NOTES ON COLLECTING. 331 



not get much beyond Flatten. Insects, though not very plentiful, were 

 interesting, and one lAmenitiH Camilla, Hipparchia alci/oue, Sati^nis 

 actaca var. covdiila and Kiaiouia pob/c/iloriis, fell to the net, with 

 one very dark specimen of Lycaena avion — the only one seen on 

 our trip. Krchia ceto, E. lif/ea and Brenthis dia, were also taken, 

 and one each of C/irysophaniis var. (fordius. Melitaea pJioehe and 

 M. parthenic. On June 22nd, we walked from Brigue down tO' 

 Visp, most of the road being shadeless and the heat like a baker's 

 oven. In one meadow were thousands of Antltrorera caruioUca in good 

 condition, but, with the exception of a solitary specimen on the Bel- 

 Alp road, this was the only time we met with it. Near Visp a speci- 

 men of Fapilio podaliriui^ was taken, and another was haunting the 

 platform at Visp station, in the aggravating manner that butterflies- 

 have when they know the net is packed up, or see j^ou wearing a top 

 hat. From .June 23rd to 29tb, we stayed at the Hotel Riederalp 

 (6315ft.). This appears to be a very good collecting-ground, as the 

 meadows were full of flowers and insects. The (Jentiana acaidii^ were 

 over except on the higher slopes, showing that the season was an 

 early one, but the beautiful (r. hararica was at its best in the swampy 

 places, and eight species of orchids were gathered in one meadow. A 

 walk to the top of the Riederberg (7343ft.) gave us a magnificent view 

 of the Mont Blanc range, Matterhorn, &c., in fact almost as fine as 

 from the summit of the Eggishorn. On the top, two or three speci- 

 mens of (JiJiieis aello were taken, along with Aafymiis latlumia, while 

 Papilio iiiarhaon was flying in its usual vigoroiis fashion. In the 

 meadows ('(lownyiupjia arcania var. danviniana was common, along 

 with Hesperia carthaiiii, Krebia ejnphron, a few K. tiu'la)npiis, E. lappona,. 

 and a single specimen of E. tijndarns. The E. epiphron are the var. 

 cassiope, and would be hard to pick out from a series which 1 took on 

 Ben Cruachan, near Loch Awe. I note that Mr. Wheeler says the 

 true epiphron does not occur in Switzerland. We moved on .June 27th 

 to the Jungfrau Hotel, Eggishorn (7195ft.), which is ably managed by 

 M. Cathrein. On June 28th, I captured my first specimen of Colias 

 palaeno, a <? , in perfect condition, and hard work on very rough 

 ground during the next four or five days produced a nice series of 

 both S and $ . the latter, however, being scarce. Colias pkieomoiu' 

 was not met with until June 30th, when a nice series was taken near 

 Riederalp, where they were certainly not flying a few days previously. 

 Some nice aberrations of Parasnnia plantayivin were also taken in the 

 meadows, one having the yellow of lower wings replaced by pure white. 

 The ascent of the Eggishorn (9625ft.) was made on a perfect day, and 

 the view from the summit was superb. A good deal of snow was left 

 in places, and on the top three specimens of J^ieris callidice were taken 

 flying over the snow. I had taken this species last year on the summit 

 of Mont Saxe, and found it a diflficult insect to net on a windy day. 

 W^hat I did not expect to see was Sexia stellatarniii, which was buzzing 

 about not far from the top. Brenthis pales was very plentiful on the 

 mountain slopes, along with a few Melitaea anrinia var. inerope, much 

 smaller and darker than any English specimens I have seen. Hesperia 

 caealiae and //. earthaiui were met with, and odd specimens of Erebia 

 melaiDpnti, K. iioyi/e, E. uuiestra and ( 'Jirysojdumvx Jripjtot/ioe. July was 

 devoted to an excursion to the Concordia Hut, and the net was laid 

 aside, as the soft state of the snow on the glacier gave all the exercise 



