NOTES ON A SUMMER TOUR IN SWITZERLAND. 243 



of its several named varieties and aberrations I took was a single 

 female, which I refer to Staudinger's ab. astasio'ides ; and here 

 also I took on the way back the only female iris seen. The 

 road now winds up through the trees, and there Mr. Reed had 

 captured L. populi a day or so before. But it was not until I 

 reached the top of the hill and struck along the Lausanne Road 

 that I found iris and ilia in any quantity. Unfortunately 

 nearly all were worn ; but from the droppings, which proved an 

 irresistible bait for their majesties, I managed to net a few 

 good examples. The temerity of these individuals was amusing 

 and somewhat trying, for, after capture and rejection, I kept 

 taking the veterans again and again. And once settled to their 

 banquet, they might have been caught with the fingers ! There 

 were, however, no females here at all events, and but few Other 

 butterflies, except Aphantopus hyperanthus, occasional Thecla 

 ilicis, and Adopcea thaumas, in the likely looking wastes by the 

 roadside. Of the few day-flying moths noticed, Lasiocampa 

 quercus and Anthrocera lonicera may be mentioned. But the 

 afternoon closed in with cloud and more wind, and early next 

 morning I was on my way in the Simplon express to Brigue 

 and the Upper Rhone Valley. 



I certainly thought the proverbial bad luck of old years, 

 which has attended my Swiss expeditions in the way of weather, 

 was going to continue when I drove up to Berisal on the 15th 

 from Brigue. The first half of the well-known drive, now per- 

 haps less used than heretofore, and therefore so much the 

 pleasanter for collecting, was performed under a blue sky. 

 Euvanessa polychloros had already put in appearance at this 

 comparatively high altitude, and males of Epinephele lycaon were 

 flying with a very brilliant form of Melitaa phoebe long before I 

 reached the famous " Second Refuge," where just ten years 

 previously, in August, I had sought in vain for Rusticus zephyrus 

 var. lycidas. Leaving the carriage to go on, I descended at this 

 classic spot, but alas ! the sky had clouded over, and scarcely 

 anything was a-wing; just a few R. argyrognomon, Brgstr., to 

 raise false hopes, and kicked up from the herbs occasional 

 P. escheri — afterwards found here in abundance with females, 

 which I have usually missed or overlooked — and a scattering of 

 Melanargia galatea. On this afternoon there were no lycidas 

 on view, but the slopes affected by its favourite Astralagus bore 

 all too eloquent testimony to the attentions bestowed on this 

 pretty butterfly, which happily is by no means confined, as was 

 once thought, to this particular locality in Switzerland. Had 

 the manoeuvres already commenced, I should have said that a 

 regiment of cavalry at least had pounded over the ground ; but 

 when on subsequent days I returned to the chase, I was fortunate 

 to capture several really fine specimens, though I fancy the 

 species had been out a fortnight at least when I arrived. On the 



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