210 THE entomologist's record, 



Lcpidoptera of the Orisons — The Muranza=Thal. 



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

 The notion that Santa Maria, in the Mimster-Thal, would prove a 

 good collecting centre, did not work out altogether satisfactorily in 

 practice. The weather was certainly not unsatisfactory, but success 

 was not achieved. The morning of August 13th, 1908, fairly bright, 

 but with a good many cloudy periods, was spent in exploring the lower 

 half of the well-known Muranza-Thal leading up to the Wormser 

 Joch, the valley and the pass that lead from the Miinster-Thal to the 

 summit of the Stelvio. In the wooded part of the path above Santa 

 Maria, one was simply astounded at the comparative dearth of butter- 

 flies — species and specimens. Here and there a sloping bank provided 

 sport, but to the keen collector this was not altogether satisfying, and 

 Ai/riadeH coridon, Aricia itHtrarcJie, Krebia i/oante, and K. tt/ndariiH may 

 be noted at once as the only common species; Paraytie niaera was 

 fairly large and typical, Ilrenthis aiiiat/iusia, here and there common, 

 but going over, one <^ with a pale yellow spot below the disc of each 

 forewing ; hsoria lathonia, now and again, freshly emerged, a single 

 2 Erehia ceto, and on one slope a nice lot of Heodes viniaid-eae, the 2 s 

 of the zeriiiattemiti form, but not so suffused as those of the Sulden- 

 Thal, whilst, at the same place, Coenonijiujiha jiatupliilna was quite 

 unexpectedly met with, and, as elsewhere in 1908, Pierix rapae Avas 

 not uncommon. In the lower part of the valley a fine form of 

 Hipparchla seiiiele occurred sparingly, and Pi/rameis cardid and ^'anessa 

 in repeatedly intruded themselves on one, but of the larger species 

 Ari/i/nnh ninhe was the most abundant, and Eiihulia niensiirayla was 

 frequently disturbed. Only two Anthrocerid species were noticed, 

 Antltrocera tiamalpina, freshly emerged, and A. imrpKralix, going over, 

 and somewhat worn. Above the tree-limit one expected to meet a 

 number of special insects, but one was quite disappointed, for, in spite 

 of a bright sun, for fally an hour, a keen wind swept from the Stelvio 

 through the valley, and hardly anything could rise ; on one flowery 

 slope lirentJds pales and Culias phinmionc were abundant, Avhilst in a 

 sheltered corner at the foot of the same slope, a sweep of the net 

 among some quarrelsome or playful blues brought in the strange 

 combination of three ^ AlbiiUna pherrti's, three J Aip-iadcs candon, 

 and one 3^ A. bellanjnn, A. coridon being abundant hereabouts, but no 

 more A. pheretes or A. bellan/us were seen. Here, too, a very worn 

 specimen of Brenthia eiiphfosi/ne was captured, and XoDiiailes .seiniaripis. 

 A few newly-emerged Hesperia alvem were netted, but a long grind up 

 the valley only resulted in finding a single ? Lutinrina orbituliis, a worn 

 $ Fji-ebia (/on/eweiV. triopes, a few' CrambtiH conchellm^, C. culmellu.t, (Jidaria 

 populata, Meivifieldia tridactyla {tetradactj/la), and Setina aiirita, whilst 

 swarms of larvae of A<ilais iirticae occurred on every bed of nettles. By 

 the time that the inn in the upper part of the valley was reached, the 

 clouds were gathering on the mountains on either side of the valley, and 

 when the sun disappeared the keen wind soon took on, at this eleva- 

 tion, an icy chilliness. A drizzling rain began to fall, and the short 

 cuts back to Santa Maria were traversed in a hurried manner ; once 

 back in the woods, hoAvever, the wind was not so biting, but, before 

 Santa Maria was reached, the rain was falling heavily and persistently 

 throughout the valley. Our second essay on the Wormser Joch was 



