1 16 Sketch of the Natural History 



gether with the Hepatica triloba ; and the children walking 

 on the paths, being struck with the singularity of the flowers 

 of the O'rchis fusca, cannot refrain from nipping off the heads 

 of this rare plant, to satisfy their curiosity. The short grassy 

 turf is here and there adorned with the beautiful deep blue 

 flowers of the Salvia pratensis. I was particularly struck 

 with the beautiful and graceful flight of the Papilio Podalirius 

 (scarce swallow-tailed butterfly), which is very common in the 

 Park at Dijon. Instead of the ordinary fluttering motion of 

 the common butterflies, it sails round in circles, continually 

 hovering over the same spot, unless another of the species 

 chances to come within a short distance, when immediately a 

 furious chase commences, and each tries to deprive the other 

 of the elegant colourings and forms with which nature has 

 so beautifully enriched them. I was fortunate in procuring 

 four specimens of that rare coleopterous insect, Trichius ere- 

 mita : I dug them out of the decayed stumps of some of the 

 lime trees which form the alley leading towards the Park. In 

 the same station, I also took a specimen of E'later (Ludius) 

 ferrugineus. i?uprestis (Lampra) rutilans was common enough 

 on the trunks of the trees, but immediately made its escape 

 upon the approach of any person ; so that I with difficulty 

 caught three or four specimens. I also took Z?uprestis lae'ta 

 and nitidula. Among butterflies, the large silver spot, the silver- 

 washed, and the Queen of Spain, (fritillaries) were abundant, as 

 also the comma and great tortoiseshell. 



That part of the neighbourhood of Dijon which is most 

 rich in productions of natural history, especially botanical 

 treasures, is the " Combe " of Gevrey. It is a wild deep 

 ravine, about six miles s. w. of Dijon, the sides of which are 

 very abrupt, and thickly clothed with vegetation. From the 

 elevated points of the Combe, Mont Blanc and Mont St. 

 Bernard may be distinguished, at a distance of upwards of 

 200 miles. It would be too long a task to enumerate in this 

 place all the botanical riches which this place affords ; but I 

 may be permitted to mention a few of the most striking. The 

 Digitalis lutea, or parviflora, is a very conspicuous object in 

 the lower parts of the Combe, together with the ^conitum ly- 

 coctonum, Chrysanthemum corymbosum, Orobanche caerulea, 

 Phalangium ramosum and Liliago, Centaur&a montana, Phy- 

 teiima spicatum, and Thalictrum minus. Whilst in the more 

 elevated parts I found ^nthyllis montana, Ononis Columns, 

 Helianthemum apenninum and canum, Trinia glaberrima, 

 Epipactis microphylla, Globularia vulgaris, i'nula montana 

 and squarrosa, Galium glaucum and harcynicum, ^thamanta 

 Zabandtis, Z>aserpitium gallicum and asperum, Cytisus capi- 



