THE FIRST FORTNIGHT IN JULY, 1911, AT DIGNE. 101 



a very delightful day it was in the brilliant sunshine. Dr. Reverdin, 

 as if years were nothing to him, brim full of spirits, ever ready 

 whether with his net or his repartee, never put out, always jovial, 

 always kind, Professor Blachier equally kind and delightful, only in a 

 quieter way. We made a fairly early start staying in one place or 

 another, taking much the same as I had done before, but in one field 

 on the left of the valley, I saw a moth that I had not seen before, and 

 soon it was boxed turning out to be Heliotlm dipsacea, differing 

 slightly from the type towards var. )iiariti)iia. Later on another A. 

 punctiun fell to my lot, and two or three A. carniolica, and also 

 another half dozen of A. hilaris. Again another field on the same 

 side produced several more H. adnietufi var. ripartii, and one or two 

 male /■•. escheri. As the valley became narrower. Prof. Blachier and I 

 being together ahead of the others, saw a most likely spot over the 

 stream on the right of the valley, but we had to go further on 

 to get over and come back to the selected spot, having to 

 climb over two or three low hills of loose slaty shale. At 

 last we reached the desired spot and soon more var. ripartii were 

 captured, whilst among the long grass a Phycid was flying fairly 

 commonly. This I found to be Nephopteryx alpi(/eneUQ, Dup. As I 

 continued my ascent, still among the grass, I espied a dark butterfly, 

 evidently not an Krebia from its flight, yet equally dark. Naturally 

 I made for it, and had no difficulty in taking it. When in the box I 

 could just trace the faintest markings of Melanargia galatJiea, but I had 

 never seen so extraordinary an aberration. As soon, however, as 

 Professor Blachier saw it, he immediately recognised it as precisely 

 similar to one Dr. Reverdin had taken near Geneva, and which he had 

 called var. Itigens. This, I suppose, may be considered the piece de 

 resititance for that day. The time having come to retrace our steps, 

 I made my way back over La CoUette, and took there another 

 Pohpionia egea, and also a single specimen of P. c-album, by no 

 means so dark as our later specimens often are. The females of 

 Plebeitis arr/iis [aegon) were not infrequent, and I took a nice little 

 series in which the orange margmal border in both wings is 

 very pronounced, especially in the secondaries, where it is 

 very broad indeed. Here also I took three quite fresh females 

 of Cyaniris seiniargus, whilst two c? s of T/iyiiidicus acteon were boxed 

 both in excellent condition, and two or three more K. lavatherae, I 

 should also have recorded that I took here, previously, a few specimens 

 of Ciipido asiris (sebrun), and L omitted to mention that the (? s of 

 Heterogynis penella were very common, flying in the hot sun in 

 the Dourbes valley, whilst of other Heterocera I took a single newly 

 emerged $ of the cinnabar moth, one Euclidia glyphica, and one $ 

 of Plitsia ni. Malacosoina neiistria was taken at rest, and a single 

 specimen of Sedna irrorella var. fiavicans on the wing. My stay at 

 Digne ended with a delightful dinner with my Swiss friends, at which 

 the ready wit and speech of Dr. Reverdin again signalised themselves, 

 leaving behind the impression that the renowned specialist, not only 

 medically but entomologically also — is impervious to all things that 

 tend to care, being at all times in the happiest condition both of mind 

 and body. After dinner it was a great pleasure to have a long talk 

 with both the Professors on many points, and especially on the genitalia 

 of insects, when I learnt that we were all three of one mind on the 



