ilY FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF SWISS BUTTERFLIES. 61 



ground it frequented, E. lappona was an easy species to negotiate, and 

 we did well with it. I then came across an odd specimen each of 

 Melitaea anrinia var. merope and the striking male of M. ci/nthia; my son 

 also snapped up a fine female ( 'olias phicoiinine, whilst Si/rirht/uis fritlllnm 

 var. alreus, and S. nialvae were in some numbers, the latter indistin- 

 guishable from our British examples. We walked up the Riffelberg 

 to the Gornergrat, 10300 feet, but the whole mountain was still 

 covered with deep snow. This was a great disappointment, for had 

 the season been normal, one might have expected here some of the 

 best collecting of the holiday. I did see one Erebiid at the Gorner- 

 grat, which, I suppose was K. hipjiona, as it was too early in the season 

 for E. (ilacialis. July 2nd was a broken day, cloudy and showery, 

 and we could only, during a fairly long walk, meet with one Polijom- 

 niatus orhitnlnn and one P. ctiiiwilon. In the afternoon we left for 

 Loeche and the Pfynwald. 



On July 3rd, the rain and clouds had cleared off. After breakfast we 

 crossed the Rhone at Loeche and walked towards Varen. Here, along 

 the roadside, a truly magnificent Satyrid was in some numbers — 

 Sati/rns artaea var. cortliila, males only, jet black, with a wondrous 

 bloom, and with white pupilled ocelli, somewhat resembling a huge 

 Enodia hj/peranthiis. Flying with this specieswere JJiriithisitio, Anit/nnis 

 latona, Brenthis dia, Poh/nunia c-albinii, and some MelittBas, several 

 of which Dr. Chapman, to whom I submitted them on my return 

 home, pronounces undoubted Mditaea beri.salensis, and others inter- 

 mediate between that species, or variety, and M. athalia. The locality 

 from which these specimens were obtained lies amongst vineyards, 

 and is very similar to the well-known one for 3/. berisnleiisis at 

 Martigny. 



It is greatly to be deplored that we English collectors have so 

 little reliable literature dealing with these puzzling species of Melitaea, 

 or forms, whichever they are. I allude, of course, to Melitaea 

 athalia, M. parthenie, M. berisalensis, M. anrelia, 2f. asterie, M. dictijnna, 

 and M. deione. My personal experience only extends, at present, to 

 }[. athalia, M. anrelia, M. parthenie, M. berisalensis, and M. dictynna. 

 The latter, so far as the localities I collected in enabled me to judge, 

 appears distinct as a species, but, in the absence of other evidence, I 

 should consider the others to be forms only of one species, and I think 

 that is the general opinion. One must not forget, however, that our 

 knowledge only applies to one stage — the imago — and that we English, 

 who only pay fleeting visits to the haunts of these ]\Ielitjeas, are almost 

 if not absolutely ignorant of them in the oval, larval, and pupal stages,"'- 



* That this is so is simply a disgrace to our Enghsh collectors. If each would 

 do his share in getting and describing material to supply the laeunte in our know- 

 ledge of the early stages of these species the matter would be easy. We have our- 

 selves obtained a large number of eggs of European Khopalocera and described 

 them, in spite of the temptation to be off the next morning to the mountains, 

 collecting more and ever more imagines. Suppose a dozen of us, during the summer 

 of 1903, set seriously to work to describe the ova of only six hitherto undescribed 

 species — those who stay a long time might easily do more — our knowledge of the 

 oval stage of the central Alpine llhopalocera would soon be as complete as our know- 

 ledge of the imagines. We are doing, really, in spite of the increased numbers in 

 which we visit the Continent, very little towards getting a knowledge of the fauna. 

 The Swiss entomologist who stood all day at a patch of Collnteu to catch all the L. 

 iolaff he saw, would have been much better at work trying to find a ? laying its eggs 

 and getting a description thereof, afterwards giving a full account of the larva.— Ed. 



