ALPINE ANIMALS 499 



mountain species of grasshoppers in Carinthia have reduced wings. 36 

 This seems directly connected with the environmental selection due to 

 strong winds, which are adverse to flying forms. 



The Lepidoptera of the alpine zone are conspicuous by reason of 

 their vivid coloration and active flight. Their period of activity is 

 short, and as all the individuals of a species emerge at once, and as 

 the suitable areas of occurrence are small, their numbers are apparently 

 great. Alpine butterflies in general fly low, on account of the strong 

 winds at higher levels. Caterpillars and pupae are found nearly up to 

 the snow line. Pupae are more likely to be placed beneath stones than 

 at lower levels, on account of the advantage of the heat derived from 

 the sun. The adults, which are more exposed to wind action than 

 other insects, on account of their relatively large wings, are often car- 

 ried far above the snow line; they were seen at 5900 m. on Chimborazo 

 by Humboldt, and are recorded from 6300 m. in the Himalayas. 

 Gome Lepidoptera, like the satyrid Maniola glacialis, are stenozonal 

 and restricted to the snow border. 39 Bombyx alpica is so exactly 

 adapted to the alpine environment that attempts to bring up the larvae 

 or to transform the pupae in the lowland have failed. The total number 

 of high-mountain species is small. There are 785 species of Lepidoptera 

 in the Tirol, 40 of which more than half are Microlepidoptera, and only 

 271 (55 out of 122 butterflies) are truly alpine. 



The beetles of the alpine zone are much less conspicuous than the 

 butterflies. They are for the most part concealed under stones, in 

 excrement, in the earth, or in blossoms. Most of them are small, in- 

 conspicuous forms, likely to pass unnoticed. It is accordingly surprising 

 to find that the highland of Tirol has about the same number of species 

 of beetles as of Lepidoptera. In the whole of Tirol about 4000 species 

 of beetles are known, of which 783 occur in the mountains, and of 

 these 272 are typical alpine forms. This latter series is composed 

 mainly of staphylinids, caiabids, weevils, and chrysomelids. Many 

 beetles such as the small carabids of the genus Nebria develop close 

 to the snow line. The most abundant alpine beetles are wingless, and 

 even genera which have only winged species in the lowlands may be 

 represented in the alpine zone by wingless forms. 41 



Hymenoptera are few in the alpine zone. Ants and wasps are rela- 

 tively poorly represented. Sawfiies and parasitic forms, which find 

 more abundant food supplies, are better represented. Bees, on account 

 of the large number of bumblebees, are relatively the best represented 

 of the hymenopterous families. According to Heller, 24 of the 26 

 Tirolese species of bumblebees reach the alpine zone, and some of 

 these range to the snow line. The predominance of bumblebees appears 



