56 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



about 1.30, and after a late dejeuner at once set off to investi- 

 gate the first length of the classic " Koute du Lac d'Allos," 

 where I hoped to capture in good condition some at least of the 

 butterflies over or on the wane when I was here in 1908. With 

 the exception of July 20th and 22nd, the whole of my collecting 

 at Alios was done between the village and the lake. The mule- 

 path mounts steeply from the one street and then more gently, 

 and sometimes between thick hedges, past meadows already 

 harvested, to the first bridge over the Chadoulin stream. On 

 the southward slopes butterflies were generally in evidence, but 

 more distinguished by quantity than by quality. Here on the 

 lavender tufts — this being about the vertical limit of the plant — 

 the males of Epinephele lycaon were freshly emerged. Of the 

 " Blues," Plebeius argyrognomon predominated, but the beautiful 

 blue female, var. calliopis, Bsdv., of which I had secured a 

 specimen or two at Digne, evidently belongs to the lower levels 

 and the hotter limestone. A few perfect males of Lyccena arion 

 haunted the lavender. Here, also, one warm afternoon towards 

 sunset I picked up a curious aberrant form of Melitcsa didyma 

 settled to roost. On the under side, while all the black spots 

 and lines remain, the usual tawny markings, notably those of 

 the basal and ante-marginal bands of the hind wings, have 

 almost entirely disappeared, giving a peculiar black-and-white 

 chequered appearance to the insect as it sat motionless on the 

 stalk {=derufata, n. ab.). 



Hereabouts, too, a low hedge fencing a new-mown field was 

 alive with a diminutive race of Aglaope infausta, both sexes in 

 fine condition, and with them a few Adscita pruni were kicked 

 up from the grass, though neither " Burnets " nor " Foresters " 

 were at all frequent, and at this point the same remark applies 

 to the Hesperiidge, for which I was chiefly on the alert. But, 

 as everywhere else in the south-east this year, Satyrus cordula 

 was abundant ; not so Hipparchia semele, though possibly it was 

 still somewhat early for the latter. 



The only Theclid at all common was T. spini, some of the 

 males extraordinarily small, the high Alpes-Maritimes form, as 

 a rule, being of quite the average size. But not one single 

 T. acacia, did I encounter along the line of sloe bushes, where 

 the females were common enough in August, 1908, and where 

 by all rules the males should now have been disporting them- 

 selves. Brenthis amathusia, also not rare near the bridge in 

 that year, was another absentee. Sailing over the willows I 

 saw not a few superb Euvanessa antiopa, with rarer Limenitis 

 Camilla and Polygonia c-album. 



A recent writer has remarked on the moisture-loving pro- 

 pensities of the Camberwell Beauty, and I noticed that it would 

 frequently lie with wings flat and fully extended on the stones 

 facing the sun ; and also that very occasionally it joined the 



