CALLIMORPHA HERA. 99 



a considerable number. These I gave to various friends in our London 

 societies, but none reared a single specimen, all the larvas failing to 

 hybernate. I have no doubt that the variation of climate was the cause, 

 and one can readily imagine the great difference which exists between 

 the ordinary climate of such a charming spot as Aosta and our 

 own unreliable climate. 



We found CalUmorpha hera again. This time in a delightful hollow 

 on the slope of the Pfander, just above Bregenz, and facing Lake 

 Constance. A little stream rushed down the side of the mountain, and 

 the rocks had evidently so obstructed its course that it had worn out a 

 great hollow, the bottom of which it had slowly filled up with sedi- 

 ment before it tumbled over and went on its course to the plain below. 

 Imagine a large hollow with sloping, flower-clad banks, ringed around 

 at the top with larch and nut, alder and oak, beech and other 

 forest trees, whilst its lower edge formed a marshy, rush-covered flat 

 with alders and eupatorium thickly interlacing all over it. This flat 

 was maintained by the huge rocks at its lower edge, through which 

 the stream at last fell precipitously into the lovely tree-covered gorge 

 below. It was here that C. hera occurred again, with swarms of 

 Artjt/nnis paphia, A. aglaia and A. adippe, with Qonepteryx rhamni, 

 Grapta c-album, Vanessa iu and an occasional Euvanessa antiopa, whilst 

 a magnificent, well-ocellated form of Erebia aethiops, or a snow-white 

 Leucophasia sinapis occasionally fluttered over the marshy portion. 

 Here the eupatorium flowers proved the attraction, and on the flowers 

 the moths were absorbed in their feast in the morning sun. It was 

 one of those rare treats in life, when one could lazily sit under a nut- 

 bush and pick the already ripe hazel-nuts, whilst the insects played 

 and toyed, fought and quarrelled about the nectar of the eupatorium 

 flowers. In front the wood-clad mountain sloped so steeply that it 

 gave a full view, over the tree-tops, of the lovely blue waters of Lake 

 Constance beyond. Of the insects there, C. hera alone was quiet and 

 peaceful, nothing disturbed its calm, unless a bustling A. paphia stood 

 upon it, and then it did shake its scarlet wings, soar a few yards in the air, 

 and settle down again. One thing could be relied upon ; you could 

 watch a specimen alight on a flower, leave the spot for an hour or so 

 to explore some other retired nook, and make quite sure when you came 

 back again of finding the specimen where you left it. These speci- 

 mens, too, were all scarlet, none with yellow hind-wings were 

 obtained. 



The variation of the hind -wings is one of the great peculiarities of 

 our British specimens. From the brightest scarlet, through every 

 intermediate shade to clearest yellow, the tints run in regular gradation 

 if sufficient specimens be obtained. Not that the yellow aberration is 

 not obtained on the Continent, for reference to Staudinger's Catalogue 

 shows that it is well-known, that it was named lutescens by Staudinger 

 in his Catalogue of 1861, being described by him as having " the 

 posterior wings yellow and spotted with black." He gives as its 

 localities " north-west France, etc." I have no notion to what 

 localities the " etc." refers, but the locality given, together with its 

 occurrence in Devonshire, suggests it as an aberration prevalent in the 

 more western areas of its distribution, and has done more to convince 

 me of the genuineness of the British localities, and that Devonshire is 

 indeed an ancient home of this beautiful species, than anything else. 



