56 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



C. pamphilus and L. corydon were plentiful as ever, 

 but only two C.hyale were seen throughout the day. 

 It is a long and steep climb up the mountain 

 side from Poligny, five miles at least. Being early, 

 nothing was astir save a Carabus beetle, but far 

 above us two eagles were plainly visible. Upon 

 reaching the top a few E. megara were met with. 

 At Montrond wasps only were noticeable. The 

 neighbourhood of Champagnole seemed very good 

 for collecting, and here we took Leucophasia sinapis, 

 E. cethiops. L. corydon, and C. pamphilus. We expected 

 to meet with Parnassius apollo hereabouts, but were 

 disappointed ; possibly I saw one, but chasing 

 it just then was out of the question. One of the 

 pastures was alive with two species of orthoptera, 

 Stetheophyma grossa and Stenobothrus declivus ( ? ) the 

 former badly infested with the parasites previously 

 mentioned. At St. Laurent (2,624 feet), I took my 

 first C. hyale, and upon a species of ash close by, 

 a full fed larva of Sphinx ligustri, which afterwards 

 pupated in my breeding cage at home. At Morez 

 we saw several P. apollo in a case at the hotel, 

 which we presumed were local specimens. Leaving 

 Morez we had a stiff climb to Les Rousses (4,i45feet) 

 on the frontier. Travellers are here supposed not 

 to loiter, but we could not help doing so. C. hyale 

 was here rather plentiful ; I managed to secure three, 

 several E. athiops, two E. pitho, an alpine species 

 common enough in the meadows of the forest 

 region (Kirby), and one E. adrasta, the variety of 

 E. maera and several L. corydon. A specimen of 

 Vanessa urtica escaped me, the only one I saw 

 during the whole journey. At a sunny corner of 

 the road we saw a considerable number of Tiger 

 beetles, of which I secured half a dozen. 



Upon entering Switzerland we were temporarily 

 relieved of ninety francs, which we found somewhat 

 depressing. Before long we arrived at the end of 

 the Jura, and there, stretched before us, was a view, 

 that once seen can never be forgotten. In front, 

 the Alps, with Mont Blanc and other snow-clad peaks 

 standing out in bold relief, below us, the lake of 

 Geneva, as blue as the sky above. The descent to 

 the Lake through the Col St. Cergues is by steep 

 zigzags, which have to be ridden very carefully. 

 At every bend of the road insects abounded. We 

 took blue and red winged CE. fasciatum, Stenobothrus 

 geniculatus and other orthoptera, Erebia cethiops, 

 Epinephele janira, a rather striking male ; Nisoniades 

 tages, Linn, and the hemipteron Pentatoma baccarum. 

 The two latter have a great resemblance when on 

 the wing. At Trelex, " Among the rest fair 

 Atalanta came." A.paphia, S. briseis and L. corydon, 

 and several Macroglossa stellatarum. 



From Nyon to Geneva nothing much was seen. 

 At Celligny I took a couple of E. megara, and at 

 Coppet a Geotrnpes stercorarius. At Geneva we only 

 had one opportunity for collecting, a couple of hours 

 at Les Eaux Vives ; there we found a weedy bank, 



and secured a good series of Argvnnis dia, which 

 was very abundant, Polyommatus phlcsas, several 

 E. janira and P. megcera, C. pamphilus and a few 

 P. rapa. Several species of hemiptera were 

 present in large numbers, especially A lydus calcaratus, 

 Linn., and Lygaus saxatilis, Scop. Lizards simply 

 swarmed. In the two hours I took forty-one 

 butterflies, a hornet, several orthoptera and hemip- 

 tera, and had an unsuccessful chase after a C. hyale, 

 and a strange white butterfly, which I very stupidly 

 missed. The weather now changed to wet, all 

 hopes of collecting on the snow line had to be 

 abandoned. My brother being anxious to visit 

 Paris, we decided to train there. Thus ended our 

 trip as far as concerned " Collecting on Wheels." 



As a summary of our journey of 500 miles, we 

 scarcely saw twenty specimens of Colias edusa, and 

 not more than fifty or sixty C. hyale. Of Vanessa 

 atalanta, perhaps less than a dozen ; V. urticce, only 

 one ; V. io, and V. antiopa, none. Five years ago I 

 saw a specimen of V. antiopa floating amongst the 

 traffic in one of the busiest thoroughfares of Paris. 

 The Satyridae appeared everywhere, in places they 

 swarmed. C. pamphilus was the commonest butter- 

 fly, but several of the large species of the genus 

 Satyrus were locally most numerous. Erebia cethiops 

 was also very plentiful. Amongst the blue butter- 

 flies, Lyccena corydon was in greatest numbers 

 everywhere south of Paris, but L. icarus was most 

 generally distributed. Polyommatus phlaas, which 

 was so plentiful in England at the time, was seen 

 but occasionally. The Argynnidae were tolerably 

 plentiful, though local. The variety valesina of 

 paphia we did not see, although we were very near 

 its metropolis. Coleoptera were rare. Of Silpha 

 granulata, which at times is very numerous on the 

 road, during this trip not more than half a dozen 

 occurred. Hymenoptera were plentiful enough, 

 especially wasps ; a Frenchman seems to make as 

 much fuss about a wasp as do some English people. 

 Odonata were well represented, not so much in 

 numbers as in species. Orthoptera were in pro- 

 fusion, though this time we saw neither Decticus 

 verrucivorus nor Thamnotrizon cinereus. Hemiptera 

 were plentiful, but Diptera seemed scarce. 

 12, Lower Road, Rotherhithe ; March, 1894. 



Phcenological Notes. — Early and late spring 

 flowers are appearing together this year. In a 

 stroll on March 30, along the Ermyn Way, from 

 Epsom to Mickleham, the following plants were 

 fully flowering : — Anemone nemorosa, Viola hirta, V. 

 sylvatica, Ranunculus atwicomus, Berberis vulgaris, 

 Prunus spinosa, P. avium, Potentilla fragariastrum, 

 Adoxa moschatellina, Tussilago farfara, Nepeta gle- 

 choma, Lamium pupureum, L. album, Primula vulgaris, 

 P. veris, Taxus baccata, Scilla nutans. JEsculus hippo- 

 castaneum had expanded leaves and showed the 

 incipient flower-spike ; so also Crataegus oxyacantha. 

 Wild Ribes grossularia was in full leaf. Elsewhere, 

 in the meadows, Cardamines pratense was flowering 

 freely. — E. Step, Epsom ; April 2, 1894. 



