242 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



years ago, owing to a big dam that heaps up its waters before convert- 

 ing them into light for many villages, and force for far distant tram- 

 ways. The good people, who look after one's comforts there, are all 

 unspoiled by the horrible flood of tourists by whose agency Cook and 

 his rivals raise the prices and lower the charm of so many beautiful 

 spots in Switzerland. Here you are treated as a man and a brother, 

 and fed and lodged decently at a reasonable price. What if the pauses 

 between the dishes be slow ; j'ours the fault if you cannot fill them in 

 with cheerful small-talk. From Klonthal Hotel to the happy hunting 

 ground runs a pathway, Avhich is a continual joy to the eye, and where 

 so many butterflies and moths do congregate, that unless you get up 

 at 4 a.m., and thus avoid temptation by the way side, the probability 

 is that you will never even reach your goal. Leaving the hotel you 

 take a path, at the nearer extremity of which you will see a sign-post 

 directing you to the KlubhiUte. This path takes 3'ou first through acopse, 

 where, in late June and early July, fine specimens of Jirenthis thore a.ve 

 to be netted. Then you cross a little bridge and begin to clamber up 

 a steep path through woods leading up to the Rossmatterthal, and in 

 these woods Abraxas i^i/liata generally SAvarms throughout the whole 

 month of July. The path now follows the side of the torrent that 

 comes down from the glaciers of the Gliirnisch, and much collecting 

 may be done the whole way, the predominant butterfly being Erebia, 

 well represented bj' oemt', stijfpw var. pijrcnaica, lii/ea, prono'e var. pitlto, 

 mni'stra, pJiarte, ceto, iiidaiiipiis, vwdiisa var. hipponiedima and ipndariis. 

 Well up this beautiful valley lies a tiny group of chalets, or more cor- 

 rectly speaking huts, in the biggest of which you will find very simple 

 food and liquids (non-alcoholic). Now the path becomes steeper, and 

 we reach the rapid slopes that lead up to the Klubhiitte, the slopes 

 which we have set out to find ! At the very foot of these live the 

 Parnassiids in all their glory and in full numbers. Here indeed, were 

 they so inclined, could P. apoUo interbreed with P. deli us, or with P. 

 mnemosyne, for I have taken all three of them on the same spot and on 

 the same day. However, P. ddiiiti and P. iDnemoxyne confine them- 

 selves to a little tract of land by the water's side, while P. apolln is to 

 be found right up to the top of the slopes, not far from the glacier 

 itself. The blues are remarkably interesting the whole way up, but 

 still more remarka.ble is it that one finds the predominant blue varying 

 according to the altitude all over the slopes, I took most careful note 

 of this in 1908, and found that from 4,300ft. to 4,600ft I took Pob/uni- 

 viatiis eras, 0. (tit/ioniis, Hb.), with the alpine forms of Ciipido Diininnis 

 and Cj/aiiiria seniiarfnift. At an elevation of 4,G0Oft. P. eros ceased 

 abruptly, and w^as replaced by Albidinn pherctes, which continued to be 

 the predominant form up to an elevation of 5,900ft. A. plieretea is 

 joined by an occasional Latiorina nrbitiilus at about 5,700ft., and this 

 latter remains the only representative of the blues on the slopes up 

 beyond the Klubhiitte (Alpine Club Hut). I took it as high as the 

 flower-covered slopes, at an elevation of 7,100ft. 



Before going any further let me say a few words about this high 

 flying blue, by far the most interesting of the blues to be found here. 

 It is I believe the form that has been named by Lowe, ab. aijiiilania, 

 taken by him on the Pilatus, and previously described (but not named) 

 by Frey as having been taken in the Engadine. In 1908 it w-as abun- 

 dant on the high slopes of the Gliirnisch, but it was only when I 



