A/ A TURK 



THURSDAY, MAY 12, 18S1 



THE LEPIDOPTERA OF SWITZERLAND 

 Die Lepidopteren der Schiveiz. Von Prof. Dr. Heinrich 



Frey. 8vo. Pp. xxvi. and 454. (Leipzig : Engelmann, 



1S80.) 

 " T N the evening of a busy life I hand over for pubhca- 



J- tion a book which, for a generation, has been 

 suspended before my mind as an object to be attained. 

 When in the summer of 1S49, '" '''^ sunny days of 

 youth, I, an indefatigable traveller, and passionate lover 

 of Lepidoptera, for the first time traversed our glorious 

 country in an extended sense, the idea of a Lepido- 

 pterous Fauna of Switzerland was conceived." In this 

 manner the author (who is Professor of Pathology in 

 the Polytechnic of Zurich) commences his introductory 

 remarks. It may be well to state here that Dr. Frey 

 is a Swiss only by adoption (we believe a native of 

 Frankfort on the Main) ; and this will explain why it was 

 not until 1849 that any extended journey in Switzerland 

 had been made by him. His writings on Swiss Lepi- 

 doptera are familiar to all European students of the 

 order. Many of these are monographic on special genera 

 or groups, chiefly of the Micro-Lepidoptera, and in 1856 

 a volume of 430 pages — "Die Tineen und Pterophoriden 

 der Schweiz " (a descriptive work) — appeared from his 

 pen. To English readers bis short, but very suggestive, 

 paper on the "Tinea: of the Higher Alps," jublished in 

 the Entomologists' Annual for 185S, can scarcely be 

 forgotten. New, " in the evening of life," as he terms it, 

 he comes before the entomological public with his 

 magnum opus. We heartily congratulate him there- 

 upon. 



It will readily be understood, from the fact of the work 

 consisting only of one volume, and including therein all 

 the Swiss species, that it is not descriptive, outside the 

 very few new species or varieties mentioned in it. It is a 

 carefully compiled catalogue, but very different from a 

 bare dry list of names. To each species is appended 

 a certain amount (not complete) of synonymy, indications 

 of the food-plants of the larvae, the time of appearance of 

 the imago, and, what is most useful, a carefully analysed 

 list of localities, with special regard to altitude, the latter 

 being of great importance and value in treating of a 

 fauna such as that of Switzerland. More than this, there 

 are copious notes on the numerous varieties into which 

 many species run, not only as concerns influences that 

 locality may exercise in the country itself, but also in 

 connection with the forms of the same species occurring 

 in other parts of Europe. 



Our author is strongly conservative in some of his 

 views. He hesitates at species-splitting, unless there 

 appear to be the strongest reasons for such a course. 

 He almost snubs the innovations in Staudinger and 

 Wocke's last European Catalogue (adopting however 

 the sequence) by not accepting their changed nomen- 

 clature for the most part, but (for the sake of convenience 

 and identification) placing the " restored" names between 

 brackets. 



We cannot presume to give an analysis of individual 

 species and their distribution horizontally or vertically. 

 Vol. XXIV. — No. 602 



This is everywhere carefully worked out, and more espe- 

 cially in the butterflies. 2508 species are recognised as 

 Swiss, viz., 171 Rhopalocera{ox butterflies), 61 Sphingidir, 

 170 Bombycida, 439 Noctuida, 375 Geometridce, 191 

 Pyralida and Crambidce, 334 Tortricida, 727 Tincina, 

 35 Pterophorida, and 5 Alucita. If varieties (by some 

 considered species) be added, the total is raised to 2829, 

 the butterflies alone claiming 65 of these forms. In the 

 higher groups the author has derived very great assistance 

 from previous writers, or from the somewhat numerous 

 collectors. But when we come to the Tineina, near the 

 end of the work, all this is changed ; whole pages, includ- 

 ing many species on each, giving only one or two localities 

 for each species, and "Frey" as the sole observer, a 

 striking proof of the neglect under which those minute 

 but intensely interesting forms suffer. 



Switzerland attracts touri^ts from all parts of the 

 world ; many of these are entomologists who derive 

 vastly increased pleasure and much profit by collecting 

 insects ; many of them publish accounts of the results of 

 their e.xcursions. We think the author might have 

 added to his local information by consulting more of the 

 scattered lists published by foreigners, and more espe- 

 cially many such that have of late appeared in English 

 journals. 



Very interesting are the copious introductory observa- 

 tions on the physical features of the country. A table 

 gives thermometrical observations for twenty-six stations, 

 showing a mean temperature ranging from -f- 12 "58 Cen- 

 tigrade at Bellinzona (729 feet) to — o"i9 at the Julier Pass 

 (7040 feet) ; of greatest cold from -6'8at Bellinzona to 

 - 247 at Davos ; of greatest heat from + 33'i at Lugano 

 to + I7'6 at the St. Bernhard Hospice. .\ copious 

 analysis of the vertical range of vegetation, especially 

 of certain trees, is given in connection with Lcpido- 

 ptera. Conifers extend to over 7800 feet (it should be 

 remembered that Paris feet are always intended ; thus in 

 English the heights would be seemingly greater) in the 

 Southern Alps, .^t the -Albula Pass (7120 feet) 152 

 species of Lepidoptera were noticed by the author, 44 of 

 which were butterflies. About 8500 feet must be con- 

 sidered the limit for Lepidoptera, excluding occasional 

 individuals carried higher by the winds. In a lengthened 

 analysis the author does not lose sight of the probable 

 origin of the Swiss fauna. Whilst showing indications 

 of adoption of the glacial theory, he scarcely commits 

 himself to an opinion, and prefers to give the facts, 

 leaving it to others to build theories thereupon. A 

 most instructive chapter is formed by an analysis of the 

 following headings :--(i) species of the high Alps which 

 occur unchanged in the high north and in other Euro- 

 pean mountain-ranges ; (2) species which, living in the 

 high Alps and the north, show but little chaftge ; (3) such 

 as undergo greater change in the north and in other 

 mountain-ranges outside Switzerland ; (4) those that occur 

 only in the --Mps and in the .-Arctic Zone; (5) darker 

 coloration in Alpine regions ; (6) species introduced from 

 the south. The introduction ends with five pages of about 

 470 Swiss localities, in double columns, with the altitudes. 



The whole of this introductory portion cannot but prove 

 fascinating to all who have visited the Alps, or have had 

 occasion to study the insects of high latitudes. The time 

 is fast approaching when multitudes of our countrymen 



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