LEPIDOPTERA IN PENINSULAR ITALY DURING THE YEAR 1920. 11 



Massaciuccoli (Lucca), where many years ago there was collected a 

 form of Chrysophanus dispar. 



On the morning of June 9th I went to the Pian di Mugnone, 

 near Florence, and Dr. Romei left for Monte Morello. On the 

 Mugnone, considering the time of year, I ought to have found in 

 abundance M. galathea, E. jurtina, P. tithonus, P. brassicae, M. didyina, 

 M. athalia, B. hecate, C. arcania, N. ilicis, A. flava, T. acteon, Z. 

 stoechadis, Z. carniolica. I perambulated the whole zone from 

 morning till night, not being persuaded that on such a splendid day 

 some insect would not fly. At night I returned home with 3 

 specimens, and soon after my son- in-law, who had walked for 14 

 hours on the mountains, came back with one P. argus. 



The following morning I left for Torre del Lago, which is the 

 nearest station to the lake of Massaciuccoli, and tried to penetrate into 

 the marshes, but every road was closed by the walls of the Villas, and 

 so I had to turn back passing through the whole Pineta of Migliorini, 

 where I only saw a few shabby specimens of Epinephele jurtina and 

 Syntoiiris phegea. From Migliorini, along the dyke of the river Serchio, 

 I went to Vecchiano without finding anything except two P. icarus, 

 and from Vecchiano on the following day I penetrated into the marshes 

 of the lake. I walked for many hours exploring the wettest and most 

 grassy places, but insect life seemed suspended, not a butterfly, nor a 

 fly, I only saw a red dragonfly hovering over the muddy water of a 

 canal. On returning from this unpleasant excursion I took the train 

 and arrived in the evening at Castelnuovo di Garl'agnana. 



On the morning of June 11th I left by motor car for Fivizzano, 

 the pretty village destroyed by the earthquake of September 7th, 1920. 

 I did not find any favourable localities and I immediately went to 

 Piazza ai Serchio, from which I went on to Gorfigliano in the midst 

 of the marble region. From Gorfigliano, by the valley of Acqua 

 Bianca, 1 ascended the peak of the Pisanino, 5000ft., and reached a 

 high valley full of snow. On the grassy slopes of the valley I collected 

 an Erebia gorge and an Aglais urticae, nothing else. Returning to 

 Gorfigliano I crossed the mountain to go to Vagli Sopra, and 1 went 

 towards Monte Tambura, for I was convinced that the marble region, 

 dry and stony, was certainly not suitable for Lepidoptera. 



From the valleys of Monte Tambura I had seen Monte Sumbra, 

 whose softly undulating slopes contrasted with the other pointed and 

 arid summits of the Alpi Apuane. This induced me to go to 

 Careggine, where I remained collecting till the end of July. 



My wife and daughter ought to have gone to collect on the 

 mountains of Calabria and ought to have left at the end of April, but 

 from various causes their departure could not take place till the 12th 

 of May. After short halts at Rome and Naples they arrived at 

 Cosenza on the 16th of the same month, and went to Rogliano 

 situated on the mountains of the Sila. A long excursion in the 

 neighbourhood of the village showed my family that the locality was 

 too intensively cultivated to be suitable for their purpose. In the 

 railway journey from Paola to Cosenza they had remarked some 

 uncultivated localities, so they returned to San Fili where they found 

 lodgings. 



San Fili is about 2400ft. on the coast range of Calabria, and from 

 it my family could ascend by a path to the summit of the mountain 



