JULY IN THE EASTERN PYRENEES. 11 



to dinner one evening having had a long and hard day's work — and a 

 ver}' hot one too — in the St. Vincent Valley, and had scarcely sat down 

 in my accustomed place at table, when an evident Englishman 

 and his wife were placed next to me ; the meal proceeded with the 

 usual enquiries as to the weather and the scenery of the neighbourhood, 

 and then a chance remark at desert revealed the fact that the new- 

 comers were bent on some branch of natural history, and on a more 

 minute enquiry I found that I was talking to Mr. and Mrs. C. F. 

 Johnson, of Stockport, both of whom were l)ent on an entomological 

 holiday. Notes were soon being compared and explanations as to 

 hunting grounds given. I believe their first day was spent in the St. 

 Vincent Valley, while I had before arranged for a longish day up the 

 St. Martin Valley with an extension to the Col du Cheval-Mort and up 

 to the Kandais Hut. A most lovely day I had, a description of which 

 will serve for several other shorter excursions in the same direction. 



The route lies via the little village of Casteil, but there is 

 plenty of work to be done before even that short distance is 

 accomplished. The right side of the valley as we ascend is almost 

 entirely under cultivation, but the left side, though cultivated, has a 

 good deal of rocky bare land and some poor pasture on the hill sides, 

 where insects fly freely. Le/itosia siiia/iis was common, whilst the 

 bright and pretty Enclda'e eupJienoidef; was at this time rather rare, 1 

 only picked up about half-a-dozen examples on this side of Vernet, 

 and they were not confined to definite spots but occurred singly in 

 different localities, some in the Valley, some well above Casteil. A 

 whitish specimen of the same genus attracted my attention and gave 

 me a sharp race in the hope of securing a female eiiplunioideft, but alas 

 it turned out to be only Kiicldoc rardmnineif. after all. The "blues" 

 and '■ coppers " up in this direction were conspicuous by their absence, 

 the only specimens I took being a single Pob/oiiniiatKs seDnar/jiis and two 

 Ihdiiicia phhieaa, neither of Avhich can be called var. elena, though they 

 must have been of the summer brood. JMelauariiia lach-.sis was abundant 

 everywhere as also was Melitaea athalia. M. pJioebe, however, was much 

 less common, while M. didi/ma was typical but not as common as 

 usual. On a bare hillside I took a single female Aporia crataeip, 

 but perhaps I let them pass as Mr. and i\lrs. Johnson took more, 

 they also took Papilio poihdinKs and I'aniassiiis apollo, which I 

 fear I allowed to pass by unmolested. Of the Pierids, I'ieris brasfiicat.-, 

 P. rapai' and P. napi wete all observed, whilst I took, close 

 by the Church of St. Martin, a beautiful, quite fresh specimen of 

 Papilio iiiacltan)!. Ari/i/nnis aijlaia was not uncommon, though I only 

 netted a couple, both of which are quite typical, and I also took 

 B>e)it/iis iliii, Jssoria lathonia and Vrt/aH paphia. As the wooded hill- 

 sides were reached Sati/nifi cin-c put in an occasional appearance, and 

 ^'. hermione was very frequent. I only observed a single Coenonyinpha 

 daruH, a male which I captured, as also a single female ('. arcania, the 

 specimen having marked obsoletion of spots on the underside. Krehia 

 i^tyt/nc was the only species of the genus I saw in this locality, but Mr. 

 Johnson also took E. epiphmn. The genus Paranje was represented 

 by three species, a single female P. vie/fciera, with F. ae;/eria and P. 

 viaera var. adrasta. P!pinepJu'le Jiirtina var. hispidla was not uncommon, 

 whilst F^. pasipha'e, in both sexes, was in beautiful condition. Of the 

 Hesperiidae I took a quite fresh Poirellia sao, a single Tlnjiiiclicns acteun 



