A MONTH IN SWITZERLAND AND ELSEWHERE. 289 



britomartis, and to discover the food-plant by watching their egg-laying. 

 I was, however, doomed to complete disappointment. In this generally 

 teeming locality nothing was abundant except Kpinepluie jurtina ; this 

 species swarmed, and I took two nice examples of ab. semi-alba. The 

 Pierids, particularly P. najii, were not vmcommon, and I saw besides a 

 couple of Fapilio iiiachaun, a few Auj/iadt's sylvauHS, two Scolitautides 

 orion, a few Melitaea athalia, a few worn-out Pobjomiiiatns icaiits, and 

 one specimen each of GouepU'ri/.r rhaiinii, PUbeius acgon, Lycaena avion, 

 hlendes vin/aureae J , and Ftii))iicia pJdaeas. M. britonnirtis ^\as 'pvesent 

 it is true, but very few, and mostly quite worn ; such J s as I saw I 

 watched carefully, but seeing no sign of oviposition I took them all 

 three back, and with them portions of all the plants I had seen them 

 frequent, but I think their eggs were already laid, for they were in 

 advanced old age, and at any rate they did not oblige. On this day the 

 last of the Samoussy larvfe of Araschnia lecana pupated. 



If Reazzino was a disappointment, Mendrisio the next day was a 

 greater one. I hesitated between this and the Val Maggia, but the 

 matter was decided by the time-table, which made the latter 

 impossible. My quarry at Mendrisio was yeptis liuilla, and 

 during some hours of watching I saw two only, both of which 

 I captured. E. jurtina was again very abundant, and Melananjia 

 yalatea, of course of the procida form, fairly so ; the three Pierids, 

 Coenonympha paniphilus and Auyiadca sylfa)uis also appeared, and 

 a worn-out $ Melitaea didyma, a single J" of Eceres aryiades and 

 a $ of Nordmannia ilicis would have completed the list, had I not taken 

 for the first time in this locality a worn $ of M. britomartis. Altogether 

 very few butterflies were to be seen, and in truth Mendrisio is 

 rather a dull locality except for E. aryiades and N. Incilla (the latter 

 of which can equally well be taken in the far more prolific Val 

 Maggia), even though my only^ Swiss liayirardia teliranus-wa,s taken here. 



Friday the 2Brd was again dull — too dull mdeed in the morning to 

 be worth while going out — in the afternoon however I went up 

 behind the village by the watercourse, through what must be in good 

 weather magnificent hunting-ground. Sitting on the grass-heads 

 were numbers of "blues," Plebeius aeyon, Polyommatns liylas, P. icanis, 

 Aricia )iiedon,Cyaniris semiaryns, and Lycaena arion\-AV. obscxra : these 

 were all rain -soaked and spoilt, except some of the P. icarus and 

 A. niedon, and the same was the case with several Parnassiiif! apollo 

 and Aporia crataeyi, all in fact that I saw; Aryynnis aylaia alone 

 seemed able to retain its condition, or indeed its spirits, the others had 

 a hopelessly draggled apjDearance. In the hollow of the torrent-bed, 

 however, P. aeyon and C. Herniary us were in much better condition, 

 both being very fresh, and at the north side of the stream along a 

 path on a steep hill-side a few Leptosia sinapis and a single EncJdoe 

 cardamines were in good condition. Ettchelia dominida again appeared, 

 another very fresh specimen, but my most interesting capture 

 was a form of Eitdidia mi, in which the forewings are tinted with 

 purplish and all the white markings are of a deepish orange, the 

 underside being as deeply coloured as that of E. ylypliica. This form 

 is described, though not named, m Spuler's edition of Hoffmann, but 

 as no mention of it is made in Tutt's " British Xoctiiae and their 

 Varieties," I presume it is unknown in England. I took two 

 specimens, one of which unluckily escaped. 



