244 



THK ENTOMOLOGIST. 



commenced the following day. Driving up from Villefranche-le- 

 Confluent, the nearest station, I noticed a specimen of Satyriis 

 briseis by the roadside, but did not come across the species again. 

 For I had no opportunity of revisiting the hot enclosed valley in 

 which this and other typically southern or Mediterranean insects 

 are known to occur, such as Epinephelc ida, E. 'pasipha'e, and 

 Sati/rusfidia. My rambles, indeed, were generally directed up the 

 valley of the Vernet stream, not only because the ground appeared 

 to promise the best results, but to avoid in the cooler hills the 

 great noontide heat. The opening of the campaign, however, was 

 scarcely propitious, for, having taken the only wrong road pos- 

 sible, I endeavoured to make a short cut across the torrent, and 

 while doing so dropped my net into a boiling whirlpool, and 

 lost it altogether. However, I was well supplied, and, having 

 repaired losses at the hotel, set out under a cloudless sky up 

 the narrow road which leads from Le Vernet to Casteil and the 

 Col du Cheval Mort. Melanargia lachesis swarmed everywhere, 

 but very few females appeared to have emerged at this date ; 

 nor did I find them at all common at any time during the week, 

 while the form predominant was more heavily marked than 

 specimens I have seen from Pont du Gard, and would, I assume, 

 be the var. canigidensis of Oberthur ; nor was it unusual to meet 

 with the aberration in which the ground colour of the wings is 

 faint yellow in place of the normal pearly white. 



Among the Spanish chestnuts and upon the ash trees, which are 

 quite a feature in the riverside meadows, males of Lce^opls rohoris 

 were disporting themselves in the sunshine, but they were already 

 on the wane ; and Mr. A. H. Jones, who preceded me by about a 

 fortnight at Le Vernet, tells me he found them in perfect condition 

 then ; so that M. Kondou's note for " June and the beginning of 

 July " is no doubt more accurate than Kane's " May-June-July " 

 inclusive ; while it is now established that the food-plant of the 

 larva is ash and not oak, as stated in ' European Butterflies.' 

 Of the Theclids, T. ilicis was as usual common upon the sedum 

 flowers, but I did not notice any examples of ab. cerri. I also 

 took a couple of females of T. acacice close to Casteil, but they 

 were more or less passees. Near the same place I also netted and 

 released a single female Thais var. medesicastc, the date — July 

 10th — being the latest I have ever encountered this charming 

 insect. Among a herd of commoner things also, an occasional 

 Melitcea deionc was still upon the wing, though M. dictynna var. 

 vernetensis, Oberth., described as "a constant race differing from 

 the type," and much less obscurely coloured, was evidently over. 

 Upon the trailing clematis Argynnis daphne disputed the place of 

 honour with A. papltia, and here also Cyauiris argiolus was to be 

 seen in numbers, while the dusty mule-path was alive with Satyrus 

 alcyone, rather more definitely marked than the alpine form, 

 and with the yellowish stain more pronounced. Every patch 



