140 :3une, 



have nothing specially worthy of mention to record respecting them. 

 The 85—40 species which occur are I believe tolerably well under- 

 stood, and new discoveries must chiefly relate to the subjects of 

 variation and metamorphosis. If the approximate number I give 

 seems small for a S. European fauna, it should be remembered that 

 Corsica is only the third or fourth in size of Mediterranean islands, 

 presenting a superficies somewhat less than that of Cornwall and 

 Devonshire united. Its limited Rhopalocerous fauna is, however, 

 remarkable for some permanent local varieties of common species, 

 whose peculiarities are pei'haps due to corresponding eccentricities in 

 the vegetation. Thus, to talse a single instance, the common nettle of 

 Great Britain, Urtica dioica, seems entirely absent, its place being 

 supplied by U. hispida. This is the food-plant of V. lehnusa, Bonelli, 

 a slight but constant variety of V. urficce, which latter is entirely 

 superseded by the former. The same principle of variation, no doubt 

 from similar causes, obtains in several other species, P. Megcera and 

 Egeria, C. Fhloeas, &c. It is said that butterflies fly all the winter in 

 Corsica ; but this statement must not be accepted too generally ; it is 

 true only of those species which are known to hibernate elsewhere, 

 and which show themselves here in warm sunshine during the winter 

 months. The commonest of these is V. Atalanta, which may be seen 

 even on mountain-tops in January, if near the coast ; so also Tithonus, 

 Meqcera, Mcera, and Phloeas, these being all that I have noticed. 

 The disappearance of insect life in winter is just as complete here as 

 in England, except at the level of the sea, in sheltered places, where 

 an entomologist may still pursue his occupation by digging, but he 

 will see no butterflies ; even the celebrated Cauipo deH'oro near 

 Ajaccio becomes, for five months of the dead season, a wind-swept 

 and very uninviting desert. The district examined by me, from the 

 autumn of 1898 to the present time, extends from Ajaccio as far north 

 as Vivario, including the long valley of the Gravona and its mountains, 

 with occasional excursions to the right and left, to Ghisoni, 

 Pastoriceia, &c. The Lepidoptera captured, bred, or distinctly seen, 

 are as follows. For a certain number of names, which I had no means 

 of ascertaining, I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Doncaster, 

 which I have great pleasure here in acknowledging. The more 

 abundant species are marked *. 



Aclierontia Atropos, L. Hylophila prasinana, L. Collcta pallidifrons, Zell. 



*Macroglossa 8tellatarum,i. Lithosia coniplana, L. Eiiiydia cribruni, L. 



Scsia chrysidiforniis, Esp. Collcta lutarclla, L., var. *Tncliosouia Corsica, Ramh. 



