AUTUMN IN THE ALPS 109 



magne, who promptly took the hint, and so saved 

 himself and his army from the plague. 



If many lovely flowers are still with us, so also 

 are many gay butterflies, disputing possession with 

 the bees. Many of the Browns are flitting about 

 the rocks and among the grasses and small, pale 

 yellow Dandelions. The Clouded Yellow, several 

 of the Skippers, and the Humming Bird and Bee 

 Hawk moths seem as quick and as eager as ever ; 

 while three species at least of Blues and the Alpine 

 Copper are still absorbed in the blossoms of the 

 Thyme. Vanessa, too, are common including 

 that rare British insect, the Camberwell Beauty 

 sunning themselves on the rocks, roads, and paths, 

 and expanding ' the painted rainbows on their 

 wings.' And at sundown come the Sphinx moths, 

 particularly the Pine and the Spurge Hawk, darting 

 feverishly from flower to flower. 



Then there are those flowers of the forest, the 

 Fungi. If climatic conditions have been favourable, 

 the display of these is astonishingly rich and 

 brilliant, changing the otherwise gloomy forests 

 into veritable gardens of colour. Scarlet, rose, 

 purple, mauve, orange, blue-green, white, and 

 yellow, they are of almost infinite variety in form 

 and tint, and come as a revelation to those who, 



