EARLY AUGUST AMONG THE ALPS. 



95 



to more open country, and was having a good time in a field of 

 uncut hay by the roadside, when an irate peasant drove up in a 

 diminutive cart and ordered me off, but not before I had netted a 

 fine female Colias edusa and several males of C. hyale, as well as 

 Leptosia sinapis, Polyommatus baton, Car char odiis alcca, Epi- 

 nephele jurtina, and a nice variety of Coenonympha pampkilus, viiih. 

 a dark border and large apical spot on the upper wing. I then 

 passed some extensive granite quarries, and here I took a lovely 

 specimen of Apatiira ilia var. eos, which kept settling on horse- 

 droppings in the road just in front of me, and it was fully ten 

 minutes before I succeeded in netting it. Melitaa athalia and 

 Rustlcus argyrognomon were very plentiful here, and Polyonwiatus 

 icarus and Chrysophamis phUeas were also present in some num- 

 bers. At Domo d'Ossola I took the train to Iselle, where I slept 

 the night, and walked over the Simplon to Brigue on Aug. 6th. 



High up on the Pass I got Erebia tyndarus, E. mnestra, 

 E. gorge, E. cethiops, and E. euryale, and between Simplon 

 village and Berisal Parargemcera, Polyommatus corydon, P. medon 

 (including a rare variety in which the first two spots of the hind 

 wing are in a line with the others instead of being advanced), 

 Riisticus argyrognomon, and IMmphila comma were plentiful. At 

 Berisal and just beyond it MeliUea athalia was very common, 

 and I took M. didyma, Brenthis pales var. arsilache, Canonympha 

 saiyrion, Erebia melampus, and Polyommatus damon ; further on 

 towards Brigue, Argynnis aglaia, Pararge mcera, and Pamphila 

 comma were very plentiful. About two miles from Brigue I came 

 upon numbers of Polyommatus damon and P. corydon settled on 

 the grass and flower-heads for the night, and I selected a few 

 nice examples of both species. I arrived at Brigue about 

 6.15 p.m., having walked practically all the time since 7 a.m. 



On the following day (Aug. 7th) I started off up the Rhone 

 Valley towards Gletsch. It was misty and threatening rain, and 

 by the time I had reached Fiesch a steady downpour had set in, 

 so I took refuge in the Hotel des Alpes, where I stayed about 

 four hours. The result of this was that I only reached Ulrichen 

 that night instead of Gletsch, as I had intended. It was very 

 heavy going on the muddy road, and I arrived at the primitive 

 little Hotel Glacier de Gries wet and tired, with, of course, no 

 addition to my bag for that day. Aug. 8th promised better, and 

 I started at 6.45 for Gletsch and the Grimsel. A thick mist 

 obscured everything from just above Gletsch until I reached 

 almost the top of the Pass, and it was extremely cold and un- 

 pleasant. But it was a new experience to me to see flowers 

 peeping up through the snow, and from the top of the Pass to 

 the Hospice it rapidly became warmer and the atmosphere 

 clearer, till by the time I reached the Handegg Falls it was a 

 brilliant afternoon, though I saw no butterflies except Erebia 

 melampus. By way of Guttannen and Innertkirchen, I arrived 



