"THE ENTOMOLOGICAL MAGAZINE.
WE trust that there are entomologists sufficient in this country to render due support to this periodical. In one sense, its sphere is narrow—in another, how manifold are its subjects ! There are few more interesting or instructive studies than entomology ; and it has the additional value of being accessible to all. Like botany, its library is in the air, in the fields, open to all the world. It moreover gives a pursuit to many who would otherwise be idle, !.. and fills a scene that might be dull, with perpetual life. They who know the value of a pursuit, never know the listlessness of travel without an object : a pursuit gives a charm to every step of the road, and enables you to overlook privations as well as enjoy pleasures. One of the papers in this work is entitled " An Ento- mological Excursion :" a perusal of it will show how an object will give interest to the dullest • spots, and confer an additional charm on the most lovely. We will quote the proceedings on the 9th of June, when the party ascended Snowdon : it will be seen how a pursuit,besides the one of scenery-hunting, will enable travellers to recompense themselves for a cloudy day.
9th. The party who had.arrived last evening kindly gave us seats in their car- riage from Capel Curia to the Pass of Llanberris. We three naturalists then com- menced the ascent on foot, accompanied by a guide named David Jones, au in- cipient insect-collector of great promise. In the first _quarter of an hour, we had taken. Carabus glabratus and arvensis, Steropus .zEthiops, Lielobia illar- shallana and Gyllenka1ii, Elates cupreus and pectinicornis (the former is in great abundance, both sexes of each.), Teltphorus iEthiops' a Byrrhus appa- rently undescribed, and several other insects we hail neither of us before taken. We now found, by the masses of clouds which rolled in grand and billowy succession down the mountain-side, that we might shortly expect rain : and scarcely had we arrived at this conclusion, when rain, hail, and snow, or a com- pound of the three, began to fall around us in torrents, and very speedily wetted us all to the skin. After deliberately proceeding through this kind of weather, with sundry fills, and divers bruises occasioned thereby, for about an hour and a half, we reached a little stone hovel, erected by the workers of a copper mine as a shelter for themselves and their tools. Here we stood awhile, cold and drenched with wet, and held a consultation or council of war—the usual conse- quence of a defeat. We were three quarters of the way up the mountain ; it continued to rain and hail in torrents; there was no prospect of shelter else- where, whether we proceeded or returned. We had neglected to take with us any spirits, in spite of the advice of the waiter at the inn ; and now we found out our error: for wet, cold, wearied with the long, laborious, and slippery ascent, and sore with repeated fulls, we really seemed to need some renovating influence from within to counteract so many ills from without. To proceed or to return were equally uninviting. Whilst in this state of uncertainty, the rain suddenly ceased. We sallied forth at once, and were unanimous in our determination to proceed. The path was now steep and stony ; the clouds, like huge curtains obeying the impulse of an invisible line, rolled up the mountain-sides in the same majestic manner in which, a short time before, they had descended ; and, throe. an aperture, we gained a glimpse of the country below—crag piled on crag, n. :.spersed with lake and mountain-stream, bathed in sunshine, and alto- gether gloriously glittering with the recent rain. The view was grand, but transitory ; the clouds again rolled down the precipices—the fairy scene was gone—and we reached the summit of Snowdon, enveloped in so thick a cloud that we could scarcely distinguish each other when standing close together. On the flag- staff,. and under stones, we found abundance of Helobia frlarshallana and Patrobus rufipes. The ladies of our party, who had gone on to Llanberris to procure horses, now joined us, to our great gratification ; and kindly supplied us with sandwichei and wine, which we found particularly acceptable. It is a little remarkable, that, in their ascent of the mountain from Llanberris, they had not a single drop of rain. In descending, the Helobice were running about in all directions among. the stones; • but we were too wet and cold to pay much attention to them, especially as our bottles were previously pretty well stored with them. When we had reached some hundreds of yards below the summit, we found the heavy cloud which had enveloped it had completely disappeared, and all above us was clear blue sky. The country below us was 'also visible in places, through openings in the clouds. The green lake, so remarkable, as many of our readers may recol- lect, for its deformed fishes, presented a curious appearance : a stratum of rain- clouds was passing over it, although far below the spot where we stood ; and its whole surface was in a kind of simmer with the heavy rain, at a time when the sky above us was beautifully clear and cloudless. In the Coppermine-lake