﻿NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. "305 



visit the nearest hill in preference to another day on the plain. This 

 was Monte Elia, at Palmi, the next station on the railway. At 

 1000 ft. altitude with a breeze the heat was just bearable. On 

 reaching the ruined lighthouse at the top a fine specimen of jasius 

 was a conspicuous object flying round like a bird, and this caused me 

 to waste a lot of time trying to capture it. It had several narrow 

 escapes before it flew right away. Lathonia was very common, but 

 its quick flight, owing to the heat I suppose, made its capture very 

 hard work ; galathea, small and very dark, was also plentiful, and a 

 couple or more worn arge disappointed me, as I wanted fresh 

 examples. I rested next day, and on the following (21st) I quietly 

 walked up our own torrent bed and was content to watch podalirius 

 floating in the breeze, and galathea var. procida in its special valley. 

 Then I descended to the cataract (cattarati), on my way picking up 

 a series of the lovely burnet moth {carniolica) just out. Next I 

 climbed the hill leading to Cammari by a mule track, until I reached 

 the spot where I first took japygia in 1909 (one specimen only) and 

 failed to get in 1910. After a long search, and when I had almost 

 given it up, I disturbed a " marbled white," which flew off sharply, 

 but, knowing its habit, I followed it quietly and captured a fresh 

 specimen of japygia. The next day I went again and caught a fine 

 series. Desirous of making the best use of the last week of my stay, 

 I went to Scylla on the 24:th and Reggio (both in Calabria) on the 

 26th. At the former place I found the headquarters for argc, but by 

 this date the specimens were worn. Some cossus eaten trees attracted 

 swarms of Vanessa, especially polycJdoros and including io, and in 

 the wood fresh, dark galathea and worn cuphrosync were abundant ; 

 while in the open lathonia was plentiful and very active. At Reggio 

 on the 26th the heat in the lemon gardens near the shore was over- 

 powering, and the day was given up to Charaxes jasius. I had the 

 good fortune to catch the first specimen we saw, but after that we 

 were unlucky, and the numerous specimens we saw kept out of our 

 reach. On the following day, the 27th, I visited Monte Cicci and 

 captured two jasius out of three that I saw. I may mention that 

 earlier in the year my friends and I carefully searched for larvce of 

 jasius without success, as it is much best bred. On June 29th three 

 of us climbed Monte Cicci to look for Lihythea celtis (I took this 

 species here in 1909), and for more jasius. We saw no celtis, and 

 only one jasius, which escaped our combined forces. The higher 

 slopes teemed with local butterflies, of which we had already secured 

 specimens. On my last day in Sicily, June 30th, I was charmed 

 with a new brood of "podalirius with abdomens suggestive of var. 

 zancleus, on the lower slope of Monte Cicci. 



On my way back to England I broke my railway journey at two 

 places. First at Pracchia (between Florence and Bologna) in the 

 Apeninnes, a grand butterfly locality, the lovely Apennine fields 

 being very charming, and second at the Swiss frontier Iselle, for 

 the purpose of w^alking over the Simplon Pass. The heat was 

 intense at Iselle, and butterflies were common, including apollo, 

 just outside the station. Seeing it for the first time the flight of 

 some specimens struck me as very peculiar. They seemed to brush 

 the herbage on the ground with their abdomens as thev flew along, 



