THE SPECIFIC DISTINCTNESS OF OPORABIA CHRISTYI. 79 



re-echoed among the hills, and the forked lightning ran like a line of 

 liquid fire here and there, whilst the rain again descended. I did like- 

 wise, and arrived at the "Weissmies" Inn fairly well wet through, but 

 having enjoyed my first experience of the Laquinthal thoroughly. 

 The following day was fine but cooler, and I was up betimes and ready 

 for a good long day and for an intended exploration of the top end of 

 the valley. Plebeiiis ar(/yro(jiwnion soon greeted me, as also did P. 

 an/us {aeyon), then a single very dark C. minimm, with scarcely any 

 spots at all on the underside of the hindwings ; then another as large 

 as any C. sebrus I have seen, t'l/aniris seiniavf/its also soon turned up, 

 whilst Krehia ceto and E. tijmlarus also put in a not infrequent appear- 

 ance. A curious incident occurred with the former, one of which I 

 swept off a flowerhead, and when some hours later (wanting a large 

 box, into which I remembered I had put the E. ceto) I looked it up 

 among the others in my satchel, to my surprise I found it had no 

 head at all, nevertheless, at the unwelcome interruption it flapped so 

 vigorously that I returned it to the darkness of a remote corner of 

 my satchel again, and when I turned it out into my cyanide bottle 

 some eight hours later, it was still able to fly, and moved about with 

 some power. As I came towards the end of the valley, Orenaia 

 alpcstralis, the liveliest and the prettiest of the genus we used to call 

 Hercyna, gave me a chance, which I was glad to secure, then Cravibus 

 conchetlits and C. duHietelhts were netted, soon to be follow^ed by C. 

 radiellus. After these Fulonia atoinaria in both sexes insisted on being 

 caught, and at the very end of the valley I was glad to obtain a dark 

 female Crantbus zermattensis. Erehia ceto and E. ti/mlariis were both 

 fairly common, and Oeneis aello also turned up in a very battered 

 condition ; but where was E. christi / In despair I began to climb 

 along by the waterfall, and before I had gone far an Erebia, with a 

 somewhat different flight, scarcely gave me a chance, but ere long a 

 second turned up, and this time I was on the alert, and secured my 

 first specimen of the coveted insect. I did not rest until I had 

 secured more, but they were few and far between, and I was evidently 

 not in their most favoured locality. I was fortunate in meeting at 

 the " Weissmies " Mons. L. Rehfous, who, finding we were colleagues in 

 the Geneva Entomological Society, was most kind in giving me in- 

 formation about the district, w^hich he has worked with so much 

 success for many years. The following day I w^alked over the 

 Simplon to Berisal for a more lengthened stay, as there was much 

 I wanted to do in that favoured and lovely place. I believe I 

 omitted to say that Pieris napi var. bryoniae occurred sparingly, as 

 also did Colias phicotnone, but this was the only Colias I saw here. 



The Specific Distinctness of Oporabia christyi. 



By J. E. R. ALLEN, M.A. 

 In a paper in the Entontoloi/itit'a Record for April, 1906, I gave 

 reasons for regarding Oporabia christyi, Prout, as a species distinct from 

 (K diliitata. Recently a distinction has been discovered by Mr. F. N. 

 Pierce, which appears to separate the two species in the male sex with 

 mathematical certainty. I propose to describe Mr. Pierce's distinction 

 and the experiments by which I have tested it. 



