ARICIA MEDON. 



279 



localities, even in the north, where the first brood is recorded some- 

 what earlier in May, and the second as still flying in September. In 

 East and West Prussia it is recorded as early as May 19th, continuing 

 till June 18th ; here, however, it would seem that the appearance of 

 the second brood is somewhat uncertain, and that in some years, at 

 any rate, it consists of very few specimens (Schmidt, Rastenburg), but 

 Speiser seems to consider the second brood at least as common as the 

 first, though both are rare. In Pomerania the same times of appear- 

 ance hold good, but the species is in some places by no means 

 uncommon, while in others it is of extreme rarity. From Hamburg 

 we have found no records earlier than July and August, but these 

 certainly imply an earlier brood. It is reported from Posen as being 

 abundant everywhere in July and August by Schultz, but as the 

 same author also speaks of it as occurring frequently all 

 through the summer, there are no doubt two broods here also. Else- 

 where there are records of the usual two broods throughout 

 Germany, even in the mountain districts. In Switzerland the 

 species is double-brooded, according to Frey, throughout the plain 

 and the sub-alpine region, but single-brooded at the higher levels, he 

 mentions in particular that it is single-brooded at Bergiin, which is 

 situated on the Albula Pass at a height of about 4,500ft. Favre 

 speaks of two broods in the Valais, flying in May and June and 

 August and September respectively, and mentions that it reaches a 

 height of 7,500ft., without a hint of its becoming single-brooded, but 

 this is certainly an oversight, and it is doubtful whether a second- 

 brood ever occurs in the Alps so high as 5,000ft. We have many 

 records from Switzerland, from which we infer that at the higher 

 levels there is but one brood, as stated by Frey, which appears towards 

 the end of June or as late as the middle of July according to altitude 

 and the particular conditions of the season, continuing on the wing 

 till the middle of August, or even rather later. Throughout the 

 Austrian Alps the same conditions apply, but at lower levels, as in 

 Switzerland, the two broods are on the wing from the middle of May 

 throughout June, and from the last ten days of July into September. 

 In northern Italy, again, the same conditions obtain as in Switzerland 

 and the times of appearance both in the Alps and the lowlands are the 

 same, except that the first brood occurs somewhat earlier, since we 

 have ourselves taken it at Locarno as early as April 20th, and then by 

 no means in its first freshness. Stefanelli reports it from Tuscany in 

 April, May and June, and again in August and early September, but 

 apparently does not even take the idea of a third brood into considera- 

 tion, but since it is recorded by Wheeler from Assisi from June 24th 

 to July 10th, and as late as September 20th from Perugia, it seems 

 far more probable that in Central Italy there are normally three broods, 

 the June specimens recorded by Stefanelli belonging to the second and 

 not to the first, especially since the species is recorded from Florence 

 by Rowland-Brown as early as April 5th. In Malta Fletcher's dates 

 leave no doubt that there are four broods, though some difficulty is 

 raised by a single specimen of var. calida taken on June 14th, 1902, 

 and the fact that the species was abundant on June 10th, 1908, and 

 common on June 18th, 1896 ; in 1902 he records it as early as 

 March 8th, the species being worn on April 14th ; on May 13th it was 



