SOME OBSERVATIONS MADE IN SWiTZERLAUt). 27 



Evolena (4,520 ft.) boasts two hotels, of which the Hotel d'Evoline is 

 the best built, but for collecting alpine species Arolla (6,570 ft.) is an 

 infinitely better headquarters, as the latter spot is in the heart of the 

 glacier region. From Evolena, however, I made several pleasant 

 excursions, and on the actual summit of the Sassenaire (10,690 ft.), an 

 easy walk, I Avas fortunate enough to bag Erebia f/lacialis, while the 

 track to the Col de Torrent yielded E. oeme, E. lappona, Melitaea 

 aurinia var. merope, very washed out greasy-looking wings, and 

 diminutive individuals, M. aurelia var. britomartif<, M. ojnthia and B. pales 

 ab. napaea. Colias phicomone made its appearance in some numbers 

 above 5,000 ft., and on the hags among the cotton grass at the same 

 elevation, but not extending so high, Coenonipuplia safi/riou was 

 common. The mule path from Evolena to Arolla, about three hours 

 distant, with a good new hotel (Spahr's) building, passes through pine 

 woods and alpine meadows, but it was clearly getting late in the 

 season when I left, on August 20th, for the latter delightful place. 

 Moreover, the weather again became extremely bad, terminating on 

 the 28th in a heavy downfall of snow, which effectually put an end 

 to my collecting, and sent me to Geneva, where I remained at Petit 

 Lancy until September 3rd. Judging from the condition of most 

 insects on the wing at Arolla, I should say the best time for what 

 must be a splendid locality is fully a fortnight or more earlier. I, 

 however, took a very fair series of Pohjommatus orbit ulm on the Pas 

 de Chevres (9,355 ft.), about five hundred feet below the top of the 

 pass, varying as much as those described by Mr. Tutt, from the 

 Dauphin^ {Ent. Rec, viii., p. 255), one large male approaching to 

 black, the marginal peacock eyes on the hind wings very distinct. Of 

 Pohjommatus erof<, which I have found commonly with P. donzelii, at 

 SaasFee, I only took one specimenona piece of marshy ground, where I 

 also found fine females of Chnjsojjhanus liippothoe var. eurtjbia in soma 

 abundance, with occasional males, much worn, which suggests that the 

 latter are earlier emerging. Pieris callidice and Colias palaeno, also 

 taken on the Gletscher Alp, at Saas Fee, were conspicuous by their 

 absence. Argynnis niobc ab. eris was common in the sunny openings 

 of the famous woods which have given their name to the Arolla pine, 

 while on the moraine, which runs almost down to the old hotel, where 

 the " edelweiss " grows in great abundance, I took a perfect but 

 undersized Parnasmis delius, the only one I remember to have seen 

 in Switzerland this year. This was also a favourite haunt of the 

 commoner Erebiidi, but, on the whole, butterflies were decidedly scarce, 

 and after August 25th I saw nothing worth noting, save a fair 

 specimen of Pieris napi var. bryoniae, at the Lac Bleu, on the 27th. 

 Under more favourable meteorological conditions I might have seen 

 and done more, and I hope it will not be long before I visit Arolla 

 again, earlier in the season, though at all times, I should imagine 

 it is as well to go provided with plenty of warm clothing, 

 for the nights are very cold, and the mornings as well, until 

 the sun tops the amphitheatre of the mountains in which the two 

 hotels — there is no village — are situated. To the student, the 

 extraordinary variation and the gradual apparent merging of one 

 alpine species into another offer an inexhaustible field for research. The 

 life-histories of many are quite unknown, while the astonishing 

 altitude attained by individuals is a matter of considerable 



