NOTES ON A BUTTERFLY HUNT IN FRANCE IN 1910. 7 



hardly any butterflies were on the wing except R. argiis, Leptosia 

 sinapis, Colias hyale, Sati/rus cordnla, and Polijornmatus esclieri, 

 Mr. Warren netting a single P. admetus var, ripertii. Matters 

 mended, however, somewhat later in the day, when the Eaux- 

 Thermales Valley yielded, in addition to the Papilionidcie men- 

 tioned above, Argynnis daphne — some worn, some quite perfect — 

 Gonepteryx cleopatra, Thccla ilicis, T. spini, Polyommatus hylas, 

 and the following "skippers": Hesperia carthami, Tliymelicus 

 actceon (males only, very common), and Pyrgus sao. Magnifi- 

 cently coloured females of P. escheri were also not infrequent. 

 It was curious to observe, however, that of the earlier butterflies 

 their size was abnormally small, and this in a locality noted for 

 the grandeur of its examples. Aporia cratcegi we came across 

 here, as well as at the higher levels, were no larger than the 

 males of Limenitis Camilla. A male P. hylas, normally as large 

 as our finest P. corydoii at home, measures hardly more than a 

 normal British male it. argus. 



Our first expedition to the Dourbes was made on July lOth, 

 but unfortunately after a brilliant morning — we started soon 

 after 5 a.m. — the weather became cloudy at noon ; that is to 

 say, when we had been at the top somewhere about an hour, 

 having missed the more direct road up the clift's. Added to 

 this, a furious wind preceded the departure of the sun, and it 

 was with difficulty that we made any captures at all upon the 

 actual ridge. Evidently here above, as on the lower ground 

 round Digne, the emergence of many species had been arrested 

 by the low temperatures of May. We were, in fact, among the 

 spring butterflies again ; though very few were in good condition, 

 liemnants of Erehia evias indicated a rather plentiful generation, 

 and there were quite a lot of Pariiassius mneniosyne about, nearly 

 all decidedly passes, but one or two males quite perfect ! More 

 remarkable still was the apparition of Pararge hiera, also wholly 

 dilapidated ; a species I do not remember to have seen recorded 

 from the Dourbes heretofore, the reason no doubt being that 

 few collectors who visit Digne earlier in the year think it 

 worth while to ascend so high. The lavender, of course, was 

 not out at this altitude, but the sides of the steep precipitous 

 clifl's where Erehia scipio is fabled (?) to fly, were covered with 

 flowers, and for the first time the Anthrocerids were seen in 

 profusion ; a particularly welcome find being the pretty little 

 A. gallica, Obth., a new species to me. Erehia stygne was, how- 

 ever, the only butterfly in good condition that we came across 

 otherwise than singly until we had once more returned to 

 the glades of the pine forest, where, among the lush-green 

 grasses and vetches, Noiniades seviiargus, Cupido minimus, and 

 Everes coretas were common enough, though we did not dis- 

 cover that we were disturbing the latter until almost out of the 

 wood. 



