BUTTERFLY HUNT IN SOME PARTS OF FRANCE. 335 



Limenitis Camilla fui-nished a few eggs, which were successfully 

 hatched, and the larvse hred for the second seasonal emergence 

 in England by Mr. Warren. In a deep shady lane at one place 

 the males of L. sibylla were also in force disputing the bramble 

 blossom with hosts of E})inephile jurtina ; occasional examples 

 also of Evercs argiades (amyntas) were picked up from the tall 

 grasses. 



Guethary proving hopeless, we made two expeditions to 

 Biarritz, but the first day, July ord, was again dull and hazy, 

 and we only discovered really good ground after lunch on the 

 second day, July 5th, which reminds me that practically all 

 that ivas taken on the 3rd was our dejeuner, which I had hidden, 

 as I thought, in perfect safety among the fern beneath a bush. 

 Some keen-nosed native appropriated the poidet and eggs, leaving 

 us but a modest ration of bread and cheese, though fortunately 

 I had a few pieces of chocolate in my pocket. All this took 

 place on the ground which I had found so rich in butterflies on 

 my former visit. But on this occasion, as at Guethary — and it 

 could not have been due to a retarded season, for the conditions 

 in South-west France had been quite normal — insects were con- 

 spicuous only by their absence. A fine fresh brood of Strijmon 

 ilicis haunted the low, broken-down hedges, and E. argiades again 

 was fairly common. R. argus (males) abounded, but nothing 

 else, save for " skippers," one or two Thijmelicus actceon, Augiades 

 sylvaims, a single Hesperia sao, and a single, much-wanted 

 H. malvoides, Elw. & Edw. {= fritilliim, Rbr.).* 



Superficially, malvoides differs from the malvce of the Basses- 

 Pyrenees by the much enlarged white spots. But this local 

 difference apparently is not constant in the Alps ; and it is by 

 close examination of the appendages alone that the fact has 

 been established that the spring malrce and the summer {fri- 

 tilhuii) malvoides are entirely different species, as Piambur — 

 that master of correct entomological diagnosis — long since 

 suggested. In the field, however, there should be no difliculty 

 in distinguishing these two Dromios ! Malvce, as with us, is 

 an early spring species, is single-brooded, and over before 

 malvoides puts in an appearance. Thus it is only when we look 



'■'■'- lu the ' Bulletin de la Soc. Lepid. de Geneve ' (vol, ii. fasc. 2, Aug. 

 1911), as the result of full aud patient investigation, Dr. J. L. Keverdin 

 distinguishes in masterly style the Hesperiids known to collectors as 

 fritillum, Ebr., fritillum, Hb., and malvoides, Ehves & Edwards. " No 

 doubt remains," he says, " as to the identity of /rt^i7^;i?n, Ebr., and 7nal- 

 voides, Ehv. & Edw., and if the name oi fritillum, Kbr., should be replaced 

 as preoccupied, what better denomination can be bestowed upon it than that 

 of malvoides '? Have I not shown that the so-called fritillum. Kbr., is 

 so analogous to malvce that I could discover no constant distinguishing 

 character? Indeed, it resembles malvce as closely as it is possible so to 

 do, and the appellation of malvoides acknowledges this resemblance in 

 the happiest manner." 



