NOTES ON COLLECTING. 133- 



comparatively easy to pick up what one wanted. C. eihisa, as though 

 tired with their day's flight, were sitting lazily on the blossoms of 

 Trifolliuii. Jxsoria lathonia was quite fresh, C. arcania was out in 

 increasing numbers, another G. cyllarns was taken at rest hanging head 

 downwards from the flower. 1 was too late for IS. urion to-day, it only 

 seems to be visible in the hottest hours of the day, and H. nndrae, A. 

 viedoii, and C. sebrus Avere still to be obtained. G. a/llains has never 

 been common here, and I have only seen one or two specimens of G. 

 melanops, whereas A. tlietis and P. icarns are abundant everywhere. 



May 22nd. — This afternoon I met with- a number of large patches 

 of thyme to the right of the road leading to the farm to which insects 

 were crowding. Conspicuous by their number were quite a swarm of 

 Z. canii'olica, and among them specimens of C. arcania, L. Camilla, S. 

 oriflu, P. canandus, and C. sebrus, with the moth Rliodoatrophia 

 vibicaria. 



May 28rd. — This afternoon I visited the Museo Civico. It is one 

 of Palladio's finest edifices, and was restored in 1855. It is very rich 

 in Roman Antiquities and Mediaeval Pictures. The natural history 

 collection contains valuable fossils (fish, crocodile, palm, etc.), most of 

 them found near Vicenza, a good representative collection of stuffed 

 specimens of birds found in Italy, a small collection of Coleoptera, and 

 one of moths, showing most of the more interesting species found in 

 Italy, but not kept up to date. Fortunately I found the Director, 

 8ignor Luigi Ongaro, at home, and he very kindly showed me round. 

 It is v/ell worth a visit. 



May 24th. — This afternoon was very sultry, and I did not get on to 

 the ground until just after four o'clock. G. cyllarus is still very scarce 

 and I only got three females to-day. I was glad to get several more 

 fresh examples of G. melanops and a couple of P. auiandiis, which is 

 still pretty scarce. The spring brood of M. didijma is now practically 

 over. It was again too late and too windy for S. orion in the only spot 

 on the Monte Berico where it occurs, in a length of about 20 yards of 

 rocky bank overgrown with vetch. Males of Epinephele jnrtina were 

 plentiful, and I took the ^laoths Coscinia striata and Procris statices 

 both quite fresh. 



On May 27th I again left for Arquata, reaching Verona in time for 

 breakfast, after which I spent several hours in seeing the beautiful 

 Churches and Pubhc Buildings and the old Roman Arena. The 

 Museo Civico is housed in the charming Palazzo Savezzola Pompei, 

 erected about 1530. There is a Natural History collection which 

 includes among other things two collections each of Lepidoptera and 

 Coleoptera. These, however, have suffered severely by continued 

 exposure to light. The best collection of Lepidoptera was the local 

 one made by 8ig. Inq. Orseolo Massalonga, which contains over a 

 hundred different species of Butterflies. Fortunately I met Sig. 

 Vittorio dal Nero, the head of the N.H. Department, and he kindly 

 showed me his private collection of local Lepidoptera, in which I noted 

 a fine series of Thais -polyxena var. cassandra, taken in the mountains 

 just north of Verona, where it flies in March. 



The " glorious " 1st of June broke fine and saw me again crossing 

 the little wooden bridge across the river Scrivia on my way to the 

 gorge on the right. Here in the late afternoon of a breezy day I found 

 many Lycaenidae in their last flight before settling down, conspicuous 



