300 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



the most exquisite of Lycaenids, if not as variable in the depth 

 and quality of its colour as another very common Causse 

 member of the family, P. escheri ; escheri, indeed, appearing to 

 exhaust the whole gamut of the colour tones we describe loosely 

 as "blue." The most usual, I suppose, is the rather mazarine- 

 tinted form of the French Alps ; then there is the deep steely- 

 blue form with dark suffused borders from the Simplon, while 

 examples from Bosnia exhibit the silky azure familiar in our 

 alternative form oihellargus. On the under side it appears to be 

 among the most constant of the " blues," but this year at 

 Mende, where it occurred always in great abundance — and I 

 even netted a few females from plants of Anthyllis, though I 

 never found the sexes flying together— I took one male (figured, 

 p. 267), which in general appearance of the under side is not 

 unlike that of the form of C. var. gordius, ab. midas, Lowe ; the 

 antemarginal spots have entirely disappeared ; the discoidal spot 

 is large and pronounced. We might venture to call this ab. 

 escheriims, newab., I think, though perhaps it is commoner than 

 I suppose, for I have seen a similar aberration from Berisal in 

 Mr. W. G. Sheldon's collection. Another distinctive form of 

 Lycaenid in Lozere is the female P. alexis, which reproduces in 

 miniature the warm, rich, uniform brown upper side and con- 

 tinuous orange-spotted marginal bands of the lovely and larger 

 unnamed summer race from Ajaccio, which I should like to 

 denominate ab. Jiavocinctata, though I fancy, so far as Corsica 

 is concerned, accepted as a form of P. alexis, it will some day 

 be differentiated from the type as a constant variety at the 

 least. 



Meanwhile a few battered P. baton were sharing the little 

 patches of wild thyme with Thecla spiiii and Epinephele lycaon, 

 the latter worn but still in countless profusion. Nor was Par- 

 nassius apollo by any means rare — a fine form — the best capture 

 I made being a magnificent female = ab. nevadensis, Obth., three 

 and three-quarters of an inch from apex to apex of the extended 

 wings, on which the normal red spots are changed to a brilliant 

 orange-yellow. The piece of waste on which I took nevadensis 

 was, indeed, an ideal hunting-ground. It is situated on the 

 slope of the Causse, a point about midway between Mende and 

 Balsiege, where the railway crosses the road near a lonely farm- 

 house sort of inn, which provided me with the requisites for a 

 sufficient dejeuner in a vine-clad harbour — bread and butter of 

 the best, a cheese rather suggestive of Dorset " blue vinny," 

 sardines, and light beer in bottles cool, and the veriest nectar for 

 these burning August days. Above the lane the hill rises abruptly 

 through " garrigues " (abandoned vineyards), well provided with 

 sweet-smelling herbs and the universal lavender ; and here, 

 after eight years, I resumed acquaintance with the dainty 

 Zygcena sarpedon, the rarest of its kind hereabouts, flying briskly 



