MY FIRST VISIT TO THE ENGADINE. 9 



as for instance, at Tivoli, where Ave got a better dinner than 

 ever we had in Rome, — that out-of-the-way places frequently 

 provide far more bountifully for the passing traveller than 

 more established places of resort.) Soon after leaving the 

 Bernina Inn we were opposite the entrance to the Val da 

 Fain, and the Entomologists were already visible brandishing 

 their nets, so I left the carriage party to pursue their journey 

 to the Bernina Pass, and turning up the Yal da Fain soon 

 overtook in succession all my friends. 



The Val da Fain is so called on account of the excellent 

 hay it produces — the same causes that make the hay good 

 contribute, I presume, to the luxuriant carpet of Alpine 

 flowers with which it is decked — but far more startling to 

 me than the profusion of flowers, was the lavish abundance 

 of butterflies : it was one of those astonishing sights that 

 almost seemed to render one breathless. Colias Phicomone 

 flew in scores ; 3IelitcecB and Erebice were literally in 

 hundreds, frequently four or flve on a flower ; Erehia Gorge 

 especially attracted my attention, flashing in the sunshine 

 nearly all the colours of the rainbow ; Parnassius Delius 

 occasionally diversified the scene, as also Chrysophanus 

 Chryseis, whilst of blues and skippers there really seemed no 

 end. Such a scene for abundance and variety of Rhopalocera 

 I had never conceived, and I believe I may truly say, with- 

 out the slightest exaggeration, that I saw in that one day, July 

 13th, 1865, more butterflies than in the whole of my previous 

 life put together. Nor had the Rhopalocera the scene en- 

 tirely to themselves : there were Zygceua Exulans, ProcrU 

 Ckrysocephala, the two yellow under-winged Phisice, De- 

 vergens and DlvergenSy plenty o£ Psodos alpinafa, CUogene 

 lutearia {Tinctaria) by fifties, and Botys Rhododendralis 

 by hundreds ! 



Herr von Heinemann kindly directed my attention to a 



