THE ENTOMOLOGIST 
Vou. XLIT.] AP bia £909: [No. 551 
FIVE WEEKS IN THE VOSGES. 
By A. EK. Gisss, F.L.S8. 
(Puate IIT.) 
WHEN travelling down the Rhine Valley from Strassburg to 
Mulhousen a few years ago, I noticed from the carriage window 
on the right the long line of castle-crowned peaks of the ‘ blue 
Alsatian mountains,” a delightful looking country which appear- 
ed to be well worth a visit, and I determined on some future 
occasion to explore this tempting region. These hills form the 
Vosges range of Alsace and Lorraine, on the border-land of 
France and Germany, and across their highest peaks runs the 
boundary line, the scientific frontier which Bismark insisted on 
at the close of the war of 1870. In turning over in my mind 
last winter possible schemes for an entomological holiday on the 
Continent, not so remote from home as to make the journey too 
exhausting for the younger members of the party, 1 thought of 
resolves made in bygone days. So we made a hasty tour at 
‘Easter, when the hills were covered with snow and the cold was 
intense, to spy out the land, and to find a comfortable hotel for 
a few weeks’ sojourn, in a centre which appeared promising 
from an entomological as well as a scenic point of view, with the 
result that we selected the village of St. Maurice-sur-Moselle 
at the south-west corner of the range, on French territory, as 
our headquarters, a choice which we afterwards found no reason 
to regret. St. Maurice is an industrial village of about three 
thousand inhabitants, situated at an altitude of 1824 ft. above 
sea-level, and is reached from Paris by way of Nancy and Epinal. 
Arriving in the evening of June 27th we found comfortable 
rooms had been reserved for us in the Hotel de la Gare, where 
Mons. Cuny, the landlord, and his good wife proved most assidu- 
ous and attentive. The next morning broke delightfully and we 
were astir betimes. While breakfast was being prepared under 
the shade of the lime tree, whose fragrant blossoms were being 
picked to be dried to mix with the tea, or what passes for tea in 
ENTOM.—APRIL, 1909. H 
