CONtKiBUTIONS TO THE FAUNA OP THE DAtJPHlNii ALtS. 2So 



Hospice, towards the Col du Galibier. The underside of the male is 

 very like that of an indistinctly marked P. icarm. The female has 

 the marginal lunules distinct beneath. Above, the females have the 

 bases of the wings shaded with blue as far as the discoidal spot, and 

 thus approach very closely to Oberthiir's ab. caendescens, from the 

 Pyrenees. PoUjimviiatm icarus. — Not very common, small in size, 

 and the males rather purplish in tone. The females not sprinkled 

 with blue scales. The ab. icarinus occurred in both sexes. Pohjnm- 

 iiiatus orhituliis. — This species was not uncommon at its favourite 

 haunts, viz., puddles in the road^vay. Both sexes were captured, and 

 specimens of both sexes show considerable variation in the shape of 

 the wing, the latter being occasionally longer and more pointed than 

 is usual in typical specimens. This appears to be not unusual, for 

 Mr. Nicholson says that he has frequently seen the wings as pointed 

 as those I have captured. The undersides of all the wings vary in 

 the number and intensity of the spots. I'dlyotmnatm clamon. — This 

 species, the Blue butterfly of Dauphine, was just emerging. The 

 specimens Avere rather smaller than any I had taken previously 

 (Piedmont, St. Michel-de-Maurienne). The females were not out, I 

 was surprised to find the insect at 8,000ft. elevation. I'ohjoinuiatm 

 eiiiiiedoii. — Only one seen (and captured). The specimen is typical, 

 Mr. Nicholson says, although the underside is rather less spotted than 

 Kane's description would lead one to suppose, rob/uiiiiiiatus astran-lie. 

 — Occurred sparingly on all the lioAvery slopes. The male specimens 

 with only a few marginal orange spots, the female with a strongly 

 developed series of them bordering both the fore- and hind-wings. 

 Plebeiiis optilete. — Only one female specimen seen. Fairly typical. 

 Mr. Nicholson informs me that he captured a form of this species this 

 year in Arctic Norwa}', so that it is widely distributed. Plcbcius anjus. 

 — Not uncommon on a steep rocky slope, covered with a profusion of 

 wild flowers, at an elevation of about 8,000ft. I only haw males, the 

 females probably not having emerged. The males have the greyish- 

 brown undersides, small spots, and rather large silvery blotches of 

 typical an/m. Oberthiir's notes on this species and the allied /'. aei/oji 

 [Etuih's, vol. v., p. 21) are most interesting. 



Div. : PAPILIONIDA. Fam. : PAPiLioNm.i:. Tribe : Papilio- 

 Nmi. — Papiliu inachaon. — This species occurred up to about 9,000ft. 

 It loves the top of a grassy knoll situated at or near the summit of a 

 mountain peak, round the highest point of which it flies with great 

 speed. The Alpine form taken here is only a little more heavily 

 marked than British examples. Tribe : Parnassidi. Parnasdm drliiis. — 

 Seen but not caught, although there can be no doubt about the 

 species. Its only haunt, so far as I could discover, was a steep rocky 

 slope, where it was totally impossible to follow it ; and, as I only 

 found the species on the morning of the day that I left Le Lautaret, I 

 had no chance of surprising an unwary example. 



Fam.: Pierid^. Tribe: Aporidi. — Aporia rratacf/i. — Occasional 

 males and females occurred up to 8,000ft. What the larv:e could 

 feed on here I cannot guess, and strongly suspect that they Avere 

 stragglers from the lower valleys, where they were abundant enough. 

 If so, it would suggest that this species is in reality somewhat of a 

 wanderer, an opinion that I formed both at Courmayeur and in the 

 Tyrol, when odd specimens were frequently captured in unlikely 



