THREE DAYS IN THE GONDO AND LAQUIXTHAL DISTRICT. 77 



Three days in the Gondo and Laquinthai district. 



By G. T. BETHUNE-BAKEll, F.L.S., F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



As I stated in my notes on the Hospenthal district {antea, 

 p. 10), it was with the object of seeing Erebia christi in its special 

 haunts that I went on from the Rhone Glacier down to Brigue, and 

 took train through the tunnel to Iselle. Here I detrained, and walked 

 up the wonderful Gondo Ravine. I should have been glad to have 

 been able to spend the day in the Iselle portion of the valley, or, at 

 least, between there and Gondo, but inasmuch as E. christi was my 

 object, a few hours only were devoted to the insects and lovely 

 wildnesscs of this fascinating spot. I had not got out of range of 

 the fortifications before a pair of bright and strongly marked Meliiaca 

 ih'di/iiia came one after the other within range of my net, and were 

 taken prisoners, then another, a male, came along and shared the same 

 fate. In a minute or two I was glad to again make the acquaintance 

 of Sij)it())iiis plieijea, of which I took two or three tine large specimens, 

 these were followed by a Skipper, that turned out to be Eii/nuis 

 laraterae, whilst a second, which at first I took for the same species, 

 proved to be E. althacac Paniai^siKs apollo was soon seen coming 

 towards me, and I took some half-dozen specimens as they were large, 

 liad very large black spots in the forewings, and were generally 

 perhaps less pale than the ordinary run of Swiss specimens. By this 

 time I had got beyond the jurisdiction of the Italian sentinels, who 

 had a strong objection to 1113^ standing still, and Avho in the politest 

 way indirectly asked me to keep moving, so that for the moment 

 I might have imagined myself in a London or Birmingham crowd 

 after a political disturbance, but so long as I did move, however 

 slightly and slowly, my Italian friends were content. Now, however, 

 I came within sight of the poor little village of Iselle, and as I turned 

 the corner, a big Anji/nuis dashed past, but I was just in time, for 

 a rapid stroke secured a quite fresh male A. paphia, this was followed 

 by a worn large specimen of Melitaea phnehe : but as I approached the 

 first cottage I was suddenly conscious of a dung heap on my right, at 

 first somewhat out of sight by reason of some herbaceous flowering 

 plants that I did not know, over which a male Heodes vin/anrcae flew^ 

 lazily and was caught. Immediate^, ere this was boxed, I recognised 

 a lovely t'liri/^oji/iaiuis alci/ihron var. ijordius attracted by the manure, 

 but so alert and rapid in movement that the first one escaped me, 

 but celerity and patience were in the end rewarded with half-a-dozen 

 beautiful specimens, which, however, proved to be of the form melihoeusi 

 with just a lovely trace of purple gloss on the upper and lower radial 

 areas, Antlinxera raniioliva var. heJi/sari was then taken on the other 

 side of the village, and close by a darkish ('oe)io)iinn}ilia arcania with 

 rather broader margins than usual. I took also a couple of Ar/iiades 

 coriilon, for the locality's sake, and a single P. hi/las further up in the 

 valley shared a like fate, whilst of other species of the group, I only 

 saw Plebeiits ari/tis {aeiioii) quite typical, and a single worn /'. an/yro- 

 linainan, together with one very black ( 'npirlo iiiiniuia : I forgot, however, 

 to mention that I took a fine large Leptoma sniapis var. dinieusu at 

 Iselle. I call it diniensis, for though the underside of the bindwings 

 may not be absolutely white, there is only the faintest trace here and 

 April 15th, 1911. 



