248 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



that while all specimens seen or taken of E. tyndanis apper- 

 tain to var. dromus, H.-S., examples of E. laj)po7ia correspond 

 invariably to Graslin's bandless ab. sthenni/o, the type appar- 

 ently not occurring west of the Canigou region. I was not 

 fortunate enough to take more than a half-dozen L. pyrenaica at 

 Gavarnie, and they were all males, the brood evidently being 

 hardly yet emerged ; but they are enough to illustrate the marked 

 differences of shape and coloration as between it and the closely 

 allied orbitulas. L. lyyrenaica, again, which has a special taste 

 for animal droppings, is by no means confined to the heights, 

 for among the many butterflies collected together on a muddy 

 piece of the way to the Cirque just outside Gavarnie, I could one 

 day have taken several had not an intrusive mule splashed into 

 the middle of the covey ! Carcharodus lavatcne also swarmed at 

 the same place, and I had no less than half a dozen in my net 

 at the same moment, though I found scarcely one of them to be 

 in cabinet condition, and pill-boxing this species generally ends 

 in the prisoner dashing itself to pieces. 



An excursion to the Vallee d'Heas was, entomologically 

 speaking, a failure, redeemed, however, by the spectacle of 

 countless flights of Parnassius apollo ; nor did the long weary 

 tramp back to Gavarnie over mountain pastures burnt brown 

 afford a compensation. But the Vallee de Pouej^espee was pro- 

 ductive enough to encourage a second visit, and here I met 

 Colias phicomone, E. var. cassiope, nice well-marked examples 

 which may be referred to var. pyrenaica, H.-S., and some more 

 fine females of E. lefehvrei, the best, however, being confined to 

 a sort of rocky amphitheatre high up on the right bank of the 

 Gave des Tourettes, where a snow-fed torrent descends from Les 

 Sarradets. Slightly lower down occurred also M. parthcnie var. 

 varia, with occasional A. pales, and a very distinctive form of 

 E. tyndanis var. dromus. 



I left Gavarnie and the comfortable Hotel des Voyageurs with 

 regret, but already the sands of holiday time were running out, 

 and I wished for a glimpse at least of Cauterets before turning 

 my homeward footsteps towards Biarritz. The most interesting 

 route from Gavarnie lies across the mountains by the Koute du 

 Vignemale; but a multiplicity of baggage, a camera, and my ento- 

 mological apparatus precluded the dispatch of fragile impedimenta 

 round by Pierrefitte, so I took the road and the electric railway 

 in the ordinary way. A single fine day, however, at the Lac de 

 Gaube was destined to be the finale of my mountain experiences, 

 and I climbed thither with the more eagerness, inasmuch as 

 M. Rondou had informed me of the discovery there a few days 

 previous by M. Oberthur of L. zephynis var. lycidas, a Lycaenid 

 hitherto not known to inhabit the Pyrenees. But, though I 

 hunted diligently over the ground for three hours, I am unable 

 to confirm this interesting news personally, and I conclude that 



