LEPIDOPTERA OF THE BASSES-ALPES LAC d'aLLOS. 201 



northern side of the Mt. Pelat range. High as it was. a male Colias 

 hi/ale occasionally threw itself across a slope with amazing speed, 

 whilst ( '. edusa, of large size and rich colour, pulled itself up quickly 

 at a flower and gave the chance of a shot, often successful. Argynnis 

 niobe, too, was in grand form, many of the undersides with fine silvery 

 spots. A. aijlaia appeared to be outreached here, for it rarely occurred 

 at this elevation, and was almost as rare as Oonepteryx rhamni, of 

 which one reached quite 8000ft., and more so than Pyrantels cardui, 

 which occasionally flew across. Urbicola comma seems to be independent 

 of elevation if it can get the ground it wants, and so does Hesperia 

 alveus. Only four species of " blues" were observed at this elevation, 

 Polyommatus eros, which I have looked upon as quite the queen of the 

 high mountains of the Basses-Alpes, for it was at Larche, in 1900, I 

 first found the females of this species in abundance, and here above 

 the lake I found several Plebeins argus, a pretty form of female, shot 

 with blue, and a single worn female Nomiades semiargus completed our 

 captures of this group, except that a few Polyommatus donzelii were 

 taken, as one feels should be the case, Donzel having been, in his 

 day, the student par excellence of the Basses-Alpes' lepidoptera, 

 and this species was named after this celebrated collector. 

 Like most other species Anthrocera exulans seemed to be over, for 

 only a few worn females were seen, but here the insect is only found 

 at specially high elevations and I may not have reached its headquarters, 

 as I certainly did not those of the pure black Erebia glacialis var. pinto, 

 which Mr. Powell says abounds here. As a matter of fact, I only 

 found one Erebiid species really common above the lake, viz., the 

 ubiquitous Erebia tyndarus, although E. goante and E. gorge were 

 locally not rare, Aglais urticae flew at the highest point reached, and 

 larvse at the the lake side were abundant. A small race of streaked 

 Setina aurita was not uncommon, the lovely blue-green Colastia 

 auriciliella, with its orange fringes was common, and one of the 

 Psodos species, locally abundant. ( 'rambus radidlus was generally dis- 

 tributed, and a fine pair of Gnophos glaucmaria ('?), with well-marked 

 grey male and ochreous female, was captured in cop., as well as other 

 females ; a rather small, ill-marked, silky race of Gnophos obfuscata 

 was also not infrequent. A pair of a Stenoptilia, which I cannot 

 separate from bipunctidactyla, was taken near the lake. There were 

 many other species, no doubt, of which I have no example, and which 

 I do not carry in my memory, but Mr. Powell has promised that some 

 day he will write us up the fauna of this delightful district, so that 

 my shortcomings may possibly prove less serious than at present 

 they may appear. 



The Lepidoptera of the Basses-Alpes — Colmars to Col d' Alios. 



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



The country immediately round about Alios is just lovely for a lazy 

 man, but mid-August, one suspects, is too late for an entomological 

 visit. I tried the country up as far as the Col d'Allos, leading over to 

 Barcelonette and the Ubaye valley, where I spent a most delightful 

 month in 1900, the notes of which, however, have never yet been 

 published. It may be well to note what one met here, separately 

 from what was found in the more alpine regions of the Lac d'Allos, 



