126 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



A BUTTERFLY HUNT IN SOME PARTS OF 

 UNEXPLORED FRANCE. 



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



(Concluded from p. 91.) 



Unquestionably the best collecting ground near Larche is to 

 be sought in the mountains east of and above the Col ; and it 

 was here that I took the majority of the butterflies brought 

 home, and included in the following list : — 



Hespeeiid^. — Carcharodus althecB ; not uncommon ; lateral 

 valleys of the Col de Larche ; quite fresh. 



Hesperia carthami. — A few taken ; rather small. 



H. alveus. — Flying with others of the group in the higher 

 valleys ; small as compared with examples from the Pyrenees. 

 Var. ryjfelensis Obthr. ; not uncommon, and in fine condition, 

 Val. d'Ornaye, but never below 7000 ft. Distinguished by the small- 

 ness of the white spots on the fore wing. 



H. hellieri, Obthr. — The largest of the Hesperiids met with.* Flies 

 at the same altitudes as H. alveus and its var. 



With regard to this difficult group of Hesperia, which, thanks to 

 students of structure and bionomy on both sides of the Channel, is 

 now less of a tangle even as regards the nomenclature. Guillemot 

 contents himself {loc. cit. p. 33) with the remark : " Nous avons 

 pris une certaine quantite d'autres syrichthus, qui viendraient sans 

 doute se ranger dans les nombreuses 6sp6ces crees il y a peu d'ann6es 

 aux depends de fritillum ; mais je ne m'aventurerai pas a donner ici 

 une liste de noms." 



In fact, he only mentions H. serraUda, common in most of the 

 localities visited ; a fine bright form, " parce qu'elle est tres distincte 

 a I'etat parfait, et qu'il est impossible de la confondre " — though, I 

 fancy, some of us find the lowland form of this species none too 

 easy to deal with. 



H. carlincB. — Fairly common at high altitudes ; just emerging. 

 But I have not detected H. fritillum; Hb. (= cirsii, Embr.), among 

 my Larche Skippers. 



H. cacalice. — Bellier speaks of this as much rarer, and only 

 occurring in the mountains about Barcelonnette. I did not come 

 across it myself, but I saw a recently captured specimen or two from 

 the Val de Lauzanier in Mr. Morris's boxes. 



Pyrgus sao. — Generally distributed, and with the deep crimson- 

 lake colouring of the under side usual to high Pyrenean forms. 



Thymelicus lineola. — Common in the pastures and on rough her- 

 bage by the roadsides. 



* In the 'Entomologist' (vol. xlvi. p. 11) I stated my belief that this 

 butterfly would also turn out to be a separate species. I have not had long 

 to wait for a confirmation of its specific identity by M. Oberthlir and Dr. 

 Reverdin. The Hesperiid flying at much the same level near the Lac 

 d' Alios I should suggest as intermediate between var. foulquieri and the 

 type, as I conceive it, hellieri. 



