98 THE entomologist's recoed. 



is a valley, the first large one to the left of the road, about a mile 

 below the town. There is a certain amount of wood and bush in the 

 lower portion of this valley, and I found here Epinephele ida, Satyrus 

 statilhmsYSiY.aUwnia, and Pyn/us proto much more plentifully than in any 

 other locality. Higher up, the valley divides into two gorges ; by taking 

 the left one, and climbing the hill at the right side of it to avoid the 

 precipices, which here block the way, you come in due course to the 

 higher portion of the gorge, where a fair number of specimens can be 

 obtained. Here Satyrus actaea was abundant, Polyommatns damon also, 

 and I obtained one or two good P. hglas var. nivescens, and other 

 species. There is in this ravine a beautiful spring of water. 



One of the most difficult species to obtain in the district is Erebia 

 zapateri, which, of course, is not to be found elsewhere, it occurs at 

 Puerto de la Losillo, and more plentifully in the Bronchales district, 

 some twenty miles to the northwest. The difficulty consists chiefly 

 in hitting oft' the time of emergence, without either making a very 

 long stay, or missing most of the other desirable species occurring in 

 the district. E. zapateri appears in some years as early as July 20th, 

 in others, not until well on in August, and always from a fortnight to 

 three weeks later than the majority of other species one wishes to 

 obtain. Thus, to make sure of getting everything, one ought to devote 

 the whole of July and the first half of August to the task, and this is 

 not always, or usually, convenient.''' We left E. zapateri as long as 

 possible, for the season was described to us by the natives as a very late 

 one. We had to leave for home August 10th, and accordingly arranged 

 with Sehor Narro to take us in a donkey cart — the only conveyance 

 available — to Bronchales on the 7th, and to show us the best ground 

 to work ; we were here confronted with a difficulty which afforded ug 

 anxious consideration. It appears that Bronchales has attained some 

 note of late years on account of its mineral springs, the inhabitants 

 of the neighbouring towns, including Valencia, resorting thither in 

 summer to drink the waters, and we were informed, that, in all 

 probability, rooms could not be obtained, but that we might get a share 

 of a common room ; and that it was the custom for visitors to each 

 take with them a sack; this sack was filled at Bronchales, by your host, 

 with straw, and then placed with the head to the wall, in a large room, 

 in which you slept, in common with from twelve to twenty other 

 people, each one on his sack. This was embarrassing, not to say 

 impossible, from our point of view, for, though the Spaniard of these 

 parts is cleanly in his person, his ideas of ventilation are not what we 

 have been accustomed to. He simply stops up any crevice or opening 

 in his bedroom with the idea of excluding the flies, certainly a great 

 nuisance in these regions, and, of course, thereby prevents any 

 circulation of air, and what the atmosphere of the rooms, it was suggested 

 we might be fortunate enough to share, was like, can be imagined, 

 but one would hardly care to try the conditions ; fortunately we were 

 spared this experience, for, on enquiring if we could not obtain accom- 



* The plate, which is from a snapshot, was taken from what was described to us 

 as the best ground for the species, and, at any rate, it was abundant there. Erebia 

 zapateri flies in the clearings in the foreground, accompanied by Parnassiiis apollo. 

 Bronchales is over the hill in the centre of the picture. There is a wonderful view 

 in the background, over a great extent of parched-up plain, with a sierra showing 

 on the horizon, which, I suppose, would be in the neighbourhood of Calatayna. 



