日本《新潮》雜誌1952年2月號刊載的〈在谿谷間〉(「谿間にて」)，是作家北杜夫所寫的唯一與台灣有關的作品。收錄於同年日本文藝家協會編輯的《1959創作代表選集》及其後的多種北杜夫選集中，是北杜夫的名作之一。 〈在谿谷間〉的作品內的時間，設定於二次大戰終戰後的第二年。「信州從島島宿越過德本峠進入上高地的谿谷間」是作品的第一舞台。當時是高中生的主角「我」在這裡遇到了一個在挖「蟻巢」的人，是個在挖掘「胡麻蜆蝶」幼蟲的隱性研究者。此人告訴「我」關於以前他在從事捕蝶人工作時，尋找、捕捉寬尾鳳蝶的親身經驗。台灣的埔里、卓社大山是故事的第二舞台，也是作品中的主要舞台。這篇作品所寫的是：捕蝶人為了採集鳳蝶中的世界性珍種「寬尾鳳蝶」，所傾注的人性的貪欲、執念，認知它的徒勞而開悟的諦觀，以及其人從職業捕蝶人轉型，發願將自己的工作成果貢獻給學術研究，從其中發現生命價值的過程。 本論文論述此篇屬於自然生態文學領域的北杜夫佳作的作品世界。

Published in Shincho magazine in February, 1952, “In the valley” is the only work by Morio Kita that takes place in Taiwan. It was republished in the Anthology of Representative Works of 1959 by the Japan Writers’ Association and in various subsequent collections of Morio Kita. It ranks among his finest work. The story of “In the valley” takes place two years after the end of World War II. “From the inn of Simazima, over Tokugotoge and into the valley of Kamikochi” constitutes the first setting of the work. Here, the high school protagonist “I” meets a researcher who excavates ant nests in search of the larvae of Maculinea teleius butterfly. The researcher tells “I” about his experiences of catching Agehana maraho when he was a butterfly collector. The second, also the main, setting of the story takes place in Taiwan’s Puli and Zhuoshe Mountain. The story depicts a man’s journey from being greedy and obsessive of trying to catch the very rare Agehana maraho of the Papilionidae family, to the attainment of true mindfulness at the realization of the futility of the endeavour and the value of life, and the later transformation from being a catcher to a researcher. The present investigation studies Morio Kita’s great work that belongs to the genre of natural ecological literature.