310 THE entomologist's reoord. 



then the chase began in earnest — for had we not come to find Polyom- 

 viatus dolus whose food-plant it is. A few Polyonunatus vuieayer, 

 females for the most part, P. hylas, and a single Aniynnis daphne, fell 

 to our nets before the discovery of "a white variety of P. dawon," 

 motionless upon a flower stem. Of course this turned out to be the 

 male of the species of which we were in search, and we were glad to 

 observe that the few specimens taken that day (July 16th) were in 

 perfect condition. The male of P. dolus can be mistaken on a close 

 inspection for no other European butterfly. The delicate white-silver 

 sheen of the upper wings, siiffused with a brownish-purple flush in 

 freshly- emerged examples, is as difl'erent from the tint of P.corydunafithe 

 twilight blue of the morning sky is from the fuller depths of noontide. 

 The female on the wing, however, very closely resembles the female of 

 P. davwn, and the two fly together to make confusion worse con- 

 founded. On the upporside of the forewings the discoidal spot, which 

 seems altogether wanting in some specimens of P. damon, is distinctly 

 marked in P. dolus ; in the female the hind margin of the lower wings 

 shows a distinct row of orange-tawny ocellations (wholly absent in the 

 female of damon), while the fawn colouring of the underside is deeper 

 and richer, and the spots on the forewings more decidedly accentuated. 

 That the larva feeds upon sainfoin only, I should think very doubtful, 

 for, though the species was not abundant here (probably by reason of 

 the earlier date), we found it later on in swarms in a locality where this 

 plant appeared to be non-existent. Of aberrations there are none among 

 the specimens which fell to my share, but the minute spots on the 

 underside of the hindwing differ very considerably in position ; in some 

 specimens they are placed outside the characteristic white streak, in others 

 within, andyet in others upon it. Higher uptheEmpezon, on the terraces 

 of lavender, the insect occurred much more freely, and it was not 

 altogether absent from the uplands on the opposite side of the valley, 

 known as the Causse Mejean. It was to reach this goal that we 

 started next morning betimes, for there is no shade on the road, which 

 represents an hour and a half continuous collar work in the eye of the 

 sun any time after seven o'clock. The main attraction for us was 

 Melanaryia iapyyia var. cleanthe. But we were not so fortunate with 

 it as with the preceding species. A more uninviting locality for the 

 butterfly-hunter than these barren plateaux it is hard to conceive. 

 Imagine a huge table-land rising in places to the dignity of unverdured 

 ridges. Here and there a few scraggy oat-fields sustain a precarious 

 existence ; and, on the patches of roadside grass, now burnt to cinders, 

 the long-bodied huge-eared sheep of the Noah's Ark type pretend to 

 be satisfied with the grazing. But the all-prevailing plant of this 

 desert is the thistle — vast, tow-headed, tough-stemmed stalks, with white 

 rugged heads, and the blue witch-like variety, otherwise suggestive in 

 its form of homely teasel. Then there was the usual aniline red kind, 

 and finally that variety which, in decadence, suggests nothing so much 

 as a sun-dried star-fish. However, it is among surroundings of this 

 nature that cleanthe is to be caught, and, after cooling ofl' in the grateful 

 shade of a single sycamore, we were soon busy netting every Melanaryia 

 that came along. The result of two days' hard labour under a swelter- 

 ing sun — Mr. Jones had the second day to himself — -was three or four 

 worn specimens only. We were evidently too late, and either cleanthe 

 flies a very short time, or ' ' June- July ' ' in Kane should, I think, be confined 



