174 THE entomologist's record. 



Lepidoptera and Coleoptera of the Saas Valley— Stalden to Saas= 



Grund. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



I had been recuperating for nearly a fortnight at Basle and Geneva 

 before I moved on, on August 4th, 1904, to Visp, and so up to 

 Stalden. During that fortnight the weather had been delightfully 

 line and hot — weather specially provided for lepidopterists as a fore- 

 taste of heaven. For the first time for 8 months I had, during the 

 last few days, felt alive again, and, by the time I set out to walk the 

 11 or 12 uphill miles from Stalden to Saas-Grund, on August 5th, I had 

 recovered my wonted vigour. Entomologically, I thought my luck 

 was in. The morning broke cloudless, and an early start caused me 

 to miss many of the butterflies just beyond Stalden, for the sun had 

 not yet entered that part of the valley, but large (and somewhat worn) 

 Poli/oHiiimtK^! daiiton, fine /-'. conjclou, AHthrocera candolica were still 

 asleep on the grass, and when the sun did get into the valley, some- 

 Avhere between 8.30 and 9 a.m., one was kept busy enough. One of 

 the first insects to put in an appearance among the fruit-trees a mile 

 or two up the valley was Papilin pixlaliriiis, soon afterwards followed 

 by Knvanensa antiopa, and then by Papilio macJiaon, and ('alias /n/alr. 

 The two first-named of these, however, appeared to be confined to the 

 neighbourhood of the fruit gardens in the earlier part of our walk. 

 Chrnndp/tanuf! cirt/aiireae, Kpinepliclc Ijicaon, and Erebia (/oante are, 

 perhaps, the species of the valley, the males of the former were going- 

 over, but the 5 s were in great force. They assumed very marked 

 forms — (1) fairly bright, the bronzy tint fairly well-developed on fore- 

 and hindwings, but paler than in type =var. zermattetisis : the same, 

 but the forewings of the upperside with the markings developed into 

 little streaks, and with minute extra spots between the discoidal spot 

 and elbowed line =ab. cvcfuHa : the spots further developmg in some 

 examples, to a series of longish, transverse streaks, replacing the elbowed 

 line =ab. lineolata : the same bronzy form, but rather more suffused, 

 with a row of whitish or whitish-blue spots parallel with the hind margin 

 of hindwing =ab. pallidapuurtata : a suffused form, the ground-colour 

 of the forewings nearly lost in the suffusion of black scales, the hind- 

 wings still more suffused, the black spots in elbowed line of forewings 

 often somewhat enlarged and elongate =ab. siijf'nm. 



Another species in great force was Kpincphele li/cao7i, the males of 

 which also were passe, but the females in very great numbers and in 

 great variety. These varied not only in the tint of the pale patches, 

 but also in the size and number of the spots, and in the area occupied 

 by the pale colour on both fore- and hindwings. The most marked 

 forms are — (1) The pale areas orange-brown, with a distinct 

 angulated line dividing basal from outer areas : (a) with two 

 moderate-sized spots in outer area, one apical and one lower = typical 

 lyraaii, {h) with a double apical spot and one below =ab. (hrplirata, (r) 

 with the two ordinary (uppei' and lower), and one tiny, intermediate, black 

 spots = ab. tiiiiiai'ida, (cl) with two very large normal, and one intermediate 

 small, black spots =ab. nuti/na. (2) The pale areas orange- brown with 

 the transverse angulated line almost obsolete : (a) the hindwings with- 

 out pale central area =:ab. obsideta. (h) the hindwings with distinct, 

 pale, median area =ab. r.ctensa. (H) The pale areas paler, yellowish, 



