55 



A BUTTERFLY HUNT IN SOME PARTS OF 

 UNEXPLORED FRANCE. 



By H. Rowland-Bkown, M.A., F.E.S. 



(Continued from p. 14.) 

 (v) Basses-Alpes. (a) Alios. 



As in the case of a previous paper of the series, some quali- 

 fication of title is necessary. Donzel * discovered Alios in 1831. 

 It has received several recent visits from English collectors, 

 myself included, and I have given a short account of a week 

 spent here in August, 1908 (' Entomologist, vol. xli. p. 268). 

 However, as I was in this part of the Basses-Alpes at an earlier 

 date than on the occasion of my last visit, or that of the late 

 Mr. J. W. Tutt C Entomologist's Record,' vol. xix. pp. 197-199), 

 I trust my experiences may be useful to those who wish to 

 explore the upper valley of the Verdon during the summer 

 months. Alios remains primitive. The motor services, the 

 endless procession of touring cars have left it unperturbed ; and 

 the little Hotel du Midi, where Mdlle. Pascal works so hard for 

 the comfort of her pensionnaires, is as archaic and roughly com- 

 fortable as ever. 



After a rather disappointing entomological week at Digne — 

 for the universal drought in the lower lands of Provence had 

 burnt up all the green herb — I took train for Thorame-Haute 

 by the familiar narrow-gauge line. Here the alpine motors of 

 the Sud Company pick up, and they are almost as cheap as the 

 former rusty diligence. Between St. Andre and the starting- 

 point there are doubtless many fine butterfly corners as sug- 

 gested by glimpses caught from the windows of the never- 

 express train. Such a one there is near the station before 

 Thorame, and there I bade farewell to Papilio alexanor — so un- 

 accountably and unusually rare in 1913 in its native haunts at 

 Digne. The drive is pleasant enough by Beauvezer and Colmars, 

 with its narrow medieval streets, through which the motor 

 steers, scraping the stucco from the walls of the overhanging 

 houses — a veritable threading of the needle's eye. The climb 

 scarcely begins before Colmars, from the gate of which town it 

 is practically all uphill, and as dusty a road as ever provoked 

 the thirst of man and beast. Still, there are several good 

 stretches of collecting ground by the river en route, as I found 

 when, on the hottest day of the year, I descended in quest of 

 Erebia scipio at points indicated by Mr. Powell (' Entomologist,' 

 vol. xli. p. 298). 



I left Digne at eight o'clock, and reached my destination 



* ' Notice Entomologique sur les Environs de Digne et quelques Points 

 des Basaes-Alpes,' par M. Hugues Donzel. Lyon, 1851. 



