obtained many interesting Diptera and Bymenoptera. Beetles were scarce. 
As regards Lepidoptera I found three or four species of Lyccenidce new to the Hong¬ 
kong list, two species of Arhopala being very common, one of them A. rama ; and on the 
summit near Ku-u-toi (3,700 ft.) a large and handsomely-marked Satyrid which appeared to be 
