﻿78 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



RHOPALOCERA AT DIGNE. 



Br Mrs. Nicholl. 



The butterflies of Switzerland are nearly as well known to 

 British entomologists as those of our own island. Everybody 

 goes to Switzerland, and many people catch butterflies during 

 their holiday, and consequently the chance of finding a new 

 variety, or a new locality for a species, is but very slight. This, 

 however, is by no means the case in the South-eastern depart- 

 ments of France. Hautes Alpes, Basses Alpes, Isere, and Var, 

 present a wide and little-explored field to the butterfly hunter, 

 and if the district were thoroughly worked it is more than 

 probable that new varieties, and even new species, might be found 

 there. The country is very mountainous, and presents a great 

 variety of geological formation, combined with a climate far 

 warmer than that of Switzerland ; and although the general 

 character of the mountains is bare and stony, yet there remain 

 many forests of birch, beech, oak, and pine, and many rich 

 mountain pastures, where the flora is even more varied and 

 beautiful than that of the Swiss Alps. 



The inns of this country are generally reported to be exceed- 

 ingly bad, but this is now no longer the case. Digne, Barcelon- 

 nette, and Briancon possess excellent hotels ; and good clean 

 mountain inns, affording excellent accommodation, are to be 

 found at Ville Vallouise, Monetier, La Grave, and La Berarde- 

 So the entomologist need not fear any great discomfort if he 

 should be tempted into a voyage of discovery into a country 

 which is probably rather less known than Japan to the ordinary 

 English tourist. 



We arrived at Digne on June 10th last, and remained there 

 until July 2nd. We then went to Seyne and Barcelonnette, 

 returning to Digne on July 9th, and remaining there till July 17th. 

 I append a list of the more remarkable insects which I took at 

 Digne during these two periods. The weather was generally fine 

 and hot after the first week we spent there ; but the season was 

 fully a fortnight late, owing to the cold and wet which had 

 prevailed south of the Alps during the months of April and May. 

 It was, however, too late for the greatest of the local rarities, — 

 Thais 7'umina, var. honoratii, — one of the most striking and 

 beautiful of European butterflies, for which the neighbourhood 

 of Digne is the only known locality. I succeeded in purchasing 

 one from a peasant farmer who collects and sells them to 

 Staudinger ; but the season had been a very bad one : he had but 

 two left in stock, and my specimen cost 25 fr. I believe that in 

 a good year they can be had for 10 fr. It was also too late for 

 the local Erebia epistygne, which flies on the high limestone ridge 

 of the Dourbes during March and April; but this is always plentiful. 



