APR 6 1901 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



BUTTERFLY-COLLECTING IN CORSICA. 



By the Rev. H. C. Lang, M.I). 



A FTER having had some successful weeks of 

 -^*- butterfly-collecting at Digne, St. Martin 

 Vesubie, and other places in the South of France, and . 

 finding myself at Nice, I determined to visit Corsica. 

 Having succeeded with Papilio alexanor at Digne, I 

 thought I might as well try to take /'. hospilon also. 

 Corsica had always been to my imagination a sort of 



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Front Photo ] 



Forest of Vizzavona. 



enchanted island, with a certain air of mystery hang- 

 ing over it apart from brigands and vendettas and 

 things of that kind. I knew there were certain butter- 

 flies which one could only see there alive, unless 

 one chose to go further on to Sardinia. So I started 

 from Xice in the very best of spirits on Saturday 

 evening, the 8th of last July. The trip on board the 

 little steamer of the Fraissinet Line was most de- 

 lightful, as much as a summer night on the Mediter- 

 ranean could make it. When we anchored oft" Calvi 

 at 4 A.M., and the sun in rising began to light up 

 the mountains in the centre of the island, I felt that 

 my eyes were resting on a fairer scene than had ever 

 before delighted them. 



■3pril 1900. No 71. Vol. VI. 



Going ashore in a small boat, I had to wait at 

 Calvi some two hours before my train started for 

 Vizzavona, which place I had selected as my desti- 

 nation. I had ample opportunity of admiring the 

 effect of the increasing light upon the marvellous scene 

 of land and sea ; but closer attention revealed the 

 fact that vegetation was much dried up on the coast, 

 and there was very little to be seen in the way of 

 verdure, except 'some thick bushes climbing up the 

 rock on which the citadel is built. My " Gerz " 

 glass resolved these into dense masses of the prickly 

 pear cactus, which seems to grow everywhere round 

 the coast, and is used for making hedges and fences. 

 Very striking was the strong aroma that literally filled 







From Photo.] 



[i>y Dr. Lang. 



Grand Hotel de Vizzavona. 



the air. This Iliad noticed on board some miles away 



from land, just as one smells the scent of gorse when 

 off the Cornish coast at a distance out at sea. On 

 this occasion I could certainly smell Corsica long 

 before it could be seen. The fascinating and powerful 

 scent is caused chiefly by an aromatic plant, Hcli- 

 ehrysum angustifolium, which clothes the "Mains" 



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