4^^ AND ^^^/i> 



JOURNAL OF VARIATION. 



Vol. X. No. 12. December 15th, 1898. 



August collecting in the Val d'Anniviers. 



By H. ROWLAND BROWN, M.A., F.E.S. 



There is one great charm about the study of lepidoptcra — you cau 

 eat your cake and have it. You cau go whithersoever the spirit calls, 

 withiu the limits of time and opportunity, track your quarry in its 

 native haunts, and afterwards conjure up, by the sight of tlie hard-won 

 specimens in the cabinet drawers at home, the delightful associations 

 of summer rambles and night-watches under the stars of August and 

 September. And, I think, we bug-hunters have the advantage over our 

 botanical brethren — the collectors of dried flowers and ferns — for 

 whereas we both share the common enjoyment of ' ' fresh woods and pastures 

 new," the fleetiug glories of the plant pass with the moment for the 

 most part, while our butterflies and moths maintain, after many years, 

 so much of their pristine delicate beauty, that only the expert eye may 

 detect whether the object of admiration was added to tlie collecting- 

 box a month or a decade since. Of course, some insects fade, however 

 carefully preserved. But take the single cxamjjlc of the Large Copper, 

 that is to be sought to-day only in Stevens's sale rooms, and such 

 unromantic localities. The bred specimens are as fine as they were 

 fifty or sixty years ago, when they emerged from the chrysalis, and the 

 "wild" L'liriisophunus disjjar is no less "a thing of beauty and 

 a joy for ever." With which remark 1 Avill proceed to " cut the cackle 

 and come to the 'osses," in other words, to string together a few 

 notes upon a short holiday's collecting in sunny Switzerland. Sunny, 

 indeed, it has been this year. Too much so, perhaps, for the low- 

 lying pasture land and lake-side forests, but certainly not for the 

 mountain hotels and places where the tourist resorts, and the rarer 

 hunter of the l)ug takes up his (piarters. This year I revisited Zinal, 

 a former visit in ISito, from the lepidoi)terist's point of view, having 

 yielded nothing, as I did not arrive until late in August, when, as all 

 who have collected in the higher alps are aware, the season for butter- 

 flies is practically over. Indeed, I have always noticed that, after the 

 middle of the month, the Rhoi)alocera disai)pear with unvarying regu- 

 larity, and the number of sjiecies in good order, on the wing, may be 

 counted jtretty well on the fingers of both hands. 



Zinal lies in one of the numerous valleys that branch to the right 

 of the Rhone valley, looking towards the Simplon, most famous of 

 ])asses for its entomological treasures. At an altitude of "),'>(»(» ft., 

 within sight of the eternal snows, it is the last village of the Val 



