THE SEASON OF 1914 IN SOUTH PROVENCE. 



81 



Liwenitis Camilla, Pontia daplidice, A. helia var. ausnnia, and last and 

 least, a single specimen of fjesperia sidae. I had no idea of seeing H. 

 sidae, and merely netted it to welcome the first Heaperia carthami of 

 the season. (This is why a beginner who catches everything within 

 his radius of action, takes the prize of the day.) My earliest date for 

 its appearance in 1911 was May 8th. This, of course, took us to the 

 same place next day, when careful search resulted in two more H. sidae. 

 Liiiienitis Camilla was now very common over a very limited area of 

 ground. Speaking of L. Camilla, this species accompanied me on the 

 wing for six months, during an extended tour in 1911. It began at 

 Carqueiranne on April 25th, became very common at Plan du Pont 

 till the middle of May, and emerged at Digne in June ; on the 18th of 

 that month it began at Martigny, Hew during July, and finally on my 

 return from a mountain campaign at Simplon and Saas Fee, a second 

 brood, feeble in size and numbers, was ditting about on the cliff walk 

 near Vernayaz until September 12th. 



Arriving at Costebelle, May 4th, the manager met us with the 

 .announcement that he was closing the hotel on the 7th, a thing he 

 might have told us before, as half a day was wasted in hunting up 

 new quarters. The hotel season at Hyeres seems to be closing earlier 

 than in former years, and we were only able to find accommodation 

 for a week, because an invalid was too ill to be moved, and so kept 

 the hotel open. At Costebelle I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. G. 

 H. Gurney, and we agreed to beat up the quarters of H. sidae on the 

 6th, at the place where I had taken my one specimen three 3-ears 

 before. Of course, I fondly imagine this spot is my own corner, but 

 it is probably well known to every resident and visiting collector at 

 Hyeres. H. sidae kept the appointment, and we each returned with 

 a fair series in mint condition. They were extremely active in flight, 

 and it was hopeless to pursue them on the wing, fortunately they were 

 much given to alighting on a yellow hawk-weed and the white cistus, 

 with wings outspread. The only other skipper was TJn/melicus acteon. 

 A single worn Tltais pohj.vena var. cassandra fell to me, and my wife 

 found a splendid variety of the large form of Brent his euiiltrosi/ne, 

 fresh from the chrysalis. The spaces between the nervures towards 

 the base of the upper wings are filled in with black, much more so on 

 the right wing than on the left. 



On the 7th, following Mr. Gurney's instructions, I took Kpinejdiele 

 jiasijihae near the cemetery. The 8th was a typical Rhone Valley day, 

 cloudless, as we trudged along the hot walk to Plan du Pont ; then 

 the sun went in, and nothing could be done. On the 10th we found 

 the ridge which divides Plan du Pont from Hyeres flying the red flag, 

 and rifle practice in full swing, so we gave JrJ. sidae a day off, and 

 found /'.'. pasip/iar swarming up the hillside to within a yard of the 

 top ; here it ceased abruptly, as it requires a hot southward slope. It 

 was not in evidence flying on the ground, but two or three could be 

 put up out of every prickly shrub as we brushed against them. They 

 were all in perfect form, females nearly as abundant as the males, 

 and a collector of the " destroyer class " could easily have taken three 

 hundred in a day. 



At La Valette, on the 12th, I noticed two H. sidae in separate 

 localities, one or two E. pasipliac in a stone-quarry, also Aijriades 



