THE UPPER ENGADINE IN 1914. 161 



much asleep and the ant very much awake for such a capture to be so 

 successfully carried out. 



August 15th. — Daily visits to the Consul to see if news or arrange- 

 ments for our return had come through, precluded any long expedi- 

 tions even if the absence of travelling facilities had not also prevented. 

 Daring this period I think we went into every corner within easy reach 

 of St. Moritz, and tried every path around. We visited the Suvretta 

 road again via Alp Laret. A female of Art/i/nnis ninbe, the form with 

 silver spots on the underside, was taken, certainly quite rare here, 

 where almost invariably only var. eris is met with. A few Anaitis 

 paliidata were obtainable. Somehow or other we could not come across 

 the spot for Ziji/aena achilleae, as only occasional odd specimens were 

 taken. Aifriades coridon was probably the most abundant butterfly 

 now, but never in the quantities that one meets with the species at the 

 famous Royston locality in Hertfordshire. The ground of the under- 

 sides of both fore- and hindwings of the males was very pale with very 

 indefinite markings, and the undersides of the forewings of the females 

 were also pale in ground colour. Brentlm pales was pretty well over, 

 and most other things were sparse in numbers and worn in condition. 

 The afternoon turned dull with a very wet night succeeding it. 



August 16th. — Except for an hour in the morning this was a 

 " terribly wet day," says my notes. This enforced inaction threw us 

 back on to our thoughts of home. Our finances were exhausted. 

 Communications were apparently " cut," for no news from home came 

 through. Papers were practically absent, and visitors were slipping 

 away day by day, while we waited and waited but did not " see." To 

 the rain succeeded snow and bitter cold. Twenty-four hours of inces- 

 sant fall, till the whole place looked lovely as a sight, but cheerless and 

 depressing to the wanderers stranded far from home. 



The morning of August 17th seemed to give indications of a break 

 in the weather, and at eleven o'clock the sun shone brightly. By the 

 afternoon all the lower snow areas had melted, and in a walk along the 

 roads we saw the following species which had successfully weathered 

 the rain and snow and had not succumbed to the very " cold snap," 

 Argjjnnu niohe, A. a(jlaia, Erebia goante, E. tyndarns, K. melampus, 

 Pieris braxucae, Hesperia alveas /, Aricia medon, and the usual common 

 moths. Every place in the sun was hot and steamy. The evenings 

 now got very cool after the sun went below the mountains, probably 

 cooler on the village side of the valley than the opposite side, which 

 faced the declining sun for a much longer time in the afternoon. 



August 19th was showery. I took a pair of Arf/i/nnis cnjlaia flying 

 in cop. The female carried the male. They remained united for ixiore 

 than twenty-four hours. Erehia i/oante was also taken in cnp., the 

 female carrying the male in flight. In my previous notes I have 

 omitted to record two other species of Erebia tdbken when flying /;; cop., 

 viz., Fj. tj/ndanm and E. uielampus in both of which the Satyrid habit 

 was confirmed of the female carrying the male. In the sunny intervals 

 I worked at the Erebia goante spot. There were only males up to this 

 date. The specimens were very invariable m depth of colour and 

 markings. The bands were in width and shape very uniform. In all 

 the specimens the apical eye spot on the forewing was a double one 

 and well developed, and the spot in the anal angle also was present in 

 every specimen with only trivial variation in size and development. 



