126 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
A BUTTERFLY HUNT IN SOME PARTS OF 
UNEXPLORED FRANCE. 
By H. Rowzanp-Brown, M.A., F.E.S. 
(Concluded from p. 91.) 
UnquesrionaBLy the best collecting ground near Larche is to 
be sought in the mountains east of and above the Col; and it 
was here that I took the majority of the butterflies brought 
home, and included in the following list :— 
HespEertps®.— Carcharodus althee; not uncommon; lateral 
valleys of the Col de Larche; quite fresh. 
Hesperia carthami.—A few taken ; rather small. 
H. alveus.—Flying with others of the group in the higher 
valleys; small as compared with examples from the Pyrenees. 
Var. ryffelensis Obthr.; not uncommon, and in fine condition, 
Val. d’Ornaye, but never below 7000 ft. Distinguished by the small- 
ness of the white spots on the fore wing. 
H. bellievi, Obthr.—The largest of the Hesperiids met with.* Flies 
at the same altitudes as H. alveus and its var. 
With regard to this difficult group of Hesperia, which, thanks to 
students of structure and bionomy on both sides of the Channel, is 
now less of a tangle even as regards the nomenclature, Guillemot 
contents himself (loc. cit. p. 33) with the remark: ‘“ Nous avons 
pris une certaine quantité d’autres syrichthus, qui viendraient sans 
doute se ranger dans les nombreuses éspéces crées il y a peu d’années 
aux dépends de fritillwm; mais je ne m’aventurerai pas 4 donner ici 
une liste de noms.”’ 
In fact, he only mentions H. serratule, common in most of the 
localities visited ; a fine bright form, “ parce qu’elle est trés distincte 
i état parfait, eb qu'il est impossible de la confondre ’—though, I 
fancy, some of us find the lowland form of this species none too 
easy to deal with. 
H. carline.—Fairly common at high altitudes; just emerging. 
But I have not detected H. fritillwm; Hb. (= cirsa, Rmbr.), among 
my Larche Skippers. 
H. cacalie.—Bellier speaks of this as much rarer, and only 
occurring in the mountains about Barcelonnette. I did not come 
across it myself, but I saw a recently captured specimen or two from 
the Val de Lauzanier in Mr. Morris’s boxes. 
Pyrgus sao.—Generally distributed, and with the deep crimson- 
lake colouring of the under side usual to high Pyrenean forms. 
Thymelicus lineola.—Common in the pastures and on rough her- 
bage by the roadsides. 
* In the ‘Entomologist’ (vol. xlvi. p. 11) I stated my belief that this 
butterfly would also turn ont to be a separate species. I have not had long 
to wait for a confirmation of its specific identity by M. Oberthiir and Dr. 
Reverdin. The Hesperiid flying at much the same level near the Lac 
d’Allos I should suggest as intermediate between var. fowlqucert and the 
type, as I conceive it, belliert. 
