EIGHTEEN DAYS ON MOUNT CANIGOU. 57 



Humming Birds and on Spiders, also spent most of the morning doing 

 likewise. He and Madame Simon had arrived a couple of days 

 previously and for the next ten days we dined together, and I spent 

 some very happy and profitable hours in their company, as I soon 

 discovered he was deeply interested in " Nomenclature," and was as 

 anxious as I that the "Code" should be revised. I was able therefore 

 to tell him of the resolution of the Entomological Society of London 

 for the then forthcoming Congress at Oxford, in which he quite 

 sympathised. That afternoon I spent in making the circle of Canigou, 

 going up the way of the Puig Barbet and on through the Breche 

 Durier. I arrived at the summit in a brief spell of sunshine with 

 the cloudy mists rolling all around, and close around too, the effects 

 of the few minutes sun on the misty fog around were very wonderful, 

 but the sun was not to be the master that day, for soon the fog gained the 

 upper hand, so on I went returning along the south side past " la 

 Perdrix," and arriving home nearly an hour before I was expected, much 

 to the astonishment of my host ; time is no object in these regions and 

 their pace up the passes is very leisured so that they do not quite under- 

 stand the Englishman's love of a brisk walk for the sake of a walk alone. 

 I took several more expeditions on to the same side of Canigou 

 (North) after this in beautiful weather and flushed a pair of fine strong 

 ptarmigans again much in the same place as before, but they were so 

 shy that they did not give me a second chance of watching them. 

 Immediately we descend on to the truly north side of the mountain 

 we find ourselves in a veritable sea of stones, that are so rough and 

 sharp that it is very difficult to do much collecting. On my first day 

 the wind was so strong that no butterfly could stand against it, and I 

 only caught the few F:)ebiae that I did, by holding my net against 

 the wind and intercepting the insects that were disturbed here and 

 there. I succeeded in taking half-a-dozen nice Erehio i/or/je in this 

 way, and on a quieter day I took more, but it appears always to blow 

 at this part, though sometimes it is less difficult to collect, but I have 

 little doubt that, given good weather, i.e., but little wind, a very 

 profitable day's collecting could be done among this sea of stones. As it 

 was, I caught, in addition, a nice little series of fairly typical E. 

 govffe, E. lefebvrei, and a series of very fine h\ eplphron var. pi/renaica, 

 whilst in the immediate neighbourhood I took several of each of the 

 others of the genus that fell to my lot here, viz., the pretty form of 

 E. ti/ndanis, very fine /'.'. stygne, and E. lappona. My plan was to go 

 down the valley of the Cady to the Col du Cheval Mort, and then 

 strike across the hill to the flagstaff above the Perdrix. The valley 

 soon widens, and, if somewhat desolate, is yet very interesting and 

 not unromantic. In it I took three beautiful little Polyonwiatns eros 

 with unusually dark grey and heavily spotted undersides. Both sexes 

 of P. icanis also turned up, whilst Plebeins an/us and P. orbitulus 

 were likewise added to my bag. A single Cupido niinuiius was 

 taken here, and on the grassy slopes of the mountains He/>ialt(s 

 pyrenaictis, in both sexes, also fell to my lot. Of course, the semi- 

 apterous female was found under stones, and in this respect I was 

 fortunate, for M. Simon, in his search for spiders, brought me 

 more than one female of this species that he had found. I also took 

 one Kuprepia cribraria ab. rondoui. Some people would, I suppose, 

 write " Euprepia cribraria rippertii rondoui," this, however, seems to 



