RAMBLES IN SOUTH-EASTERN FRANCE. 129 



hail, and we considered it prudent to make a halt at the cantine, 

 where eventually we stayed the night. The people were most 

 friendly, and the proprietor of the cantine rose to the unusual 

 occasion in fine style. Next morning we did not go over the 

 •Canigou, but skirted round it to Valmanya. The views all 

 round us were magnificent, and we took a large number of 

 butterflies, including Erebia tyndarus var. rondoui and Erebia 

 neoridas. In places the going was bad, owing to the uncertainty 

 •of the track and the loose stones, and so we could not pursue 

 what we took to be a Parnassius some distance above our path — 

 the only Parnassius we encountered during the whole trip. We 

 had a long rest and some extremely refreshing beer at the Cafe 

 •du Canigou at Valmanya, prior to our 16 kilometre tramp 

 to Vinca, through a magnificent winding gorge, with a thunder- 

 storm passing behind but not overtaking us. At Vinca we 

 •struck what was perhaps the least comfortable hotel of the trip, 

 but even here the food was good. On August 10th we walked to 

 Vernet, and as the day was overcast we caught little. On the 

 following day we tramped through Olette and Fontpedrouse to 

 Mont Louis — a grand walk, with rushing torrents far below us 

 and little streamlets leaping down the mountain sides. On 

 August 12th we had another glorious walk through Saillagouse 

 to Bourg Madame, where we arrived in a deluge. But we were 

 :soon comfortably installed in the Hotel Salvat, and towards 

 dinner-time it cleared. On the following morning we started 

 •early for a longish tramp over the Col de Puymorens to 

 1'Hospitalet. The views into Spain are grand, and the short cut 

 .across the rough ground from the Col down to 1'Hospitalet saved 

 us a good many kilometres. We got some good butterflies on 

 (this day, and just before reaching the Col we saw our first 

 Euvanessa antiopa. On August 14th we walked through inter- 

 mittent showers to Ax-les-Thermes. 



On the 15th we woke to find it raining in torrents, and it 

 looked like continuing to do so for the rest of time. But it had 

 ■cleared a little- by ten o'clock, so we started off, prepared for a 

 wettish walk over the Col de Chioula and the Col de Marmare to 

 Belcaire. All the valleys on the way up were obscured by mist, 

 so we did not see much. 



On the following day— August 16th— after passing tbrouph 

 Espezel and down many'zigzags, we came upon such a profusion 

 ■of butterflies as I had never before seen : Gotiepte)-yx cleopatra, 

 G. rhamni, Limenitis Camilla, many Vanessids and Argynnids, and 

 countless swarms of Leptosia sinapis, Colias edusa ami C.hyale, 

 Papilio machaon and P. podalirius ab. feisthamelii, Browns 

 and Blues, Satyrus hermione on the tree-trunks, etc. The blues 

 and Whites were mostly in large bunches on the road wherever 

 there was a damp patch, and they rose in clouds as one got 

 -close to them. This profusion lasted all along through Belfort, 



