52 THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 
Four Seasons at Martigny. 
By H. L. EARL, M.A., F.E.S. 
In the summer of 1910 I was collecting butterflies in the Rhone 
Valley, and spent ten days, from May 28rd to June 8rd, at Martieny, 
returning to it for a further search on July 10th. I was much im- 
pressed by the abundance of species under the cliffs, and in 1911, after 
a spring campaign at Hyéres and Digne, I again took up my old 
quarters at the Mont Blanc Hotel, on June 17th, fora month. After 
five weeks spent at Simplon village, Simplon Kulm, Saas Fée and 
Brigue, I returned once more to the cliffs, and worked them from 
August 25th to September 12th. Two more visits in 1912, from May 
15th to the 25th, and in 1913 from April 29th to the first week in 
June, nearly filled in the intervening periods at the cliff walk, so that 
I can claim to have worked it thoroughly from the beginning to the 
end of the season. 
The total number of species taken on the wing under the cliff was 
109, of which 98 were found between June 17th and July 10th, in 1911. 
I think this record is an effective answer to any collector who may wish 
to know the most prolific time and place for a three weeks’ search. 
This list would have been considerably increased had I included visits 
to Branson, Charrat, Bovernier, Les Marécottes, and other districts 
within the compass of a mornine’s expedition, but I confined myself to 
the semicircle of rocks facing the great bend of the Rhone opposite 
Follaterres. This amphitheatre seems to have been scooped out by the 
pressure of the great Rhone valley glacier of the glacial period, 5,000 
feet deep, and rock slides from the top make the ground very difficult 
in places. 
It is not attractive at first sight, as it faces east-north-east, and the 
sun sinks behind the ridge before three o’clock in June and July. Ii 
combines, however, a variety of attractive features; a hot and arid 
mountain side, a wooded section, gradually clearing with the rise of the 
ground, an open patch with scrubby bushes of privet and blackthorn, 
a stony walk for those species which seem to prefer glaring rock and 
sand to anything in the form of vegetation, and last but not least, a 
flowery meadow, which becomes increasingly marshy as Vernayaz is 
approached, swarming not only with mosquitos, but with the far more 
formidable “ taons,”’ 
From La Batiaz to Vernayaz is not more than two and a half miles, 
and within this area, I might almost say inside a few hundred yards of 
it, are to be found more than one-third of the butterflies of Europe, 
not only this, collecting was almost limited to the footpath itself, as I 
never found it of use to climb the steep roe¢ky slopes in pursuit of 
species which were sure to be found sooner or later on the level. 
Another point to be noticed is that at each end of the district are 
valleys leading up to the high Alps. At the La Batliaz end is the 
Great St. Bernard, and at Vernayaz, the Gorge du Trient, and the zig- 
zags leading to Les Marécottes, Finhaut, and Chamonix. 
From the numerous instances of high flying species found on the 
cliff walk, it would seem that they are blown down the passes, or breed 
down them, till they reach the bottom of the Rhone valley, always 
remembering that the bottom is fifteen hundred feet above sea level. 
As Switzerland is to Europe, a small country of varied vegetation and 
