A BUTTERFLY HUNT IN THE CEVENNES. 811 



to the earlier month. We had not seen much upon the interminable 

 upward gradient, and the absence of Erebias was a little disappointing. 

 Erehia sti/i/ne, indeed, appeared to be the sole representative, nor did I see 

 another member of the family in this part of the Cevennes. The 

 Empezon runs up to above 4000ft. This particular Causse could not 

 have been less than 3000ft. so we might reasonably have expected a 

 bigger bag of these essentially upland butterflies. Alpine insects, 

 however, were not to the fore. We did spot occasional indi- 

 viduals of Parnassiini apollo, but the Lycaenids, such as were 

 there, were ordinary lowland kinds, and never in any sort of 

 profusion. Equally scarce were Anthrocerids, of which Anthrocera 

 trifolii, A. acldlleac and A. fannta, were all that I found at Florae, 

 and there was no sign of the usually plentiful Sijntomis i^hetjea. 



Among the box and dwarf broom, Satyrns briseis was more 

 common, with specimens of ,S'. conhila very much smaller than those 

 observed by me at Digne and Susa. Indeed, the characteristic feature 

 of the Cevennes butterflies, was their comparative smallness, though 

 there were exceptions to the rule, among them Pajnlio machaon, of which 

 I took one day, on the hills outside Florae, the largest example I have 

 ever come across. At noon these same slopes were very furnaces, the heat 

 radiated from the barren hill-side, suggesting the climate of the tropics. 

 P. melecujer apparently thrives under these humanly trying conditions ; 

 both males and females were flying over the rocks above the Town 

 Infirmary, but, owing to the vertical sun, were fatiguing to pursue. 

 Meanwhile we looked in vain for Apatura clytie among the willows that 

 border the Tarnon, and, curiously enough, I do not remember to have 

 come across Epinephde jurtina in this valley. Pararge maera, a small, 

 light form, was scarce, but P. )i>eiiaera and E. tithotiKu swarmed. 

 Leaving Florae on the 21st we took boat from St. Enimie to the Chateau 

 dela Caze,the charming castle-hotel isolated among the cliffs and beech - 

 woods of the Tarn — a stream deservedly famous for its trout and ecrevisses, 

 and, for the greater part of the journey, forming the sole line of communi- 

 cation between the eastern and western limits of its celebrated gorges. 

 From this time forward, however, the weather unhappily became 

 unsettled, and even the fine days were so cloudy that often for hours 

 together no butterflies ventured abroad. Notwithstanding, the valley of 

 the Tarn, should be a good hunting-ground. We counted over sixty 

 species flying one day on a little piece of flower-clad slope, where also, 

 among the almond orchards, grew the aristolochia, elsewhere the 

 food-plant of Thais wedeaicaste, and possibly also here. But it was 

 too late for Thaix, and we found no trace of the larva. The commonest 

 insect was undoubtedly Melitaea didijiua, of which I took one remarkable 

 aberration, with the spots of the underside almost obliterated, and next 

 to it came Chri/sophanus dorilu, the female of a lively bright form. Here 

 also Satijnis statilinus was just coming out, while S. briseis (males 

 mostly) and S. cordula were again locally abundant. The Lycanids, 

 however, as elsewhere (save P. dolus), were scarce, P. damon and P. 

 hylas occurring sparingly. Pieris daplidice, Limenitis Camilla, Lept- 

 idia sinapis, and Papilio podalirius also put in an appearance among a 

 host of commoner things. Driving from Le Kozier to the grottoes of 

 Dargilan, on the 2Gth, we traversed a very promising looking country, 

 but, walking up the hillside to the shanties at the mouth of the 

 great caverns, which belong to the Society Pittoresque de France, I 



