128 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



A Note on the Chrysophanidi, and Polyommatus amandus. 



By B. C. S. WARREN, F.E.S. 



In the March number of the Ent. Record there were some notes on 

 the ChrysojiJianida- by Miss Fison, in which the fact that she had not 

 observed the species of this tribe in abundance during the last two 

 seasons' collecting was attributed to the weather and made the basis of 

 certain arguments. 



The majority of the (luysoji/ianido are somewhat localised in their 

 habitats, and three or four visits on separate days to such localities 

 cannot give one anything like a sufficiently accurate amount of 

 information, as to their abundance or otherwise, for such arguments. 



I collected during the seasons 1913 and 1914 in the Rhone valley 

 and neighbouring country, over much of the ground referred to by 

 Miss Fison, and my experience has been very different. Without 

 claiming to have given any particular attention to the species in 

 question, I should say they were quite as well represented as usual, 

 and judging from the series taken, and those taken by friends, both 

 C. hijtpothor and L. alcipltyiyn var. ijordinx were unusually abundant. 

 H. vufanreae is of course seldom abundant in the lower valleys of 

 Switzerland, and L. dorilis is always erratic in its appearance, but of 

 it I have seen a dozen or more specimens in a single morning at a less 

 well known spot near Vernayaz. C. hippotlio? in one or two localities 

 was very plentiful, and L. alciphrnn var. (jordiiia also. Miss Fison 

 notes that she never found this species "really plentiful" at Vernayaz, 

 but, on June 30th last, when I had the pleasure of taking Col. Manders 

 to Vernayaz, the sight of the day was without doubt the dozens of 

 specimens of this species resting on and Hying round the privet 

 bushes. We were both much interested, and 1 certainly had never 

 seen it in such numbers before. 



All collectors know how easy it is to overlook a species, if not 

 singled out for special attention. A marked instance of this was shown 

 in another note of Miss Fison's. She writes [Ent. Rcc, vol. xxvii., 

 p. 16j — "Charpigny is quite ideal for orion, and it might get there 

 from Branson as easily as ainandiis from Vernayaz." P. amandus is 

 quite common in the marshes at the north end of the Rock of 

 Charpigny. One can only suppose that Miss Fison overlooked this 

 fine "blue" both seasons, as she did the ('hii/w}i}ianidae, and on taking 

 a specimen of it at Charpigny concluded it came from Vernayaz. 

 While mentioning 1'. amandas it may be interesting to add that it 

 occurs over a great tract of ground on the S. side of the Rhone from 

 Aigle down to the level of Roche, and on towards Vouvry. 



I merely publish these notes as it seems a pity to try and found 

 theories on such subjects, with so very incomplete and fragmentary an 

 amount of data to build upon. 



Egyptian Butterflies. 



By P. P. GRAVES, F.E.S. 



I have little indeed to add to Colonel N. Manders' most interesting- 

 account of his experiences while collecting in Lower Egypt. I had 

 scarcely any time to collect between November 10th, 1914, when I 



