THE EASTERN PYRENEES, 1921. 87 



on the St. Vincent road, where they often left the trees to feast on the 

 bramble blossoms on the road side. We only saw one specimen in the 

 grounds of the Hotel Mercador during several visits. It is a species 

 which does not last long in good condition, and it is therefore well to 

 make ha,y while the sun shines. The first h'pinephele posiphar was 

 taken on June 27th, and it afterwards became fairly common, especially 

 at Molitg, but its habit of keeping well inside a bramble bush is a bad 

 one for thin nets. Visions of clouds of PapiUo padalin'tis var. feist/ia- 

 iiielii were called up by Keyne's article on Vernet, but we were unlucky 

 and only managed to get four or five specimens out of the very few seen. 

 \Ve expected Kncldn'e eiiphenoides to be almost over, but it was barely 

 out, all the males being in bred condition and only two or three J s- 

 seen, though we hunted carefully the spots where Buciitdla grew. 

 Probably owing to the drought emergence had been held back. The 

 first Melitaea phoebe taken was a beautiful var. occitanica, and we eagerly 

 sought for others, but were disappointed, as most of those taken would 

 pass for ordinary Swiss specimens. ScolitantidL's nrimt was a species 

 which we hoped to find, but only managed to get three, two 0/ which 

 were in fresh condition. 



On the way up to the interesting Monastery of St. Canigou (which 

 is being restored by the Government) I went for what seemed in the 

 distance to be a lame bird on the road, but it proved to be a huge 

 Satiirnia pyri {pavnnia-inojor) which almost needed a tin box to itself. 

 Kirby gives its time of appearance as May. The white Cistus was 

 here in full bloom and was a magnificent sight on some of the steep' 

 hillsides and we found a few dwarfer plants with pink blossoms. 



On July 2nd we struck over the hills to the west and round to Ville- 

 franche, but found the country very much burnt up and very few 

 butterflies. Near Villefranche we saw our first Gonepteryx cleopatra 

 and afterwards took a good series m beautiful condition. On a tree 

 near the river we also saw Ubi/t/ifa celtu, nicely out of reach, with his 

 snout pointing heavenwards, and before we could devise anything for 

 his undoing he flew over the river and was lost to sight, but we after- 

 wards captured two near Vernet. A few nice light forms of Melitaea 

 (lictynna were taken and some large and curious forms of .1/. athalia 

 also three or four M. deione. We had hoped for XL didijixa var. 

 meridionalu, but got one only though we afterwards took two var. 

 ocddentalisi at Molitg. 



Several Lycaena arion were taken and among them one var. imicolor 

 which is not common and one var. ohscura from Molitg, which is only 

 about 1475 feet above sea level. On a piece of fallow ground on the 

 way to the Cascade des Anglais we took a nice little series of Thecla 

 [Sordiiiamiia) acaciae which were welcome, and near the same spot 

 two very large Pleheiits arrpis measuring 34mm. in expanse, thouo-h 

 others seen were of quite ordinary size. We achieved the distinction 

 (if staying for nine days at Vernet without going up Canigou, but this 

 was not entirely due to slothfulness. The Chalet Hotel was not open 

 until just before we left and for various reasons we changed our plans 

 and on July 5th went by train to Mont Louis instead. I could not 

 find any reference to Mont Louis in the Record so presume it has not 

 i)een much worked. The small town is completely surrounded by a 

 wall and can only be entered by one gateway. It is situated at 

 5280 ft. on a large plateau, which is mostly cultivated, with a belt of 



