TOUR IN SWITZERLAND. 115 



diligence on to Visp, Send your luggage on by post from 

 Visp to Zermatt, which it will reach in two or at most three 

 days. Sleep at Visp (Hotel Soleil). Start early in the 

 morning to walk to St. Nicholas, as the first part of the 

 journey is very hot. There is only a mule path to St. 

 Nicholas, and care must be taken on leaving Visp not to 

 select the wrong path ; the rest of the route is perfectly 

 plain. Half an hour after leaving Visp look out carefully for 

 Naclia punctata and Sijtitomis PJiecjea. St. Nicholas is said 

 to be one of the finest places in Switzerland for moths, and 

 I should strongly recommend sleeping there; even a day or 

 two spent there would not be thrown away. Next day a five 

 or six hours' walk over a most splendid hunting-ground 

 brings you to Zermatt. The Hotels Mont Rosa, Mont 

 Cervin, and the Hotel on the Rifi'el, are all kept by my good 

 friend Mr. Seller, a pattern landlord, and his most obliging 

 wife ; and pension, at the two former may be secured at from 

 eight to nine francs per day. The Riffel Hotel is dearer, 

 but a day or two should be passed there for the sake of the 

 higher mountain species. The hunting-grounds around 

 Zermatt are numberless — especially 1 would mention the 

 Riffel, Gorner Gratt, and Schwarzensee. 



By omitting routes IH. and IV. the expedition could be 

 compressed into a iew days over the month. The Valley of 

 Saas, branching off the Zermatt route at Staldeu, is a splendid 

 place for beetles, as also the Creux de Champ at the 

 Diablerels, which may be easily reached from Sepey. 



The month for Swiss butterflies is undoubtedly July, but 

 unfortunately this is frequently an uncertain month in point 

 of weather. The butterfly season extends from May to the 

 end of August, but July is the month. Numberless other 

 expeditions may be made to branch off the route I have pro- 

 posed, but these are the localities best known to me as 

 favourable. The route home may be left to the chasseur 

 himself after he has learnt his ground, which I feel sure that 

 he will be sorry to leave. 



From this narrative some idea may be formed of the 

 expense of the proposed tour, and to give a notion of the 

 captures of butterflies that may be made 1 append to this a 

 list of the Swiss butterflies that I have myself taken, and the 

 localities arranged according to the districts above alluded 



