BUTTERFLIES IN SWITZERLAND IN 1905. 175 



of our stay the weather was fairly favourable. The season appeared 

 to be rather a late one. 



Our first stopping-place was Sierre, and we spent a good part of 

 August 3rd and 4th in the Pfynwald. Here we succeeded in finding 

 Polyommatus meleayer, but it appeared to be getting over, and Ave 

 secured only seven specimens. The 3 s were all worn, but the $ s 

 (which were, of course, ab. steeveni) were in rather better condition. 

 Everes argiades var. cor etas, of which we took five specimens, was also 

 worn. Other captures in the Pfynwald, besides the commoner things, 

 were Carcharodus lavaterae, Polyommatus corydon ab. obsoleta (including 

 a specimen which had the discoidal spot on the upperside of the front 

 wing conspicuously ringed with white, with a conspicuous white spot 

 on the upperside of the hindwiug also), Piiisticus an/yror/nomon 2 (both 

 type and ab. hrunnea), Pontia daplidice (fairly plentiful), Leptosia 

 sinapis var. diniensis, and ab. ? erysimi, Brenthis dia, Satyrus alcyone, 

 Enodia dry as (plentiful, and in good condition), and Epinephele lycaon. 

 At Sierre, on these two days, my daughter took Polyommatus baton (a 

 single specimen), Papilio podalirius (which was plentiful), and Colias 

 edusa ; and we also took Carcharodus alceae (which was new to us). 



On August 5th, it rained most of the day, but we took Erebia 

 stygne on the road from Brigue to Berisal. August 6th was again 

 dull, but a number of insects (including Polyommatus eumedon, P. 

 domelii, and Coenonympha arcania var. darwiniana) were taken asleep 

 on flower-heads along the road above Berisal. On August 7th the 

 weather cleared up, and we walked from Berisal to the Rosswald. The 

 whole route was swarming with butterflies, and amongst our captures 

 were Chrysophanus alciphron var. yordius, Polyommatus donzelii, P. 

 escheri, P. eros, P. orbitulus, P. optilete, Parnassius apollo var. j)seudo- 

 nomion, Colias palaeno, jSlelitaea phoebe, M. dictynna, Erebia prono'e 

 var. pitlio, and Melanargia galatea ab. ? flava. We also took an 

 interesting aberration of Polyommatus damon ? , in which the white 

 streak on the hindwing appears conspicuously on the upperside. 



On August 8th (another fine day), we walked from Berisal to 

 Simplon Kulm, getting, however, nothing fresh, except an aberration of 

 Polyommatus donzelU $ , which 1 have not anywhere seen described, 

 but which seems worthy of note. In this specimen, the usual broad 

 suffused dark border is replaced by a narrow and well-defined black 

 border. I have a good series of P. donzelii, and the specimen in 

 question is markedly different from all the rest. 



The next day we walked from Simplon Kulm to the moraine of the 

 Kaltwasser Glacier. On the Avay up we found Polyommatus optilete 

 (fairly plentiful, but scattered), Pontia callidice (scarce), Colias phiconume 

 (abundant), C. palaeno (fairly plentiful, but not very easy to capture), 

 Erebia gorge, and E. lappona. It was noteworthy that the <? s of 

 P. optilete were in perfectly fresh condition, while the ? s (which 

 were met with quite as frequently as the <? s) were usually somewhat 

 worn. Our experience of most species has been that the J s get over 

 before the ? s ; I do not know whether it is possible that in this case 

 there may have been two overlapping broods. On the moraine itself 

 we managed to secure a good series of Erebia alecto var. glacialis; 

 this insect was fairly plentiful, but, so far as we could discover, 

 confined to one particular part of the moraine. Some agility and 

 sureness of aim were necessary in effecting the captures, and the 



