SPRING BUTTERFLIES AT SIERRE, ETC. 165 



one name altered, and as we come to t/wtis we are tempted to ask, as it 

 were with the Winchester boys of old — thouo;h we hope not with their 

 arrogance — ''an/itft I know, and roridou 1 know, but who are you"? 

 doubtless, as of old, Marlborough forced itself into public recognition, 

 so will tlietis to-day, in fact, have we not already almost got accustomed 

 to it. Dr. Chapman's minute descriptions of the early stages, both 

 larval and pupal, are not the least welcome part of the volume which 

 is indeed a valuable monument of careful scientific working out, the 

 mass of material that must have been gone through, weighed up and 

 reformed must have been enormous, but the result is worthy of the 

 efibrt and the author, and the criticisms here ventured on will not 

 detract from the value of the work accomplished. Of the many 

 excellent plates we would mention those of the ova, Plates i and xxxiv, 

 and the proleg, Plate xxx, which will be most useful, but for intrinsic 

 beauty, though the imago of t/ietis, xlii, is very good, none come up to 

 the perfect delineation of semiarf/nti on liii. The Plate of the variation 

 of ari/iis (aef/oii) clasps, xxiii, is interesting, but to my mind rather 

 inclined to be misleading, for they are not in the same position, and 

 the least alteration of position renders some of the serrations or teeth 

 at the end of the clasps invisible, and alters the shape of others. 

 There is, however, no question that the Plates form a very valuable 

 attraction to the volume under review. 



To the scientific worker however (apart from the mere collector) the 

 elucidation of the correct names of the various forms of sejiiian/iis and 

 coridon is of the greatest value. We had become accustomed to accept 

 the determinations of paltearctic species by my old friend Dr. Staudinger 

 as " gospel," and to learn that, on reference to types and figures and 

 descriptions, these determinations are mostly incorrect comes rather as 

 a shock, but there appears to be no doubt that, in both the species 

 referred to, he distributed large numbers of the various races to all the 

 more important collections under names that are here shown to be 

 incorrect. Taking into consideration the Spanish and Mediterranean 

 forms of vorvlon it would seem as if an actual reference to descriptions 

 and plates ought to have prevented these errors. In treating the 

 Asiatic races of seniian/ua, however, and in the unravelling of helena, 

 Stgr., ht'llis, Frr., and parnanna, Stgr., great difficulty must have been 

 experienced and very keen insight required, and the author is to be 

 congratulated on the success he has achieved in the discrimination of 

 these closely allied forms of this species. 



Spring Butterflies at Sierre, Les Matecotles and Zermatt, in 1909. 



By H. L. EARL, M.A. 



After reading through Mr. Wheeler's interesting accounts of 

 successive butterfly seasons in the Canton Valais, I at first' concluded 

 that there was little more to be written on the subject, but a three 

 weeks' visit to that favoured region last spring proved of such interest 

 to myself that some account of it may be of use to other collectors. 



My wife and I left England in cold w-eather on May 18th, and 

 reached the Bellevue Hotel, Sierre, on the morning of the 22nd, in 

 tropical heat, which lasted to the end of our week. Only the mornings 

 were suitable for collecting. Every afternoon the sky became overcast, 

 distant thunder was heard, and a storm of dust blew up the Rhone 



