On August 9th we took the train to Braunfels on the Lahn. This 

 is a picturesque village in the Wetzlar district, crowned by a hand- 

 some old castle, and surrounded by woods and fields. A stream 

 called the Isar runs through rich meadows down to the river Lahn. 

 On the right sunny side of this valley lies a carriage road, which 

 forms one of the best collecting grounds of the neighbourhood. 

 Above the road rises a steep slope clothed with pine, oak, birch, 

 bramble, and wild raspberry. Among the rocks grow saxifrages, 

 sedums, and various ferns ; Asplenium septentrionak in one place. 

 Wild marjoram, hemp-agrimony, and the golden rod offer luscious 

 feasts to the insects, and the sun's rays beating on the rocks, which 

 in many places are exposed, afford warm corners where Pararge 

 tnegara may bask at ease. 



This road was our chief hunting ground, and when the sun shone 

 it was a veritable paradise for the entomologist. The bottom of the 

 valley is occupied by wet meadows, through which runs the Isar, 

 turning three or four water-mills on its way down to meet the Lahn. 

 These meadows are haunted by several species of Lycaenids, but not 

 in the dense crowds one notices in favoured spots in Switzerland. 

 Lyccena arioti, semiargus, eup/iemi/s, and areas were those best worth 

 netting. It was in these meadows that we made the first attempt to 

 capture that grand butterfly Euvanessa antiopa. It was a very fresh 

 specimen, sitting with expanded wings on an umbelliferous flower, 

 and we all thought how well it would look in the collection. The 

 swampy situation made stalking difficult, but all was going well, 

 when a mischievous Pieris brassicce dashed up and collided with our 

 prey, which then made off in a hurry. However, a few weeks later 

 E. antiopa became common, and we often saw it settling and sunning 

 itself in the middle of the hot roads. There was one old cherry tree, 

 with sap flowing from a wound, which was very attractive to these 

 handsome butterflies. Beyond the meadows, on the other side of 

 the valley, were wooded slopes, with tall beeches on the lower por- 

 tions, and capped by fir trees on the higher ridges ; but this being 

 the shady side of the valley we did not visit it much. Here, towards 

 evening, one sometimes saw red deer coming down to the wet mea- 

 dows. The butterflies mentioned in the following notes were all, 

 unless otherwise stated, taken in Braunfels and its immediate neigh- 

 bourhood. 



Papilio machaon. — This species was not common, and when seen 

 was mostly dashing along over the flowery meadows. 



Pieris brassicce was abundant and of large size. Just behind our 

 abode was a bed of tall thistles where there were always several 

 specimens enjoying themselves. 



Pieris rapce, for some reason, was exceedingly scarce; we did not 

 see more than two or three the whole time, while, on the other hand, 

 Pieris napi was everywhere* some specimens having very yellow 

 undersides to the hind wings, and many were almost dwarfs. 



