25G fApril. 



THREE WEEKS' BUTTERFLY-COLLECTING IN THE ALPS. 

 BY W. A. FORBES, F.L.S. 



The following is an account of a short ti'ip in the Alps of Dauphine 

 and Piedmont made last summer bj myself, in company with Messrs. 

 Salvin and Godman, and Capt. Elwes. Our object was quite as much 

 to enjoy a change and breathe fresh air, as to catch butterflies, though 

 we devoted most of our time to the latter pursuit. We left London on 

 June 22nd, and reached it again on the 11th of July, so that we were 

 only about three weeks, and as we got over a good deal of ground in 

 that time, rarely staying more than one night in a place, a large part 

 of our trip was spent in travelling. Our route was as follows : from 

 Chambery we drove, by St. Laurent du Pont, a village close to the 

 famous monastery of La Grand Chartreuse, to Voiron, and thence by 

 rail to Grenoble. From there we proceeded to Bourg d'Oisans, and 

 next day over the Col du Lautaret — a driving pass about 6800 ft. high 

 — to Briancon. Mr. McLachlan* had made known to us before starting 

 his experiences some years ago of this part of the Dauphine Alps, but 

 unfortunately we were too early for Lepidoptera, the snow lying still 

 thickly about the top of the pass above La Grave, where, indeed, we 

 narrowly escaped being carried away by a small avalanche^ — a catas- 

 trophe that happened to a small cart that had preceded us by about an 

 hour. At Briancon, although over 4000 ft. above the sea, we got for 

 a while into a more southern fauna, as evidenced by the occurrence 

 of such forms as M. Dejone, and the beautiful yellow " orange-tip " A. 



* I visited this part of the Alps of Dauphine as far as the Col du Lautaret, in the beginning 

 of July, 1876, in company with M. Constant (then of Autun, now of Cannes), who joined me at 

 Grenoble, and a botanist from the neighbourhood of Bordeaux. This district had long been 

 known to members of the jMpine Club, and possessed the peculiar attraction of a mountain (La 

 Meije, over 13,001) ft.) that had, up to that time, baffled all attempts to scale it (it has since been 

 several times successfully ascended), in addition to many other inducements for mountaineers of 

 the more amateur class ; it was also well known to botanists as a paradise for rare alpine plants, 

 and it supplies (through its adventurous and migratory inhabitants) many of the horticultural 

 establishments of Europe {and even of Ameiica) with them, either in the form of seeds or roots. 

 French entomologists had also visited it ; but it had rarely seen an English net ; yet there are 

 probably few districts in Europe so favourable for a Lepidopterist ; it is not favourable for a 

 IS'europterist, owing to most of the streams havuig their source in glaciers. It has the advantage of 

 a magnificent military road, a wonderful piece of civibengineering. British tourist-entomologists 

 .should decidedly make its intimate acquaintance. It is ea.sy of access. From Grenoble to the sum- 

 mit of the Col du Lautaret is about oo English miles by diligence and mail. Grenoble can be reached 

 from Loudon in about "27 hours (on my return I left that city at 3.15 p.m., and was at home in my 

 study before 7 p.m. next day). The end of June is too early, even in an ordinary season, and in 

 such a season as 1879 was a month too early. I would recommend entomological tourists (not 

 pressed for time, nor wanting to go over too much gi-ound) to stay first at Bourg d'Oisans, where 

 there is a comfortable inn, kept by an obliging old Frenchman, M. Martin i'' H6tel de Mil-an"). 

 Afterwards they should push on to the Col du Lautaret, where there appears to be good accommo- 

 dation at the Hospice on the summit (subsidized by government, as a refuge for wayfarers m the 

 long winter months). My head-quarters were at Bourg d'Oisans and La Grave, the latter at the 

 foot of La Meije. But I think (for an entomologist) the Hospice is preferable to La Grave. This 

 latter is a miserable village with a poor inn, offering no special inducements, excepting to Alpine 

 climbers : the sleeping-quarters were over the stable (which is, perhaps, cleared out once a year), 

 the food was indifferent, the charges not moderate : and, moreover, newly-arrived strangers are 

 liable to an indisposition (already alluded to several times in the records of mountaineering), that 

 may place them (as it did me and one of my companions) hors de combat, and take several days to 

 shake off. (The water, and the sudden change of temperature from the excessive/)/ hot experiences 

 of Bourg d'Oisans were both blamed for this ; but there has been no report from an official 

 sanitary inspector 1 ). Any British entomologist who is not specially connected with water in- 

 sects should visit this district ; and even the exception I have made would, perhaps, not hold 

 good in the autumn months, when the glaciers have discharged their annual surplus. — K. Mc 

 Lachlan. 



