1000.] 271 



BUTTERFLIES IN THE AUSTRIAN TYROL IN JULY. 



BY A. HUGH JONES, F.E.S. 



I left London on July 14tli, accompanied by my friend Mr. 

 Alfred Halse, and after a somewhat hot and wearisome journey by 

 way of Cologne and Munich, arrived at Innsbruck. The mountains 

 round Innsbruck looked tempting enough for a few days' collecting, 

 but our destination was Cortina, for which place we hastened 

 on by an early train the following morning. The railway crosses 

 the Brenner ; although a low Pass, it is interesting, the scenery for 

 the greater part of the route being very beautiful. I could see 

 from the carriage windows that the railway banks and wood-sides were 

 teeming with butterfly life, Melanargia Galatea and Argynnis Paphia 

 being conspicuously abundant. At Toblach we left the railway, and 

 after a drive of a few hours arrived at Cortina. I had been informed 

 that Cortina (3970 feet) lay in a broad, highly cultivated, valley, 

 which was not very suggestive of " happy hunting grounds," that its 

 elevation was too low for " high up " species, too high for " low down " 

 species, and not far enough east for Eastern species. All these state- 

 ments proved to be more or less correct ; yet apart from the Entomo- 

 logical side of the question, the Dolomites — or, to speak accurately, 

 the "Ampezzo Dolomites" — proved a delightful excursion, and one 

 that I shall never regret having made. 



My first day's collecting was not very encouraging: where the 

 grass was uncut produced but little, and the fir-woods still less— the 

 grass being so closely fed down by cattle, only a few Erehia ligea 

 were seen, yet where uncultivated ground could be found, there was 

 a fair sprinkling of butterfly and moth life. 



If we only ascend a few thousand feet, all will be changed we 

 thought, so on July 19th, we started full of hope for the Paso Tre 

 Croci (5955 feet), a walk from Cortina of about an hour and a half. 

 On a grassy slope, soon after leaving Cortina, we found an abundance 

 of Melitcea didgmn, but the rest of the road to the top of the Pass 

 was conspicuously devoid of insect life. Our destination was Lago 

 Misnrina (5S9U feet) ; on the left of the Pass rose Monte Cristallo. 

 We worked down the Yal Buona, a very beautiful valley, at the base 

 of the Sorapiss. The collecting ground appeared to be a great 

 improvement upon that of the previous day ; although there was an 

 absence of flowering plants to attract butterflies, for Erebice it 

 seemed an ideal spot, the grass not being " fed down," however, 

 only one species, E. Fharte, was to be found, and that sparingly. 



