Fig. 112. CHAHAXES JASIU*. 



BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 



CHAPTER XL VII. 



" Et je suis si joli ! Si tu voyais mes ailes 

 Trembler aux feux du jour, transparentes et freles." 



VICTOR HUGO, " Le Sylphe." 



GKEAT Britain has 65 or 66 species of Butterflies 

 (Rhopalocera). I believe that about 88 occur in the 

 north-west of France. Kirby estimates the European 

 species at 300. Hofmann figures about 235. Of 

 these over 140 are supposed to occur on the Riviera. 

 My son found 109 near Nice before he had been 

 working very long. 



There is probably no district in Europe where so 

 great a variety of insects can be found within so short 

 a radius, or where so rich a collection may be made. 

 The Vesubia valley is a veritable " pays de cocagne " 

 for the entomologist ; you may meet lepidopterists 

 and coleopterists from distant parts of Europe in the 

 village of St. Martin Vesubia. 



Almost every British butterfly can be caught near 

 Nice without any trouble, and some of our rarest 

 species are extremely abundant here ; for instance, the 



