86 THE entomoloptIst's record. 



begins with a sharp point just bchintl the spiracle and inchules the 

 following tubercles. The narrowing of both portions of the black 

 mark towards the spiracles, makes the gap more obvious, and look 

 larger than it really is. In proceeding to Tragacete, we travelled some 

 distance over an upland plateau, through pine woods, and descended a 

 somewhat steep, and in places rocky, slope to reach the village. 

 Tragacete is situated in a wide open valley, on the upper portion of 

 the Jucar, which is here much reduced in volume, so that it can be 

 crossed easily dryshod at various points. Between Tragacete and 

 Cuenca the Jucar makes a double bend like an S, and our route was 

 practically following the straight line between the two places, crossing 

 the middle of the S at Uiia. I would qualify this so far as to say that 

 the statement must be taken very broadly, as, in fact, our road seemed 

 to twist and turn interminably. The valley in which Tragacete lies is 

 well cultivated. We did most of our collecting here by following up the 

 Jucar, which comes down a lateral opening, more like a mountain 

 stream than anything we found elsewhere, it has several lateral branches 

 and leads to openings in the hills, of which, we were able to explore a 

 few and these but partially. In no other direction from Tragacete was 

 there any stream containing water, at the time of our visit. No doubt 

 this circumstance made insect life much more abundant along this 

 upper Jucar stream, both in species and individuals, than anywhere 

 else. It is, however, possible, that, in adhering too closely to this 

 outlet, we missed more interesting forms that might have been found 

 on the open hillsides and tops. It is at any rate the case, that the 

 species taken here were all of a somewhat general distribution and 

 presented no special local forms, such as distinguish the neighbourhood 

 of Albarracin. (iracllsia isabellae was, perhaps, the most local of the 

 species found ; but this seems to occur throughout central Spain. I 

 never saw greater multitudes of butterflies than occurred in some 

 small patches of ground in this upper Jucar glen. 



Away from the villages or little towns, it appears to be a rule or 

 law, that any inhabitant of the township may plough up and cultivate 

 any patch that takes his fancy, provided he is first on the ground, it 

 also, however, happens that a very few crops exhaust the ground and 

 it is then left to revert to a state of nature. We noticed patches of 

 corn in various unexpected and remote places, and very many spots show- 

 ing that they had been cultivated at some recent or remote period. In the 

 Jucar glen were several such patches that appeared to have been abandoned 

 for a few years and now supported a thick crop of a tall yellow-flowered, 

 ill-smelling sage, that grew solitarily elsewhere, and that seemed to be 

 immensely attractive to butterflies, and there they were by thousands 

 and tens of thousands, a sight to take its place in the memory with 

 the most notable swarms of insects that we have ever seen. Most of 

 them were species of large size and of much variety of appearance. Most 

 conspicuous, perhaps, were Dryaa pandora, An/ymiis MonnUppe, 

 Gonepteriix r/iantni, G. cleojiatra, Colias hyale, Sati/rus seniele and S. 

 alcyone, these two, perhaps, the most abundant of all, Melanaryia 

 lachesis, Folyowtnatns var. corydoniiis, Melitaea jiJioebe, M. didyma, Fieris 

 daplidice, Aryynnia lathonia, A. hecate, PolyoiiiinatKs aMrarche, P. 

 admetits, and several skippers, Cdi'iionynrjiha iloriis, Epinephcle ida, E. 

 pasiphae, Satyriis circe, S. brifieis, and Tlnula splni. All these were in more 

 or less abundance, though some, such as Melitaea phoebe and Epinephele 



