LEPIDOPTERA OF THE BASSES-ALPES ALLOS TO LAC D'ALLOS. 199 



Beyond this was another delightful stretch, more heath-like 

 and moorland in character, and easier to work than the steep 

 slope just left, where the long grass, flat sloping stones, and 

 slippery slopes made one's back come in occasional and unnecessary 

 contact with the earth, and a bruise or two was something in the shape 

 of a necessity. Here the " blues " of the district were frequent — 

 Polyommatvs eros, /'. daman, Agriades corydon, Nom-iades semiargus, 

 Plebeius argus, Aricia astrarche, and a single worn Cupido sebrus, whilst 

 still Coenonympha pamphilns occasionally occurred, with an abundance 

 of C. ipkis. Beyond this, up to the lake, there was little to do, and, 

 at the lake, full alpine conditions prevailed, as may be expected at 

 7400ft. elevation. On the path directly above the marvellous outflow 

 of the lake, where, after passing through some 500 feet of ground 

 separating the lake and outfall, the stream breaks forth with remark- 

 able power, and, falling cascade-like, rushes away to make fertile the 

 almost flats that we have just passed, and every possible inch of which has 

 been put under cultivation, one finds many insects. The rocks here again 

 are the home of Erebia goante, and here, too, I captured the first male E. 

 gladalis, small, it seemed to me, but black as night, and in good condition. 

 Is this insect glacialis .' I found, on the nettles, many webs of larvae 

 of Aglais urticae, and then, turning a corner, suddenly came in full view 

 of the lovely Lac d'Allos, some four or five miles in circumference at 

 a guess, surrounded by slopes running up to the mountain-peaks 

 from 1000ft. to 2000ft. above, and surmounted by the lofty Mount 

 Pelat 10000ft. in elevation. Here, on the margins of the lake, 

 I found a small brood of Chrysophanus hippothoe, only just emerged, 

 the females varying from black with copper tinge to a strongly coppery 

 form, the males bright with black border, and not a trace of any purple 

 tinge, and of rather small size. I went on to the little hut where 

 refreshments are to be got, and discovered that Mr. Powell and his 

 friend had been gone a week. I was on the mountains separating the 

 Basses-Alpes and Alpes-Maritimes, and had reached, at least, the point 

 at which I had intended coming, and then found that my friend, who was 

 to have piloted me, had disappeared. The rest of this unhappy tale had 

 better not be told, suffice it to say that, a week later, whilst my friend 

 was lunching in an inn at Colmars, I must have sauntered through the 

 street past the inn, and we went in different directions, and failed to 

 see each other. It was now 4 p.m. I had been eight hours on the 

 warpath, and after making arrangements to stay at least a night at the 

 lake, I returned to the Auberge Pascal. The next day was largely 

 occupied in setting some two to three hundred insects that came down the 

 mountains in a zinc box, hat, and a few glass-bottomed boxes. They look- 

 very well though ! How I longed, on the way down, for a couple of 

 hundred of glass-topped or -bottomed boxes, to tackle the moths that 

 seemed to abound everywhere. I did pick up a few that perfect evening, 

 when, not a breath of air stirring, the alpine flowers at dusk were literally 

 alive with Gnophids, Euboliids, and other things. At 7.30 p.m. I 

 walked into the Auberge, had a bath, ate my dinner, and went to 

 bed, sleeping the sleep of the tired till awakened by the sun and the 

 swallows about 7 a.m. 



