BUTTERFLIES OBSERVED IN SOUTHERN FRANCE. 151 



ascended to the ground above the Pont, there was hardly a 

 butterfly to be seen where, on the last day of March. 1902, the 

 ground was alive with all the spring butterflies. I made my way 

 back, therefore, very soon to the opposite bank, but Hesperia 

 sida was evidently not out, and only a few worn Callophrys rubi, 

 Polyommatus baton, and Pontia daplidice var. bellidice put in an 

 appearance. The next day at Avignon, in a quarry near the Ville- 

 neuve, M. phoebe was just emerging, and in the citadel garden I 

 noticed Papilio machaon for the first time. 



Leaving Avignon on the 11th, I found myself that evening once 

 more back in the ' Boyer-Mistre ' at Digne, which hotel, I may 

 add, for the benefit of intending visitors, has been very much 

 smartened up, the electric light installed throughout, and the 

 sanitary arrangements completely overhauled. Madame Mistre, 

 known to so many British entomologists, has retired, however, 

 from the immediate management of the house, but their comforts 

 will not be overlooked. As on the plains, still more conspicuous 

 in the Basses-Alpes, was the lateness of the season. The plane- 

 trees were only just beginning to leaf, the willows and the lesser 

 forest-trees barely clothed with green, though I did find more 

 favoured places, notably on the little rent in the hills which is 

 the butterfly-hunter's staircase to La Collette — and fine collecting 

 ground all the way up — situate to the left of the Dourbes Road, 

 about half a mile from the Octroi. Here Melitaa auriniav&r. provin- 

 cialis was abundant, with occasional M. cinxia, M. phoebe, Brenthis 

 euphrosyne (large and fiery), and females of B. dia, the first brood 

 of which, in the ordinary course of events, comes in late March. 

 Again, on the top of the hill, on the sweet-scented wild thyme, I 

 found a single belated Erebia epistygne, female. My chief reason 

 for ascending to the summit was Anthocharis bellizina var. tagis, 

 and I actually bagged a couple of specimens within five minutes, 

 though on that and a second climb I never saw this dainty little 

 butterfly again ; nor was it apparently emerged on the foot-hills 

 of the Doubs, where, I am given to understand, it occurs not in- 

 frequently. Pontia var. bellidice was, however, common, Antho- 

 charis belia evidently on the wane, and both males and females 

 of E. cardamines common, the latter especially so, as it seemed, 

 for I was netting every Anthocharid, without an orange tip, that 

 crossed my path in hopes of Securing the elusive tagis. But by 

 far the commonest insect on the wing was Nomiades cyllarus, 

 which simply swarmed in the little damp gully just off the Dourbes 

 Road, and also in the dry bed of the stream which runs down the 

 Eaux Thermales valley. With them were occasional males of 

 P. bellargus, in all the splendour of an early emergence, not a 

 few N. melanops, the males still perfect, and here and there 

 single specimens (all males) of P. baton, C. sebrus, Evias argiades, 

 and P. icarus. Leucophasia duponcheli was, however, decidedly 

 rare wherever it occurred, and, as my half-dozen captures were 



