SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



207 



BUTTERFLY COLLECTING IN THE CANARY ISLANDS. 



By A. H. Bechervaise. 



T LEAVE Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, the capital of 

 ■*■ the Canary Islands, soon after daybreak on a 

 hot, stifling August morning, by the public omnibus 

 which crosses the island daily, — a fearful and won- 

 derful vehicle, drawn by six gaunt and wretched- 

 looking horses. We almost immediately commence 

 the winding ascent to Laguna. Slowly and 

 wearily the wretched horses proceed, being con- 

 tinually stimulated by the heavy and cruel-looking 

 whips wielded by the driver. He has three — a 

 short one for the wheelers, a longer one for general 

 purposes, and a very long one for the leaders. 

 With the latter he is very expert, and can drop 

 the lash on a sore spot as accurately as a fly- 

 fisherman could drop a dry fly over the nose of a 

 wary trout. It is a cruel and revolting sight, 

 and I am glad when we reach Laguna, nearly 

 2,000 feet above the sea, and where we find 

 ourselves in a cool and bracing atmosphere. We 

 change horses here, and, after a short rest, resume 

 the journey. At 10 a.m. I alight at the village of 

 Tacoronte and prepare for operations. I have with 

 me a net of the " umbrella " pattern, a most useful 

 and convenient instrument which has done me good 

 service in many parts of the world. I buy a loaf of 

 bread (Tacoronte is famous for its bread, and justly 

 so, as it is certainly excellent, being made of whole 

 meal and flavoured with small seeds resembling 

 carraway seeds), and a small bottle of wine, also 

 made on the spot and excellent in quality. Leaving 

 the village behind me, I commence to ascend a 

 narrow path with high bramble bushes on either 

 side. Here I am amongst the butterflies. Though 

 not numerous in species they swarm in numbers. 

 The hedges are all a-dance with blues, Lycama 

 bcetica being, perhaps, the most plentiful. I net a 

 few specimens of this, also L. lysimon, a very minute 

 butterfly much resembling the Bedford blue, 

 L. aslrarche var. csstiva, L. webbiana, a lovely little 

 insect peculiar to the island, and until recently 

 supposed to be only found near the summit of 

 the peak ; now, however, it is found to occur much 

 lower down. I have taken it at less than 1,000 feet 

 above the sea. Polyommatus phlaas is also fairly 

 abundant. These five, with the addition of Lycicna 

 icarus, which I have found in the outlying island 

 of Lanzarote, are the only representatives of the 

 Lycaenidae in the Canary Islands. 



Of the three representatives of Satyridas, two are 

 extremely abundant here. Epiphenele hispulla, 

 somewhat resembling the common meadow brown, 

 though larger and brighter in the colouring, and 

 Pararge xiphioides. The other, Hipparchia statilinus, 

 I am not likely to see to-day, as it is extremely 



local in its habits, and rarely found far away from 

 Vilaflor, on the south slope of the peak. 



The sole Canarian representative of the 

 Hesperidae, Pamphila actaon, is not uncommon, 

 and I consign several to papers. 



The Pierinse are fairly well represented. The 

 commonest of all, as in England, is the small 

 garden white ; bath whites are fairly numerous. 

 Colias edusa flashes about in all directions, with 

 here and there the dual female helice. Here, as in 

 most other places where I have observed edusa in 

 large numbers, the males largely outnumber the 

 females. I remember some time ago reading in 

 Science-Gossip some correspondence on this 

 subject. My experience is that this preponder- 

 ance occurs with many other species of butterflies, 

 though perhaps not so markedly as with edusa. I 

 particularly notice it to-day, with Pieris rapce, P. 

 cheiranthi (a large " white " said to be peculiar to 

 the Canary Islands), and more especially with that 

 most beautiful Canarian butterfly, Gonepteryx 

 cleobule, the males of which appear to outnumber 

 the females by at least five to one. 



The heat is now great, and I am glad to reach 

 the Forest of Agua Garcia. It is worth the long 

 journey to see this place, one of the few spots on 

 the island where timber is still found. For over 

 400 years the process of denudation has steadily 

 proceeded in the Canaries, as everywhere else 

 where Spaniards or Portuguese have settled. They 

 have cut down trees ruthlessly, never thinking of 

 replacing them by others. Consequently forests 

 have disappeared, rainfall has decreased, and 

 former fertile and smiling lands have been reduced 

 to aridity, or, at the best, made cultivation only 

 possible to be carried out by means of artificial 

 irrigation. Destructive insects, if they do not in- 

 crease, at least do far greater injury to man, for as 

 the area of vegetation becomes restricted they must, 

 perforce, subsist on cultivated plants. Contrast 

 this ruinous policy with that of the early Dutch 

 settlers at the Cape, who enforced a law that for 

 every tree cut down, three should be planted. This 

 beneficent law has greatly helped to make the 

 South African Colonies what they are to-day. 

 However, I am thankful that even this small piece 

 of woodland has so far been spared. Beneath 

 the shade of the huge trees butterflies abound. 

 Gonepteryx cleobule, above mentioned, floats lazily 

 about, and when pitched actually allows itself to be 

 picked off the brambles by the fingers. I secure a 

 number in this way. The two species of Argynnis 

 fonnd in the Canaries are abundant enough, but 

 not so easily captured. A . pandora, a grand insect, 



