220 [October, 



A HOLIDAY IN THE PYRENEES. 

 BT W. E. NICHOLSOK, F.E.S., AND F. C. LEMANN, F.B.S. 



Desirous of visitiug a new field, and encouraged by the interesting 

 account of his experiences in the Pyrenees given by Mr. Elwes in the 

 Transactions of the Entomological Society of London for the year 

 1887, we left England on the morning of Eriday, July 6th, and 

 travelling straight through arrived at 10.30 p.m. the next day at 

 Vernet-les-bains, in the Pyrenees Orientales, which corresponds to 

 the old province of Eoussillon. In selecting Yernet we had followed 

 in Mr. Elwes' footsteps, a course we had no cause to regret. The day 

 after our arrival we made the acquaintance of Herr Seebold, a German 

 entomologist from Bilbao, and through his kindness we obtained an 

 introduction to M. Eene Oberthiir, of Eennes, who was staying at 

 Yernet, and who showed us great hospitality throughout our visit. The 

 eastern Pyrenees, although not so familiar as the central and western 

 to the English tourist, have manj^ advantages over the latter from a 

 collector's point of view. The weather is far more settled, being more 

 of a Mediterranean character, and is much freer from storm and fog 

 than the more western part of the range, where wet and foggy 

 weather of the Atlantic type, with which we are unhappily so familiar 

 at home, often prevails. Yernet, from its climate, the aridity of the 

 lower hills flanking the valley between it and Prades, and the inter- 

 mixture of alpine and southern species, reminded us somewhat of 

 Digne, of which various accounts have appeared in this Magazine, 

 but although very good, it is scarcely so rich in species as the latter. 



The principal difficulty in the way of collecting at Yernet, a 

 difficulty which applies also to the whole range of the Pyrenees, is 

 the absence of any accommodation in the higher mountains, so that a 

 long ascent is necessary before arriving at the localities for the alpine 

 species. We joined M. Oberthiir on one occasion in an expedition to 

 such a locality, known as the Pla Guilhem, between 4000 and 5000 

 feet above Yernet, for which we started at 4.30 a.m., not returning 

 until 6.30 p.m., which will serve to show that the alpine species are 

 not to be taken in a mere morning's stroll from the hotel, as can be 

 done in many parts of Switzerland. 



We left Yernet on July l7th, having spent ten days there, and 

 as we noticed nearly all the butterflies mentioned by Mr. Elwes from 

 his observations, supplemented by those of De Grasliu and Struve, we 

 could scarcely have visited the place at a more favourable time. 



Among the localities in the neighbourhood of Yernet that we 



