SUMMER IN THE ALPS 75 



pardonable to mistake for our Large Blue (Lyccena 

 Arion) ; this, however, is Lyccena Da7non, a near 

 relation, though a stranger to English soil. They 

 have settled now on yonder plants of Thyme ; and 

 there beside them, deeply absorbed in the sweet 

 blossoms, are one or two brilliant Alpine Coppers 

 (Polyo?nmatus Vergaurece), obviously allied to the 

 Great Copper now extinct in England, but likely, 

 let us hope, to be restored by the good offices of 

 Wicken Fen. A brilliant specimen of the Swallow- 

 tail, too, is coming up the slope in rapid, tumbled 

 flight. This insect (Papilio Machaon another 

 British butterfly likely to benefit by the establish- 

 ment of Wicken Fen as a preserve) is common 

 throughout Switzerland, straying much higher up 

 into the Alps than the Scarce Swallow-tail (P. 

 Podalirius), though this latter is plentiful along 

 some of the hot and dusty roads of the plains. 

 The absence of Podalirius upon the Alps is due to 

 its conservative taste in food, the Blackthorn and 

 the Sloe ceasing at about 2,000 feet ; whereas the 

 Common Swallow-tail adapts its appetite to Alpine 

 food-stuff, and feeds willingly on several of the 

 mountain Umbellifera?. 



But here we are, at the base of the steeper slopes 

 mounting to the Col. We had best leave the path, 



