A BUTTERFLY HUNT IN SOME PARTS OF UNEXPLORED FRANCE. 57 
Lycenid and Hesperiid “drinking clubs” on the surface damp. 
They never alighted on the mule-droppings so much affested by 
mountain Lycenide, though P. c-albwm is not above such attrac- 
tions; and in the spring on the Riviera I have observed that 
the last-mentioned species is much addicted to the rotten olives 
left in the orchards from the previous year’s harvest. One 
Sunday afternoon I crossed the bridge here to explore the path 
through the pine woods, returning along the water channel 
which diverts a part of the river to supply the farms above 
Allos. But these woods and slopes yielded nothing beyond 
swarms of buzzing and biting flies. 
The route now ascends sharply on the right bank to the 
chalets of Champ Richard, and then from a narrow gorge of 
loose slaty formation debouches on a more open valley, where 
again the newly constructed path separates from the old, and 
mounts by zigzags through flowery pastures and occasional 
larch spinneys. When the sun reaches these upper slopes 
rather late in the morning there is plenty to occupy atten- 
tion. Canonympha iphis hardly gives place to C. arcania var. 
darwiniana; Plebeius argus (egon), much less plentiful than 
P. argyrognomon, gems with wings of lapis-lazuli the red-gold 
arnica daisies. Colias phicomone is everywhere, the females 
just now ina majority. Males of Hrebia stygne, H. goante, and 
HE. tyndarus var. cassioides (=dromus) cross and re-cross the 
mule track. The larger Argynnids—A. aglaia and A. niobe (all 
var. erts)—are already sucking the sweet juices of the purple 
thistles in company with males of Chrysophanus hippothde var. 
eurybia and Polyommatus eros. A little higher still H. ewryale 
affects the woods, and the clearings by the roadside are bright 
with C. virgauree, P. pheretes (males and females), Parnassius 
apollo, and occasional E. epiphron var. casstope. About three- 
quarters of an hour from the last-mentioned bridge a spring 
empties itself into the torrent; and here over the saxifrage and 
thick wet moss P. delius was flying at a safe distance from the 
net. Once more the road crosses the stream, and zigzags- 
upward through young forests, the nursery of the Maison 
Forestiére, which now comes into view at a sudden turn. Insects 
of all orders swarm at this point. The morning is fair and the 
air delicious with the scent of the many Papilionacez, which 
make a veritable Field of Cloth of Gold, interwoven with 
the duller purples of the vetches. A mud-bath hereabouts 
invites a swarm of P. eros, P. hylas, and Agriades escheri ; 
Lycéna arion is rare, even more so P. orbitulus, which, common 
in the Swiss Alps, never seems abundant in the Basses-Alpes 
and Alpes Maritimes. Hesperia alveus, H. fritillum (= cirsia, 
Rbr.), H. carthamt, and H. serratule represent the Black-and- 
White Skippers; Thymelicus lineola and T'. acteon the Brown. 
To the ‘‘ Coppers’ may now be added C. dorilis var. subalpina 
