256 THE entomologist's record. 



condition only, was to be taken. This mixing of the two forms (or 

 species) was quite a new experience to lue. A solitary example of FJ. 

 ijoante showed that this species also occurred in the district. A single 

 Sati/riis scnicic, and several Paranic iiiacra were noticed, whilst Eidne- 

 phcLc ianira was the only really common wayside butterlly besides 

 Afilaix iirtirar (larvfe of which were in thousands on all the nettle-beds, 

 some of which were stripped quite bai'e, whilst nnagines also were not 

 uncommon), and Thijnidiciis lincola. Knodia hiiprranthus was interest- 

 ing ; it was common up to nearly 5000ft. in suitable damp places, and 

 presented the form known to me at present only from the Carlisle 

 district, and which one suspects to be a highland race, i^omonipnpha 

 fiamphUus was very rarely observed, and I was disappointed m not 

 finding (L iplm in my wanderings. High up, whilst the sun shone for 

 a few minutes on an upland Howery meadow, on August 10th, I took half- 

 a-dozen specimens of a beautifully large form of S>/ricIitki(s aliriis, and 

 1 have no doubt that here the species was abundant, but again the 

 weather baulked one. L'aniiiliila cotiuiia, too, was in fair abundance 

 at the same spot, as many as a dozen Hying quickly in front of one 

 at the same time. The common species of the district, however, was 

 T/n/iiiclini^ Linrula, which swarmed almost everywhere, worn, however, 

 to shreds by the roadsides and in the fields around Megeve, gradu- 

 ally getting into better condition as one ascended the mountains, but 

 still quite abundant up to 5000ft. I remember the species common 

 I think in the Yal Yeni, not so \ery far away really, at nearly, if 

 not quite, GOOOft. Among the moths nothing of interest occurred. 

 Crambids were possibly the family most abundantly represented, 

 but I observed nothing interesting except Cramhua selaHellm and 

 C. ailipeUHs on almost every boggy piece of ground, and C. cnnchellus 

 not below 4500ft. ('rambiis tristellm^ and C cidinellus were literally, 

 as is the last usually in the Alps, in millions. (_ amiitof/rainma bilineata 

 was common on the same ground with h'tniiwlt'sia hlamliuta, the 

 former of a quite common English garden type. The commonest 

 Geometrid was Knhidia mcnxiuayia, and this was common evei'y where. 

 An interesting little Cleometrid, Acidalia oc/irata (?) was found in a 

 boggy field with the Crambids, Hiiniiclesia albidata at 5000ft. elevation, 

 ( 7(/rt//rt ^»/yr///rtf« occasionally in the fields, etc., but the Geometrids 

 were most disappointing, and the Noctuids were nil. I saw Charaeas 

 Uraiidiiiis at the flowers in the uplands and found a,\?br\'a, oi Hadena pisi 

 in my net after sweeping. I was, however, interested to notice the 

 great abundance of Miinacsraptihis fiisciis, and observed also a fair 

 number of M. bii>iinctidacti/hi, but, considering the abundance of 

 scabious in the district, the insect was not common, nor Avas Aciptilia 

 tetrad act iilu specially so. As illustrating the difficulties of insects to 

 maintain a footing in such highly cultivated districts as this, I may 

 mention that, on the evening of August 6th, I saw M. fusciis and 

 ( KnjptLlas dititan^ flitting abundantly with Fhijcis ornatella, and 

 I lllpcrcalLia cliristicniclla, on a little level piece of ground just 

 above the " Calvaire." Next evening I went provided with the 

 necessary apparatus to capture a few, when I found the herbage 

 cut and raked, and not a single moth on view. The cutting had 

 of course not killed the moths, but had certainly dispersed them 

 so as to lessen their chances of continued existence. Among the 

 ]'acriniinii in the pine clumps I noticed Tortilx rihunuana commonly, 



