ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES FROM SWITZERLAND. 35 



— were both abundant in the luxuriant meadows below the hotel ; 

 two or three Cliri/sopJumus alcipJiroii var. fiordius were netted 

 nearer to the village of Zermatt, one being a very small, 

 dwarfed specimen. Amongst the ^'Ftrehins" Erehia mnestra, 

 E. eurijale, E. goante, and E. ligea were all fairly common at 

 rather a lower elevation than the Eiffel Alp itself ; whilst 

 further on, as soon as one left the flowery meadows and got 

 higher on the moraine, Polyommatus optilete, Pieris napi var. 

 hryoiiice, Colias palieno, MeliUea aarinia var. merope, Erebia 

 lappona, and E. tyndaras all occurred, becoming commoner the 

 higher one got, and at the Gorner Grat, over 10,000 ft. high, 

 Pontia callidice, Erebia alecto var. glacialis, and E. gorge were 

 all fairly plentiful, though very local, One day, about a week 

 before I left the Pdffel Alp, I made a long expedition below Zer- 

 matt, down the Visp Valley, in the direction of Stalden, getting 

 out at the little station of Kalpetran, some seven or eight miles 

 from Zermatt ; and the rough, sloping ground here on either 

 side of the road proved to be a capital collecting ground. It 

 was an exceedingly hot day, and there were great quantities of 

 insects everywhere, the air being filled with the "summer hum" 

 of countless bees, grasshoppers, and crickets. P. apollo was all 

 over the place, a female flew down and laid an egg on a plant of 

 saxifrage at my very feet ; I kept her alive hoping she would lay 

 some more, but although she lived a week and became quite 

 tame, nothing came of it. However, another female from the 

 same locality laid a quantity of fertile eggs which successfully 

 hatched in due course. M.j^hcebe, and M.didyma, both in beauti- 

 ful condition, were very abundant, and a few very fresh A. lathonia 

 were noticed ; a little further on S. cordala, males and females, 

 were in great numbers and flying in the same place ; a good 

 many Ejnnephele lycaon and some fine large Hipparchia semele, 

 though all typical, none of the variety arisUeiis. Here also I 

 found a nice colony of that beautiful "Burnet" Syiitomis phegea, 

 which I had not taken before. Amongst a crowd of common 

 " blues " were two fresh L. alcon, and off a tall thistle by the 

 side of the path a splendid male specimen of Rusticus var. 

 lycidas in grand condition. 



Two or three C. alciphron var. gordius were netted, rather 

 worn however, and a couple of Pyrgus sao, besides C. lavaterce, 

 and several commoner Hesperiids. C. phlcuas var. eleiis was 

 flying near some moist patches in company with C. virgaurece and 

 one immense P . podalirius near Stalden; a ieyv Polygonia c-album, 

 some very brightly coloured 1\ ilicis var. cero'i, and some fresh 

 A. niobe — in fact, it was a memorable day for insects all round. 



In the above notes I have simply mentioned a few of the 

 most interesting butterflies taken, and have not touched on the 

 moths, of which a number of good things were captured almost 

 entirely at light. My two great " coups " were a tine specimen 