we exercised our water-net, and took three water-beetles, Hydroporus Darisii, Colfpnbetes fontinalis (a singular variety, without the usual ochreous spots on the elytra), and another Colynzbetes resembling the very common C. inpustu- latus, but differing in some respects ; and, as we cannot find it described, we have given its characters below, and purpose assigning to it the name Snow- donna; the name nigro-erneus, which precisely describes its colour, being pre- occupied. After leaving the lake, we found the Carabi and Steropi running about in great abundance, both in and after the rain, which now recommenced ; they were evidently preying on worms, which were tempted by the moisture to snake their appearance. Under stones' we found Elater riparius, and a few, not uncommon, Coleoptera. In our descent we also remarked a beautiful rain- bow, which, though in the evening, and therefore a goodly arch, reached not to the sky in any part, but was wholly visible against the side of the mountain. On our return to Capel Curig, we were completely overcome with wet and fa- tigue, and were right glad to get rid of our wet clothes and go to bed. 10th. Breakfasted early, and walked through the Cwn Glassor Pass of Llan- berris: on the road took 0-estrus bovis, Carabus glabratus, Byrrhus sericeus, Elater cupreus, s-c. The morning was fine and warm, the air clear. Snow-
don was occasionally visible ; but there were some clouds about, and always below, its summit. The Pass of Llanberris is superb. On the right rises Glyder, tumultuously, ruggedly, and abruptly, more than a thousand feet. On
the left, the Snowdon mountains, with all their peaks, are piled together in in-
describable grandeur and confusion. Some of their naked and black peaks, in- accessible to man, are the abode of the buzzard, the sea-mew, and raven, which may ever be seen wheeling in circles over and around them ; and the shrill cry of the hawk, the harsh screams of the mew, or the hoarse croak of the ill-bod-
ing raven, are almost the only sounds which these wilds ever know, except, occasionally, the cheerful cry of the Welsh girl to her cows as she brings them
home to milk, or the echo of their lowing. 'I he mountain-streams in this region were particularly beautiful. You may, trom below, trace their winding leaping course for hundreds of feet down the side of a precipice, white as driven snow, and looking in the distance no wider than a piece of tape. Having nearly reached the village of Llanberris, we turned to the right and ascended Glyder, the mountain under which we had passed. At first the ascent was but moderately steep, and, being covered with a fine soft turf, afforded us a good and secure
footing. Here we took the most splendid varieties of Carabus arvensis,
brassy, coppery, blue, purple, green, and jet' black; we found also several
Silphi besides- Steropi, Omasei, and other Carabicke, running in the sun- shine. After an ascent of several hundred feet, the character of the mountain completely varies : it presents nothing but a surface of loose sharp stones, and becomes so nearly perpendicular that the only mode of progression is on all fours, and severe work we found it. A pleasant sight we should have afforded to some of our brother entomologists of Cockney-land, whose researches are con- fined to Copenhagen brick-fields, or the wilds of Battersea cabbage-gardens. Our view from the summit, over Anglesea, and the sea beyond, was very fine; but the peep over the precipice, into the Pass of Llanberris, was really awful: human beings in the road could no longer be recognized as such without a glass, but appeared like black specks. Our principal motive iu seeking this spot had been to find Chrysomela cerealis, which our botanical friend informed us had been taken under stones, and on the ..Turdperus nanus, which grows here in profusion ; we were, however, unsuccessful : but in directing our course from hence towards Capel Curig, we espied a single specimen sunning itself on a stone in an indented gully or hollow, which appeared to have formerly been the channel of a river or brook, and over the bottom of which similar stones are scattered throughout its length, which appeared to be at least half a mile. By a good deal of perseverance we succeeded in taking nine others, all in similar si- tuations. Should this meet the eyes of an entomologist who purposes making a similar excursion, he must remember the locality is in a right line between the point of Glyder which overlooks the Pass of Llanberris (to which point the guide will be sure to take him), and the inn at Capel Curig, about five hundred or seven hundred yards from the point, and on a nearly flat part of the mountain.
In descending Glyder, we took abundance of Colymbetes fontinalis, in the clear streams of the mountain. These little beetles were difficult to secure, eluding our hands by an instant retreat under the stones; and the situation was one in which it was impossible to use a water-net. In these streams we also observed some large soft white larva:, apparently those of a Tip la. This day was fine until the evening ; when it began to rain.
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