THE BASSES-ALPES AND HAUTES-ALPES IN JULY. 89 



around the valley of the river Guil ; Mr. Tutt has given an account of 

 the district in August, see Ent. Uenml, vol. xii., pp. 226-229 ; 258-262; 

 818-820. The scenery in this valley is veiy grand, amongst the best 

 in the Alps that I have seen, and the collecting good, especially for 

 the higher mountain species. Our experience in the diligence, down 

 the Gorge of Queyras, was an exciting one, for the Jehu, thanks to a 

 skin full of wine, was in tine form ; the road, which in places is very 

 steep, turns here and there almost at right angles, with absolutely no 

 protection but a low parapet to prevent a flying leap into the limpid 

 waters of the Guil, many hundreds of feet below. Our feelings as 

 the lumbering diligence madly raced down the slopes towards these 

 bends, were vivid, for the slightest stumble of one of the horses would 

 have meant the end of all things so far as we were concerned, and we 

 had noticed before starting that each of the three horses bore un- 

 mistakeable evidences that they were no strangers to a tumble ; 

 however, we eventually arrived in safety at the bottom, but future 

 travellers might do worse than to critically examine the driver at 

 Guillestre before starting, and, if evidences of hilarity are discernible, 

 to take a private carriage. We settled for three days at the comfort- 

 able little Hotel " Puy Cot," under the walls of the grand old fortress 

 of Chateau Queyras ; Baedeker is silent respecting the past of this old 

 Chateau, but it played an important part in the religious wars with 

 the Vaudois, and is now the depot of a battalion of "Chasseurs 

 des Alpes," whose "reveille" regularly woke us up at 2 o'clock a.m. 

 The village and Chateau of Queyras are very picturesquely situated 

 in the centre of the valley of the Guil, at an altitude of about 4500ft. ; 

 on each side of them the mountains rise very steeply for a further height 

 of 4000 or 5000ft. I do not think the district has been worked for 

 Rhopalocera, except during August by ]\Ir. Tutt, and we expected to 

 get new experience. Perhaps the most unexpected species observed 

 was Kuchlie enplwyioitlcf;, fairly abundant, generally distributed, and 

 not in bad condition ; this in the middle of July ; one example I 

 netted at an elevation of at least 5500ft. Then again Coenonijniplin 

 flanix was a common and widely distributed species ; I do not think it 

 has previously been recorded from the Hautes- Alpes. 



Down the valley towards Guillestre, and on the lower slopes, there 

 is fair collecting, specimens in swarms, but of comparatively few 

 species. Here Krebia li'ifea was in hundreds, K. curyale in thousands, 

 each species typical in form, and flying on the same slopes ; one 

 wonders where, under these conditions, the supposed identity of the 

 two as species comes in ? lUenthifi ino in fair numbers, was observed 

 for the first time ; much more numerous was/V. aniatlmsia : Paniaxsius 

 apollo, typical here ; Therla sjiini very fine, sucking at the thyme 

 blossoms; and plenty of Mditaca (liihjina, with less worn females than 

 at Digne. I'olijoitiiiiatiis dainiDi drinking at the puddles, all males, 

 just emerging. An odd male Enhia in-nridas was evidently the 

 forerunner of the hosts that would fly later on. The mountain-tops, 

 howevo:-. afford evidently the best collecting; one can go up by the 

 zigzags immediately behind the hotel, but much better is to cross the 

 river, and proceed by the military road to the tops of the " Sommet 

 Bucher " ; the gradients here are easy, and one can net on fairly level 

 ground, a decided advantage when a man is on the wrong side of 

 forty. After climbing 2000ft. or so, we get above the larches, and 



