( H ) 



M. 2^(ii^tJt^nie should have occui-red, for, at this time, CaUophrys 

 ruhi, Syriclithus mah'sc, and the ordinary early spring butterflies 

 were only just showing there ; it is therefore most difficult to 

 come to a conclusion on the July — August specimens captured, 

 and it i-eally becomes a matter of first importance that some 

 lepidopterist with leisure should stay at Aix-les- Bains one 

 season long enough to determine whether (1) M. ixirthenie (as 

 the species is known at Eennes and Havre) occurs at Gresy- 

 sur-Aix in April — May, (2) M. parthenie is followed by the 

 single-brooded M . atJiaUa of typical form, (3) M. ixirthenie or 

 M. athalia produces the second brood which has been found so 

 abundantly in the district in July — August. The only place 

 in which he had captured what he considered more or less typical 

 M. jKirthenie in spring was at Digne in April 1897, but he un- 

 fortunately knew nothing about the M. athalia reputed to occur 

 at Digne in May — -June, or whether a second brood of what 

 he presumed to be M. parthenie occurred in July. These points 

 exhibit the weakness of any scientific conclusions based on the 

 haphazard way in which Biitish lepidnpterists work on the 

 Continent. We go to the Continent, collect " holiday " series, 

 sort them out maybe according to Dr. Lang's plates, in some 

 cases put on one side the doubtfuls and fill a cabinet series of 

 very typical-looking examples. That at least is the general 

 conclusion one comes to after examining many series in the 

 cabinets of British collectors. What we want are longer series 

 of specimens, and longer rests in the same district. As to M. 

 herisalensis, which has been a-eferredto M. athalia, the facies of 

 three very fine examples from Martigny given Mr. Tutt by Mr. 

 Sloper, had led him to suggest that the insect does not even 

 appear to belong to the athalia group. His impression was 

 that it came very close to If. deione, although at present he 

 knew too little of both insects, to wholly support Mr. George 

 Wheeler, who in his recently-published work on " The Butter- 

 flics of Switzerland and the Alps of Central Europe," had 

 come to the conclusion that herisalensis was a mere Swiss form 

 of the southern species. 



Mr. H. Eowland-Brown said that he did not remember 

 having observed M. athalia and M. deione flying together at 

 Digne in June, but that he had noticed M. athalia and M. 



