138 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
scent, except the submarginal; the blotches are as in the type, 
but more restricted. 
Var. acutangulata, from the Caucasus (Rom. sur Lep. i. p. 2, 
pl. i. figs. la, 1b, 1887), has the central transverse band con- 
tinued to the inner margin; the angular projection or tooth on 
the outer edge of this band is rather more pointed than usual. I 
believe this form is not uncommon in Britain. 
My smallest example is a London one, and measures barely 
11 lines in expanse; the largest specimen in my collection 
is from Aberdeen, and expands 1 inch 5 lines. 
SPRING LEPIDOPTERA IN ITALY. 
By “. Rowzanp-Brown, M.A. 
Tue following list of spring Rhopalocera is compiled from 
hasty notes jotted down in railway carriages, and upon two or 
three country walks made outside Florence and Rome. To the 
British observer of nature the marvellous southern spring, seen 
for the first time in all its abundant glory, is a revelation never 
to be forgotten. It would seem as if nature lavished her whole 
bounty upon the April and May of North and Central Italy, 
leaving the later months destitute of those exquisite wild flowers 
which, earlier in the year, greet the eye at every turn in town and 
country alike. 
I saw the first butterfly (March 28rd) at Biasca, a small 
station on the Italian slope of the St. Gotthard Pass, flying 
over the snow; it was G. rhamni; and every foot the railway 
descended the same insect became more and more plentiful. At 
Bellinzona, P. rape was already out, flying over the white crocus 
meadows that bordered upon the line. On March 24th I walked 
from Lugano to Melide along the high road, the banks of which 
were covered with primroses, white violets, periwinkles, and 
anemones; whilst the willows by the lake side were already in 
leaf, and the camelias flowering abundantly in the villa gardens. 
V. egea, fresh from the chrysalis, was everywhere; and occa- 
sionally V. polychloros and a few P. brassice. Between Como 
and Milan the fields were white with snowdrops, but the weather 
turning very wet I saw no more insects until I arrived, March 
81st, at Florence. By the side of the railway from Bologna to 
Florence, across the Apennines, the green hellebore and great 
spurge were flowering in the already half-dried-up torrent beds, 
and the woods were putting out their leaves. Walking to Fiesole 
on April Ist, I noticed many butterflies flitting over the rose- 
maries and already radiant rose bushes of the old hill town. 
In addition to those I have already mentioned, 1 came across 
a single G. cleopatra, V. atalanta, V. cardui, A. euphrosyne, and 
