300 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
the most exquisite of Lycenids, if not as variable in the depth 
and quality of its colour as another very common Causse 
member of the family, P. escheri; escheri, indeed, appearing to 
exhaust the whole gamut of the colour tones we describe loosely 
as “‘blue.” The most usual, I suppose, is the rather mazarine- 
tinted form of the French Alps; then there is the deep steely- 
blue form with dark suffused borders from the Simplon, while 
examples from Bosnia exhibit the silky azure familiar in our 
alternative form of bellargus. On the under side it appears to be 
among the most constant of the ‘blues,’ but this year at 
Mende, where it occurred always in great abundance—and I 
even netted a few females from plants of Anthyllis, though I 
never found the sexes flying together —I took one male (figured, 
p. 267), which in general appearance of the under side is not 
unlike that of the form of C. var. gordius, ab. midas, Lowe; the 
antemarginal spots have entirely disappeared ; the discoidal spot 
is large and pronounced. We might venture to call this ab. 
escherinus, new ab., I think, though perhaps it is commoner than 
I suppose, for I have seen a similar aberration from Bérisal in 
Mr. W. G. Sheldon’s collection. Another distinctive form of 
Lycenid in Lozére is the female P. alexis, which reproduces in 
miniature the warm, rich, uniform brown upper side and con- 
tinuous orange-spotted marginal bands of the lovely and larger 
unnamed summer race from Ajaccio, which I should like to 
denominate ab. flavocinctata, though I fancy, so far as Corsica 
is concerned, accepted asa form of P. alexis, it will some day 
be differentiated from the type as a constant variety at the 
least. 
Meanwhile a few battered P. baton were sharing the little 
patches of wild thyme with Thecla spint and Epinephele lycaon, 
the latter worn but still in countless profusion. Nor was Par- 
nassius apollo by any means rare—a fine form—the best capture 
I made being a magnificent female = ab. nevadensis, Obth., three 
and three-quarters uf an inch from apex to apex of the extended 
wings, on which the normal red spots are changed to a brilliant 
orange-yellow. The piece of waste on which I took nevadensis 
was, indeed, an ideal hunting-ground. It is situated on the 
slope of the Causse, a point about midway between Mende and 
Balsiege, where the railway crosses the road near a lonely farm- 
house sort of inn, which provided me with the requisites for a 
sufficient déjeuwner in a vine-clad harbour—bread and butter of 
the best, a cheese rather suggestive of Dorset ‘‘ blue vinny,” 
sardines, and light beer in bottles cool, and the veriest nectar for 
these burning August days. Above the lane the hill rises abruptly 
through ‘‘ garrigues ” (abandoned vineyards), well provided with 
sweet-smelling herbs and the universal lavender; and here, 
after eight years, I resumed acquaintance with the dainty 
Zygena sarpedon, the rarest of its kind hereabouts, flying briskly 
