NOTKS 0\ ('()I,T.F.<'TTN<;. 101 



climbing which is usually associated with the capture of this, the most 

 alpine of all European butterflies. Apart from the awkward nature of 

 the ground frequented— it is a steep loose slope, strewn with huge 

 boulders, and on which a slip would pi'obably mean a broken limb — 

 and apart from the possibility, by no means remote, of starting one of 

 the huge boulders down the slope upon one's self, E. ijlacialis is not 

 difficult to negotiate, and we managed to get a dozen specimens in the 

 afternoon, which I suppose is fairly good for this species, most of them 

 would answer to the description of nb. olertn. K. iilacialis is an 

 interesting species to hunt and observe ; the larva is said to feed upon 

 grasses, but certainly neither grasses nor vegetation of any kind grow in 

 the spots where I have seen it Hying, these are loose sandy slopes strewn 

 with boulders. The butterfly, which is unmiscakable, on account of its 

 large size, from all other Erebias occurring at these heights, is usually 

 hrst seen moving with the slow flight peculiar to the genus, and 

 occasionally sitting on the stones. Your best chance is to watch it 

 down, and then stalk it, for it is next to impossible to progress at a 

 sufficient rate on the difficult ground to overtake it in flight. Other 

 species obtained on the Riffelberg were Pnlyowmntiis optiletc, plentiful 

 in both sexes, P. rmn, P. orbituliis, Cupid n v)iniiniis, and one or two 

 /'/V>-/x calliilirt', I'olias palaeno, and r. phicovione were frequent, and in 

 good order, and I was able to complete my series of both species, 

 Mrlitaea aini)iia var. mcropi', and .1/. parfhenip var. raria were plentiful; 

 amongst the skippers I took Hrspiria cacaliac and Paiiiji/iila coniiiia : 

 ( 'oenoni/mp/ia sati/n'ou was not infrequent, and I saw one ragged 

 specimen of (Knein acllo, the only one observed this year; I also obtained 

 a solitary female of hftoria lathnnia. 



From Zermatt we travelled straight to England, after spending a 

 most enjoyable holiday. The weather was not invariably fine, but the 

 rain generally fell during the night, and our collecting was not much 

 interfered with by the elements, in fact, there was not a single day on 

 which we did not get something, and the fact that we obtained, or 

 observed, in all 118 species in 21 days' collecting, was fairly satisfactory, 

 considering the extraordinary season that has just ended. 



Ig^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Lkpidoptk,rolo(iical notes from the Middlesex and Herts 

 BORDER FOB 1903, — The season of 1903 was the worst I have 

 experienced, and very little of interest was met with, quite a numbei- 

 of species being conspicuous by their absence. As in 1902, I found 

 that the only method of taking moths which was at all successful was 

 by means of a light trap ; bnt only two species {viz., Aqihalia rlilnta. 

 September 2Srd, and liadcna thcdasaina, June 3rd) of those taken in 

 this way were new to my list for this particular locality. Of those 

 which had occurred before, the following were the best; the dates 

 following the species indicate the earliest appearance : — Leiocampa 

 (livtacoidex (July 19th). Diptcryrfia scobriiisrula (pina-^tri) (June BOth). 

 Laperina rfspitis (August 30th), Pachnohia rnbricom (April 28th). 

 (Jnnoptera lihatri.v (March 21st), Hahrostola tripartita (iirticae) (June 

 12th), Plioiia rhrt/fiitis (July 4th). XavrlotjnatJio tarsipcuitalis (July 9rh), 

 Kpionr apiciaria (August 30th), Pcricallia '<i/)iv(iaria (July KJth), 

 Selevia liinaria (June 6th), Crambus perldlm (July 9th), A/i/idinia 



