292 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Araj/nnis adippe var. cJdorodippe, and ab. cleodippe, Melitaea phoebe var. 

 occitanica, Heodes virganreae var. wief/ii, Lampides boeticns, Nordmannia 

 ilicis and var. aesculi, Klugia spini and ab. lyncens, Melandrgia japygia 

 var. clean f lie, M. lacliesis and ab. cataleuca, and many others. (The 

 Brenthis hecate that he mentions have since been shown to be B. selene 

 var. castiliensis, but the similarity, owing to complete absence of silver 

 beneath, is very striking). In Algeria and Morocco Meade- Waldo 

 reports it as being abundant at- all levels and " simply swarming in 

 some of the woods." In the large Mediterranean islands, though 

 occurring, sometimes freely, inland, it seems to be most abundant as a 

 coast species. In Italy its habitats are as varied as. elsewhere. 

 Wheeler reports that in addition to its alpine localities he has taken it 

 near Sulmona "in a small field at the foot of the hills just below a dry 

 stony watercourse," at Subiaco on the site of Nero's Villa, in a deep 

 but narrow miniature gorge near Palena station, which was watered 

 by a tiny stream, and at rest, in the late afternoon, on the cornstalks 

 and bents, on the top of a dry parched hill above Eoccaraso, where it 

 was by far the least common of the Lycasnids present, the other species 

 being Polyommutiis iearus, P. Jiylas, P. meleager, P. eros, Agriades 

 cor id on % A. thetis, and, most abundant of all, Plebeius argus (aegon). 

 He further notes that below Assisi, where a cart-track ran between 

 flowering patches of vetch on the one side and the stubble of reaped 

 cornfields on the other, whilst other species swarmed at the vetch, the 

 very few A. niedon which he found were confined exclusively to the 

 stubble. Mathew relates that during the first half of September, 1897, 

 this species was " common on a hillside between Trieste and Miramar, 

 the ground being covered with scrub-oak, Spanish chestnut, heath, 

 juniper, and thorn; the heath being in bloom, with many other 

 attractive flowering plants, and butterflies being in great numbers." 

 De la Garde mentions a curious habitat, viz., Malamocco, a very 

 elevated sandbank, outside the canal entrance to Venice. In Bulgaria 

 Mrs. Nicholl took this insect at Slivno, in a rough valley among the 

 vineyards, at the end of May, together with Pontia daplidice, etc., and 

 at the end of June it was one of fifty-two species in a famous "butter- 

 fly corner" in the Rilska Valley, about three miles above the monastery. 

 In Roumania Fleck specially notes meadows and mountain slopes as its 

 favoured haunts. From Russia we have very few records of its special 

 habitats. Young, however, mentions the YailaDagh, above Yalta, in the 

 Crimea; Eversmann states that it occurs "in grassy places" in the Govern- 

 ments of Kasan and Orenburg, and Assmuss says that near Moskaisk, 

 in the Government of Moscow, it is found in meadows near woods. 

 In Finland, also, Federley reports that it occurs in meadows. With 

 regard to its Asiatic haunts, again, we have practically no information. 

 The only exception is Syria, the records from which are unusually full. 

 Mrs. Nicholl took this species above Jedidah on the barren hill-sides, 

 and between Zebedani and Racheya she records it both on the 

 Damascus road, along the banks of a brook flowing through a green 

 valley, and also in the dry watercourses and stony cornfields, where it 

 occurred with Polyommatw am and us, /'. candalus, Aricia isaurica % 

 Nordmannia myrtale, N. ilicis var. rem', Ghry soph anus ochimus, (\ tJier- 

 samon var. persica, Melitaea phoebe, M. triria, M. didyma, and other 

 species. Graves has taken it near Damascus in a large ill-kept 



