COLLEdTIOlI OF SPRING RHOPALOCKKA. 28l 



Polt/f/onia egea and P. c-alhum. — These two allies cover much the 

 same ground in southern Europe, but the former keeps a much better 

 colour during its hybernation than the latter. Milliere says that P. egea 

 " emerges in May, then in July, a third generation appearing in Sep- 

 tember." This, I take it, is correct. The females were busy laying 

 their eggs at Cannes in March, and at Digne in April, on the I'aru'taria, 

 growing on the rocks forming the walls by the roadside. Jones took a 

 larva of /*. t'nea during the first week of May, 1894, and this produced an 

 imago on June 4th. Riihl gives only two generations. May and June 

 and September, but it is probable that Milliere is right. Of P. c-alhum, 

 which sometimes has three broods in England, Milliere only allows 

 two at Cannes, for he says: "It flies in June and in September," 

 but at Aix-les-Bains there is most distinctly an intermediate July 

 brood. Milliere gives as its food-plants, " I'orme et quelquefois sur 

 le saule et le peuplier." It would be interesting to know whether the 

 French broods are more distinct as to the hybernating habit, or 

 whether they folloAV the habit I have described in Brit. Butts., p. 349, 

 as occurring in each brood of oar British individuals of this species. 



An/yanis lathoiiia. — The larva of this species must feed up very 

 rapidly after its hybernation in spring, in order to produce the first 

 emergence. It appeared at Digne by the middle of April this year. 

 Milliere's statement that "'Eile a deux eclosions ; mai et en sep- 

 tembre," wants considerable modification for southern France. The 

 first brood is well out in early April, and the second in middle July 

 (early x\ugust in the Dauphine mountains). 



Breiithia dia. — Like the other Argynnids that winter as larvffi, this 

 species also feeds up very rapidly in the spring. The first brood is 

 very abundant in March and April, and the second brood in July and 

 August. 



Melitaea cin.cia. — Like the last species, the larva of this insect must 

 feed up very rapidly after hybernation to become so abundant in 

 March and April. Milliere says, " Tres commune partout en avril, 

 mai et juin," but does not mention the very marked partial second 

 brood, which occurs so generally in south-east and southern France 

 in July and early August. 



Coenuny 1)1 pita painphilus. — The wintering habits of this species are 

 well known. See Tutt, Brit. Butts., pp. 423-424. 



Erebia epistijiine. — Milliere says of this species : — " Parait sur les 

 hauteurs de Grasse une premiere fois en mars et une seconde en 

 juillet." Kane also repeats this as a fact, giving the months of appear- 

 ance as " March and July," and adds what is my experience, viz., 

 " flies but a very short time." A. H. Jones, however, took worn speci- 

 mens in the first week of May, 1894 (E.M.M., vol. xxx., p. 176). The 

 double-broodedness of an Hrebia is so remarkable, that I looked up 

 all available information. Riihl says: — • " Fluggebiet : Alpen der 

 Provence (Siidfrankreich, Miirz) ; Mittelspanien (Marz, April, Juli)." 

 Mrs. Nicholls makes a strange record. She says [Ent., xxiii., p. 78) : 

 " It was also too late for the local Erebia i-pisti/yne, which flies on the 

 high limestone ridge of Les Dourbes during March and April," but 

 this statement is followed up with a list of captures made (between 

 June 9th and July 2nd) in the neighbourhood of Digne, and here we 

 find: " Erebia euias a,nd E. epistyi/ne on the Dourbes." Presumably, 

 Mrs. Nicholls means to say that this species may be found there, not 



