NOTES ON THE BUTTERFLIES OF DIGNE. 195 



again being in the dreamy South, and in pursuit of my favourite 

 hobby. It was six o'clock, and therefore I did not see very many 

 insects during that first walk. A bit of wall facing south, which 

 had been thoroughly well "baked" by the sun during the day, 

 was the sleeping place of five or six Pararge mcera, which allowed 

 themselves to be pill-boxed without any difficulty ; and further 

 along, where a gateway was let into the wall, two fine " tigers," 

 a male Rhyparia purpurata and a splendidly marked Arctia 

 fasciata, were resting on the door, both in excellent condition. 



Next day (the 5th) broke clear and cloudless, and the weather 

 for the remainder of my stay at Digne was, with the exception of 

 two days, when it poured in torrents without stopping, of the 

 most perfect description — continual brilliant sunshine without a 

 break day after day, though the wind generally got up about 

 one o'clock — so that it was well to be up and on one's ground 

 as early as possible. I do not think very many entomologists 

 choose to go to Digne at the beginning of June ; May or July and 

 August are much more favourite times. In June one is, so to 

 speak, between two broods — the spring things are going over, 

 and the summer insects are not yet out. This year it has been 

 a very late season all over the South of France ; the extremely 

 cold and wintry spell of weather which there was at the beginning 

 of March finished off the effects of a bad winter, and delayed the 

 emergences of the butterflies, and Digne was as behindhand as 

 everywhere else ; so that I found many things which in an 

 ordinary season would have been worn to rags still in fairly good 

 condition. Leucophasia duponcheli was plentiful and generally 

 distributed, flitting hither and thither wherever it could find 

 some shade. Many of the males were in excellent condition, 

 and showed but little signs of wear. A few L. sinapis were fly- 

 ing with them. Three females of L. duponcheli, which I had 

 caged over a collection of Vicias, Lotus corniculatus, and Lathyrus 

 pratensis, in the hope of getting ova, were one morning exposed 

 to the direct rays of the sun, and although it was still early, and 

 they were not in the sun for more than five minutes, yet it was 

 sufficient to kill them all, so delicate are they. This was un- 

 fortunate, as they were the only females I came across. Cupido 

 sebrus was fairly common in one or two places — i. e. on the 

 Dourbes Koad, where the first track begins to ascend the moun- 

 tain after leaving the Octroi, and in the Eaux Thermales Valley, 

 where they were flying about in company with Everes argiades ; 

 but by June 6th they were beginning to show distinct signs of 

 wear. They varied somewhat in size, one male being an exceed- 

 ingly small one. 



Another of the special butterflies at Digne was Melitcea deione ; 

 this was not uncommon, and, as it was in good condition, I was 

 able to get a nice series of this most interesting Melitcea — 

 renewing an acquaintance with the Rhone Valley form, " berisal- 



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