BUTTERFLIES IN SWITZERLAND IN 1905. 177 



alciphroii var. gordius, Parnassius apollo ab. nevadensis, Pieris napi var, 

 2 hryoniae, Melitaea atlialia, M. dictynna, Erehia pronoe var. pitho, and 

 E. gorge. Colias palaeno was fairly plentiful, but getting over. 



Mr. Fison had been staying at Binn since July 14th, and he has 

 very kindly furnished me with some notes on his general observations 

 of Binn as an entomological centre, with permission to publish them. 

 He says that the clusters of butterflies on the paths all through the 

 summer were very remarkable and interesting. Usually, nearly all 

 were Blues of three or four kinds, but often a yellow patch of Skippers 

 would join the company, or a family of Melitaea athalia, or Erehia 

 melainpus. Amongst the Blues taken at Binn were Polgommatm eros, 

 P. donzelii (abundant), P. pheretes (scarce), and Lycaena alcon ; the 

 specimens of L. alcon, which were very fresh, and some of them rather 

 dark, were found above the forest line on July 20th and 22nd ; Par- 

 nassius apollo was not very abundant, but rather well-marked ; P. delius 

 was quite scarce ; four specimens of Anthocharis simplonia were taken 

 in July. Early in August, very fresh specimens of Colias palaeno were 

 plentiful on the west and north sides of the Stockhorn ; the yellow and 

 white forms of the ? both occurred. Mr. Fison noted that these ? s 

 were to be found early in the mornings (say from 9 a.m. or 9.30 a.m.) 

 laying their eggs on Vaccinium uliginosiwi fully an hour before any ^ s 

 appeared ; they seemed to continue their egglaying till 1 p.m. B. pales 

 ab. ? napaea was not abundant until August. About the middle of 

 July, Melitaea. aurinia var. merope was abundant on the higher open 

 pastures east of Imfeld. The specimens were very striking in their 

 unusually black markings, which often covered most of the Avings ; 

 very dark forms of M. cynthia $ were also taken. In these the 

 strengthening of the dark colour seemed to correspond with the same 

 feature in var. merope, and, perhaps, in the dark $ s of i?. pales, and of 

 A. niohe (both type and var. eris), taken on the north slopes of the 

 Stockhorn. Melitaea parthenie var. varia was very common in July, 

 and M. phoebe (fine and varied in colour) Avas abundant all through 

 the summer. On the whole, the Binn mountains seemed lacking in 

 Erebias ; not many species were met with, and most of those that 

 occurred Avere scarce. Mr. Fison specially examined the districts 

 Avhere white dolomite rock showed itself, hoping to find E. flavofasciata, 

 but in this search he did not meet wiih success. 



On August 22nd, Ave left Binn for Martigny ; on the Avay down to 

 Fiesch, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Ausser Binn, aa^c took Chryso- 

 phanus dorilis (plentiful), ( '. phlaeas, Lycaena arion, Thecla spini (badly 

 worn), and Dry as paphia ab. J valesina. Soon after we left Brigue 

 there was an extraordinary storm of wind in the Rhone Valley. We 

 saw many trees bloAA'n down, and the hay Avas blown long distances. 

 The wind was followed by a violent and long-continued thunderstorm, 

 and during the tAvo days we Avere at Martigny it rained almost Avithout 

 intermission. Our next stay was at VcA^ey, and Ave spent the morning 

 of August 25th on Mount Pelerin. Here aa'c took Satyrus circe, but 

 in too Avorn a condition to be worth keeping. We found Brenthis dia 

 (including some aberrations AA'ith many of the spots on the upperside 

 of the front wings run together), Melitaea didynia (the J s shoAving 

 considerable A'ariation in tint), and M. parthenie A^ery plentiful ; and 

 we met with occasional specimens of Polyomrnatus liylas, Colias ednsa, 

 Epinephele jurtina ab. ? ^aliens (fine), and Erehia stygne. In the after- 



