BUTTERFLIES OF GILAN, N.W. PERSIA. 29 



Mario Marehi, collected butterflies for me on the Monte Giovi above 

 Fiesole. There he found abundantly A. coridon, race apennina, Z., 

 and in the first days of August also some individuals of the like 

 species A. arragonenns (Gerh.), Vrty., race florentina, Vrty., II gen. 

 altera, Vrty. Of other species he only saw S. fagi, Scop. ( = Jiermione, 

 auct.), C. croceus (edusa) and L. rivularis (caniilla). 



From July 24th till the end of October, my friend, Lelio Misirocchi, 

 who was spending his holidays in the island of Elba, made some 

 entomological researches. At first he found many spoilt individuals 

 of S. statilinus, H, neomiris, H. semele, race aristaeus, D. pandora ; 

 afterwards, at the beginning of August, when the second brood ought 

 to emerge of G. corinna, race elbana, P. manni and Gharaxes jasius, 

 every insect disappeared entirely. 



(To be concluded.) 



Butterflies of Gilan, N.W. Persia. 



By P. A. BUXTON, M.A., F.E.S. 



The southern end of the Caspian Sea is fringed by forest, which 

 stretches without any break from near Lenkoran, in the Trans- 

 caucasian republic of Azerbaijan, to Asterabad, in N.E. Persia. The 

 greater part of the forest lies in Persia, in the provinces of Gilan and 

 Mazandaran. The forest grows between the Caspian Sea and the 

 Eiburz mountains, and stretches from sea level (that is to say, from 

 some 80 feet below mean sea level) to about 5,000-6,000 feet on the 

 northern slopes of the Eiburz ; the width of the forest, from the sea 

 shore to tree-line, is between thirty and sixty miles ; it is provided 

 with a heavy rainfall distributed through every month of the year. 



Apart from this forest, Persia consists of a high, semi-desert table- 

 land crossed by many ranges of rocky mountains, and the contrast 

 between the fauna and flora of forest and plateau is extremely clearly 

 marked. 



. I do not feel competent to deal with the fauna of the plateau, and 

 will only say that it consists of genera and species well known, most 

 of them, as characteristic of the great desert belt, which extends from 

 Morocco, through Egypt and Syria, to Persia, Turkestan and the Gobi. 

 My object in publishing this very incomplete list of the butterflies of 

 the great forest is to show how entirely the fauna of this region differs 

 from that of the stony plateau ; even my few captures are of con- 

 siderable interest, for much less is known of the fauna of Gilan than 

 of that of most parts of Persia. 



I was stationed in Resht and in Enzeli, both of them on the level 

 of the Caspian Sea, from January to July, 1919. 



During the winter we were free to move in any direction, but the 

 advent of spring (and of insects) coincided with the outbreak of a 

 minute, but troublesome war with some forest tribes, and from March 

 onwards our movements were limited. At the end of June I went by 

 sea to Astara, on the frontier between Persia and Azarbaijan, and 

 returned, mostly by road, along the coast till I reached Enzeli. 



Furtunately for me, Le Cerf (1913) has recently published a 

 resume of our present knowledge of the Persian butterflies. He has 

 added considerably to the list, and under each species records its status 

 in Persia, so far as it is known at present. His paper and bibliography 

 are invaluable. 



