AS A HOME FOR BUTTERFLIES 85 



us, we come first upon insects (there are others be- 

 sides B. niontinus) recalling those of the northern 

 shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the coast of 

 Labrador opposite Newfoundland ; and when we 

 have attained the sunnnit a butterfly greets us which 

 represents the fauna of Atlantic Labrador and 

 Greenland. 



Interesting as this is, how very meagre such 

 a showing appears by the side of our knowledge 

 of the butterfly faunas of the Swiss and Colorado 

 alps, where the mountains rise to so much greater 

 heights, and the mountainous area is so vastly 

 more extended! In the Swiss mountains, where 

 the alpine area is limited above as well as below, 

 and the melting of the eternal snows keeps the 

 whole region above the trees one of the choicest 

 pasturages for cattle that the earth affords, the 

 whole aspect of the butterfly world is different. 

 A host of species in infinite numbers crowd about 

 the blossoms, the springs, the very edges of the 

 glaciers. Forms whoUy unknown in the valleys 

 below, or allied to but easily distinguished from 

 them, meet one at every step. . A species of 

 Oeneis, very many of Erebia, several Br en this, 

 a number of Melitaeini, a host of Lycaenini, with 

 species of Eurymus, Parnassius, and several Hes- 



