134 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [May, '05 



cautiously ; but if disturbed will give the collector a long chase, 

 always avoiding the net. It rarely rises above four feet from 

 the ground and may be pursued till caught without its rising 

 overhead and soaring away. 



Butterflies of Mt. Wilson, Southern Calfornia. 

 By Fordyce Grinnell, Jr., Palo Alto, Calfornia. 



Mt. Wilson is located in the front range of the San Gabriel 

 Forest Reserve, Los Angeles County. It is about forty miles 

 from the Pacific Ocean — on a clear day the ocean is plainly 

 visible from the summit, and the view over the surrounding 

 country and the Mojave Desert to the north, is magnificent. 

 It is reached by two picturesque winding trails about nine 

 miles in length. The elevation is about 5886 feet above .sea 

 level, and from the floor of the valley it rises about 3000 feet. 

 The city of Pasadena is located at its base. 



It is probable that more insects have been collected on Mt. 

 Wilson than any other mountain in California. At Heninger's 

 Flats, quarter way up the mountain, is the largest forestry sta- 

 tion in Southern California. On the summit is being con- 

 structed one of the largest astronomical observatories in the 

 world. Two delightful camps are here, one on the summit, ^ 

 and the other a little below the top. In 1890 the Harvard 

 telescope was here, which was later moved to South America. 



The vegetation is varied and interesting and of late has been 

 quite thoroughly investigated, many new things having been 

 discovered. This richness of vegetable life is in harmony with 

 the profu.sion of insects. The whole mountain is covered with 

 an almost impenetrable chaparral, which together with the rug- 

 ged character of the mountain, makes collecting rather difficult. 

 There are three zones of plant life easily traceable on the moun- 

 tain, with interminglings. First, the Chaparral Belt, charac- 

 terized by the abundance of chamisal or Adenostoma fascicula- 

 tum ; second, the Big-cone Spruce Belt, characterized by the 

 conspicuous tree, Pseudotsugamacrocarpa, Arctostaphylos, Qicer- 

 cus wislezenii, and scrub Quercus chrysolepis ; third, the Pine 

 Belt, characterized by Pinus lambertiana, P. nionticola, Liboce- 



