<^^ AND ^^^^ 



JOURNAL OF VARIATION. 



No. 10. Vol, V. October 15th, 1894. 



BiIf'i'Ei^PLy-e^i'eiJir^Q Iji fplE plEigj^lBOl/l^jiOOD OF 



]V[0]^1' BhRjlZ* 



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



Overhead the sky is of a lovely blue. The suu's rays jjass throuo-h 

 the larches and fall upon a sloping hollow that is filled knee-deep with 

 scabious and thyme, marjoram and gentians, umbellifers and trefoils, 

 barberry and juniper. Two lazy fellows are lounging idly in the shade 

 at a little distance from each other, each trusting that the other believes 

 him to be working as hard as possible while he is really glorying in his 

 own laziness as he feasts his eyes on the snowy dome of Mont Blanc, 

 or on the necklet of cloud from out of which stands up, black and o-vim, 

 the sharp jioint of the Aiguille Noire de Peteret. Yonder the Glacier 

 de Brenva shows its white ne've, glistening in the brilliant sunli(>-ht ; 

 whilst The Grammont and Clietif smile grimly across the JJora Valley 

 at the two make-believes on the opposite side. Lovely is the Dora 

 Valley, with its turlud glacial streams, its emerald green, its snow- 

 capped mountains, and its beautiful flowers. Kound this delightful spot, 

 in favourable localities, butterflies and moths don't simply exist — they 

 swarm. 



Let us glance at some of the butterflies that may be captured round 

 about Courmaj^eur on a morning in early August. 



In the valley below there Papilio podalirim flies lazily but gracefully 

 about, sipping from every muddy spot. The few P. machaon we see 

 are worn and broken, and a half-fed larva, picked up on the bank, tells 

 us that we have hit on a time between the two broods or else that the 

 summer brood is past. But the butterfly of these slopes is Parnassius 

 apollo. A lazy, high-living chap is he, sucking away greedily at the 

 nectar of knapweed or scabious, too intent to mind the fingers that 

 pick him tenderly from his food, simply throwing out his fore le^s in 

 a wondering sort of way as much as to say. Where am I now ? As 

 we put him back he goes on sucking again, flaps his wings once 

 or twice to satisfy himself that he has discovered where he is and then 

 after a time, spreads his wings and launches himself in the air so 

 lightly and easily that you fail to see his wings vibrate to keep him in 

 motion. A really fine fellow it is,with its crimson spots varying in size and 

 number, dependent, my companion says, on sex ; but this fliglit makes one 

 * Kead before the City of London Jintomological Society, bept. 4tb, 1894. ^ 



