154 THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD. 
cloudless, one of the record days for weather and insects, we tarried and 
tarried, collecting, enjoying the beautiful scenery, trying to push off as: 
long as we could the “ coming events” which seemed gradually forcing 
themselves upon us, and so failed to reach the actual point intended, 
although we were quite as high, viz., about 8,500ft. up. Past Piz Albana, 
snow-capped on its northern face, on the winding paths of which one- 
or two soldiers were enjoying a climb, on to the wild and rock-strewn 
slopes of Piz Nair, opposite to the much more snow-covered slopes of 
the more lofty Piz Julier, where we took our meal in view of the snowy 
tops of Piz Suvretta and Piz Bevers. Looking back the way we came: 
gave a grand and extensive view of much of the Bernina range, lying on 
the borders of Italy, with its complete covering of snow glittering in the: 
sunshine. 
It was certainly an entomological day. Insects were in thousands,. 
although many were worn and damaged no doubt from the rains and 
snows of the past few days. Still changes take place very quickly in 
the Alps and many useful captures were made. Perhaps the best. 
result was about a score of Parnassius delius, which was quite common 
at the part where there is a solitary cow-hut on the border of the 
“alp.” About an equal number of males and females were secured, 
all in good condition. There were several of the form recently 
introduced by Dr. Seitz, ab. anna, in which there is a distinct red basal 
spot on the hindwing and rather strong black powdering on all the 
wings. ‘The type specimens of Dr. Seitz came from Sulden. This 
aberration is said to exist in the males rarely, but none of those taken 
have it. M. Oberthur has named a form in which there is an union of 
the two large red centred spots on the hindwings by means of a narrow 
black band, as ab. cardinalis ; it occurs in examples with very large 
ocelli. One of my specimens approaches this form in these two charac-. 
teristics, and has the white eye-centre splitinto two on the left hindwing.. 
Several of the males taken have the eye-spots quite without trace of a 
white centre, some have the red stained yellow to terracotta, which 
may be called ab. awrantiaca of Spuler. But there are such numbers 
of aberrations listed, and the named points in the variation track are 
so minutely apart that it is scarcely worth the time to work them out 
when one is not a Parnassiid specialist. There were plenty of Colias 
phicomone and some C. palaeno. Of the latter a strongly yellow-green: 
female was captured. P%eris brassicae had got somewhat high up and 
a pair of very large ones were captured. In fact, wherever seen this. 
species seemed of quite unusual size. I had almost forgotten that it 
was on this day that I met with a pair of C. phicomone flying in cdp, 
the male was carrying the female. It will be remembered that I 
recorded, Mint. Rec., p. 89, ante., a similar circumstance in C. palaeno. 
There was an abundance of the two more widely spread Argynnids,. 
A. niobe and A. aglaia, in both of which species pairs were observed, 
the females carrying the males. Brenthis pales was well in evidence, 
the females struck one as large in size for the elevation and they were 
very variable, some almost as light on the upperside as the males, some: 
were var. isis, yellow predominating over the red-purple on the under- 
side, and upperside dusted with blackish, some with intense and 
extended black markings with rich green, yellow and red on the under- 
side, some of the form napaea, the upperside shot with dull purple. 
‘“‘ Blues”’ were certainly not in the numbers they were lower down,, 
