MY I'IKST IMPRESSIONS OF SWISS liUTTERFIilES. 59 



which ai-e many plants known in England, such as the loosestrifes, 

 yellow and purple, vetches. Sec, and, mixed with all this, one comes 

 across patches of cultivation. The Khone valley is here about a mile 

 wide, and the mountains come down sheer on either side, almost like 

 a wall several thousand feet high. Butterflies swarmed everywhere, 

 and more wonderful to me than the number of specimens, even, was 

 the number of species. Altogether we saw 55 species, of which no 

 less than 35 are represented on the British list. When one considers 

 that this constitutes more than one half of our native butterflies, and 

 that at home about a dozen species is the best one can hope to 

 obtain in a day at any time of the year, one realises the difference 

 between collecting in Great Britain and in these more favoured re- 

 gions. Immediately we left the main road, on the rough slopes, Krebia 

 >^tij<inc appeared in some numbers, with the peculiarly slow flight of 

 the genus, and with it was the fine copper, ('hrijsiiiilianns alcipliron 

 var. f/(irilii(s, which was common in both sexes, and of which we 

 secured as many as we wanted ; Paranje maera, P. meijaera, Pajiilw 

 jiodaliriiis, and P. machaon, with the whites — Pier is bramcae and P. 

 rapae. A little further on Aporia crataei/i was in swarms, each small 

 blackthorn bush having its contingent of females depositing ova, and, 

 amongst the grass in the meadows, Melanatujia (jalatea, Kpincphdc 

 jiirtina, and Knodia hi/perantliiis were flying in countless numbers, and 

 with them were numerous blues, including Plrbeiiis an/its, P. aiyaii, 

 ['(di/oiii Hiatus astrarclie, F. icanis, P. euniedoit, P. bellar;/t(s, P. Injlas, 

 Xoiiiiades seimarnus, Lycaena arion, and ('uenoni/iiipha juviiphihis, whilst, 

 drinking at the damp places, were again the two before-mentioned 

 Papilios, Miditaea parthenie, M. at/talia, ^L dictijitna, j\f. jiliocbe, and 

 the fiery M. didijiiia. In the clearings of the copses the Argynnids 

 were found, including An/i/nxis niobe var. cris, A. adippe, A. cvjlaia, 

 and, most welcome of all, the local A. daphne, with its lovely purple 

 underside. But there were other species than the Argynnids here, in- 

 cluding Liinenitis cam ilia, of which my son netted tw^o examples. One 

 does not soon forget his first sight of L. cam ilia in flight, and, after 

 turning it out of the net into the collecting- box, one comes to the con- 

 clusion that it is indeed " a thing of beauty and a joy for ever." 

 Then there was the fine Satri/ms herurione, our old friend I'olipionia 

 c-albuiii in good condition, a battered Kucanesm antiupa, Aijlais 

 Kvticae, Vanessa io, a,nd Pijraiiieis cardiii; also worn Ci/aniris anjiolus, 

 Xeiiieubitis lucina, Leptidia si)iapis, Pnchlnc curdain.ines, (ionoptenjx 

 r/iaiiini, Calloplirys rabi, Pararye ei/eria, Anp/nnis latJuniia, and 

 Brenthis eiiplirusyne. Passing the woods and nearing Vernayez, the 

 rough slopes again appeared, and on them were, in small numbers, 

 Sjjric/ithiis carthaiiii, and a few Spilotlu/nis lavaterae, and, in the marsh 

 itself, < 'oenoni/Dijdia iphis and C. satyrion were not uncommon. In the 

 afternoon we walked through the vineyards at the back of the Tour de 

 la Batiez, and secured a short series of the local Miiitaea berisalenxis, 

 with some more Si/yichthus carthaiiii. 



On the morning of June 28th we walked across the meadows in 

 the direction of Branson, crossing the Rhone at that village, and made 

 for the spot famous for producing the very local and rare Lijcaena iidas. 

 On the way across the meadows one sees why so many of the Lyctenids 

 occur in Switzerland. The herbage is mainly composed of vetches and 

 other papilionaceous plants, some of which we knew, but the great 



