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carrying on a frantic orgy, enticing, it would seem, the plucky 

 animal to take that one false step which would in a moment hurl 

 three human beings into eternity. After all, though, the mind is 

 too profoundly affected with the majestic grandeur of the scene to 

 feel, for more than a moment, the slightest trace of fear. 



But the horse did not swerve and I have had a good night's rest. 

 My boxes are out, and here some fine large Burnet moths recall to 

 mind the powerful sun, the flower-lined banks, the charming scenery 

 through which the early part of our ascent was made. For the 

 grand storm came at the end of a glorious day, when we had 

 already been some seven hours making the ascent of the mountain 

 along the zig-zag path, which leads from Savoy into Piedmont. At 

 a height of some two to four thousand feet, passing up this ascent 

 to the Little St. Bernard Pass, where the lovely Isere Valley, with 

 its guardian mountain ranges on either side, spreads out like a 

 scene in fairy-land, I first saw, on July 29th, living specimens of 

 the insect which is called by Staudinger, Zygcena trifolii var. diibia. 

 Staudinger first called this grand insect by this name, in his earlier 

 "Catalog" (p. 21), published in 1861, and diagnosed it as " var. 

 major, alls anterioribus maculis, 5 vel 6 ; alls posterioribus latius 

 nigris." But some nine years before, in 1852, Lederer had called 

 this species medicaginis, a name given to it by Boisduval as early as 

 1829, and for reasons which I will explain presently, I prefer to 

 call it by this name. 



My first acquaintance with this species was the finding of a 

 couple of specimens in Coverdale's collection labelled '■'' trifolii \2iX. 

 dubia ; Val Vedro." The absolute separation of the central pair of 

 spots, the small size of the upper spot of this pair, the long pointed 

 wings and pointed antennae struck me much more as characters of 

 a species allied to lofiicenz rather than to trifolii. But I got no 

 more specimens except a couple sent to me by Professor Blachier, 

 until I saw it in comparative plenty chnging, as I have just said, to 

 the flowers on the roadside as we made the ascent of the Little St. 

 Bernard. These living specimens made a great impression on me. 

 I felt convinced, from their habits and general appearance, that they 

 were not specifically identical with the species that we know in 

 England as Z. trifolii. 



The day following the storm we made the descent of the Pass 

 into Piedmont. As we reached the lower levels (some 5,000 feet 

 above the sea), this species began to appear again on the flowery 

 banks that skirted the roadside, and continued to do so more or less 

 abundantly until we reached the archway through the Crammont 

 that leads into the Dora Valley, just above Pre St. Didier. Every- 

 where by the roadside among the towering mountains, they hung 

 on the flowers, and the different conditions under which the species 

 existed from those under which Z. trifolii is found, made me still 

 more sceptical as to their identity, and I felt pretty well satisfied 

 that my first impression was the correct one. 



