﻿EHOPALOCERA IN SWITZERLAND. 59 



In the immediate neighbourhood of the Saas Hotel five 

 interesting members of the Lycasnidse occur, viz., optilete, pheretes, 

 orbitulus, eros, and donzelii, the deep violet of the first and the 

 silvery grey of the last three being particularly striking when 

 seen for the first time. A little further on a group of fritillaries 

 enliven the scene — Melitcea maturna, phoebe, aurelia, dictynna ; 

 Argynnis niobe, with its var. eris, A. pales, andvar. napcea. Par- 

 nassius apollo also occurs here pretty abundantly ; and a little 

 higher up, where the valley narrows, we took quite a modest 

 series of P. delius, hovering gracefully along the margin of the 

 stream, where they appear to suck the flowers of Saxifraga 

 aizoides, on which also the larvse are said to feed. Here the 

 scenery begins to grow wilder ; huge masses of rock shoot up 

 above the larch, spruce, and birch, with which the slopes are 

 still clothed, the boulders in the river are mightier, and there is 

 a weird feeling of desolation ahead. We are now over 6000 ft. 

 above sea-level, and the alpine Erebias are at hand — mnestra, 

 evicts, gorge, euryale. On a barren slope, just before reaching the 

 lake, I took a worn specimen of the very local (Eneis a'ello, 

 abundant some years on the Simplon. 



The approach to the Mattmarksee is almost diabolical in its 

 savage grandeur. A few scattered bushes of the alpine rose and 

 a little brushwood are the only signs of vegetation ; the narrow 

 pass is choked with rocks and stones, and the Allalein Glacier 

 forms a natural dam between the lake and the valley. From out 

 of it rise colossal pyramids of cleft ice sheer against the sky, and 

 from an ice grotto at the lower end issues the Eiver Visp. In 

 this wild spot, on a towering slope of loose shale — with not a 

 particle of vegetation visible, and where a false step meant 

 broken bones, if not something worse — E. glacvdis was quite 

 abundant, with an occasional var. alecto. But collecting under 

 these conditions is too exciting to be agreeable, and we . soon 

 clambered over the little rocky pass down to the shore of the 

 muddy lake, where a stunted kind of vegetation again appeared, 

 and where we again came across a few specimens of Lyceena 

 pheretes, orbitulus, and eros, in much finer condition than those 

 we took 2000 ft. lower down. Erebia lappona was also common 

 and fine at this spot. 



There is a small inn here, where fair accommodation and 

 Italian wines may be had. At Saas-im-Gruncl also is a capital 

 hostelry — the Hotel clu Monte Moro — where board and lodging 

 are only 5s. per diem ; so that a fortnight's excursion to this 

 valley from England may be accomplished easily and com- 

 fortably for from ten to twelve pounds. 



I append a list of Ehopalocera, observed or taken, between 

 Visp and Mattmark, in the third week of July, and shall be glad 

 to give information about other valleys and hotels to any one 

 desiring it. 



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