EIGHTEKN DAYS ON MOUNT CANIGOU, 55 



the Canigou fauna was disappearing. Kiebia stijune, a species that was 

 very rare in the higher altitude became common, then Krebia ennjale 

 pat in an appearance, and low down in a rocky open ravine with a 

 streamlet deseending from the heights above, Colian edam and C. hijale 

 fell to my net. Pamossiiis opollo likewise was taken, and among the 

 Erebia styj/ue, I took a pretty aberration in which the fascia of both 

 wings is a peculiar coloured grey instead of the usual bright 

 tawny hue, whilst the underside colour in the primaries is also 

 much modified and the general tone of the brown colour is nearer 

 to sooty- blackish than to the usual brown. Erebia epipliron var. 

 Plirenaica was fairly common, the race being large with very 

 prominent black spots in all the wings. In one grassy spot on 

 our return, Crambi were very abundant, but most of them proved 

 to be Craiiibus perlellus, with some nice forms of its aberi'ation 

 irarringtonellus, and in addition there were some pretty L'hycitida: which 

 I have not yet named. Among the pine and fir woods Gnoplios 

 iinjrtillata var. obfuscaria was common, and an occasional ab. canavia 

 also occurred. I took a single Buartnia repandata as well, whilst one 

 or two Eidoitia limbaria likewise turned up. AnaitU xiinplictata was 

 captured once or twice. The only Lithosiid that I saw w-as Setina 

 irrorella, this species being by no means rare. 



A day on the Perdrix slopes, i.e., the slopes between the little way- 

 side Perdrix fountain and the flagstaff at the end of the ridge, com- 

 pleted my friends', Mr. and Mrs. Johnson's, stay. This was one of the 

 good places for the Canigou form of I'lebeiiis orbit alas, and it was here 

 that I made my first observation on the mating of Heptalits pyrenaicus. 

 On this ground also I took the only Loweia alcip/mm var. yordius, a ^ , 

 with scarcely any purple gloss at all. In addition to those I have 

 recorded, the Johnsons took Melitaea cin.cia, M. parthenie var. caria, 

 Brenthis (AryyiDtis) selene, Satynis alcyone, and Hipparchia .seiiiele. 

 A single specimen of Polyoiiniuitns amanda was also captured by Mr. 

 Johnson at an altitude of 7,500ft. I should imagine the specimen 

 must have been blown up somehow or other as it is improbable that 

 in any of its stages it could have withstood the rigours of a Canigou 

 winter. It is said that from the "Pic" of Canigou the coast of 

 Barcelona can be seen on a clear day, but I suppose that though we 

 saw the Mediterranean frequently, it was, nevertheless, not clear 

 enough to see so far as that. The greater part of the time of our stay, 

 whilst we were in brilliant sunshine, Vernet was in cloud, for a 

 thousand, or perhaps two thousand, feet below us rested a compact 

 sea of clouds absolutely unbroken anywhere except by the summits of 

 the mountains here and there. Very beautiful, indeed, were some of 

 the effects, the clouds lying billow upon billow, looking so solid and 

 yet so light as to make one feel that there could be naught below them, 

 and it Avas only as one raised one's eyes heavenwards and saw the 

 purple peaks of the distant hills and mountains standing out like 

 isolated islets in the cloudy sea that one realised that below that sea 

 lay the world and all its life and struggles, its hopes and fears; and 

 one felt thankful for the rest and peace of the Alpine seclusion with 

 all its revelations of nature's secrets. Several of the sunsets across 

 these cloudy billows were also most fascinating, the differing densities 

 of the clouds bringing out wonderfully different effects as the rays 

 from the declining sun shot almost horizontally across them. 



