CHRYSOPHANUS DISPAR. 459 



and shy, and would only fly when the sun shone ; they would always settle 

 on a thistle when they could find one in bloom, flying off to attack any 

 insect, no matter what, that might come anywhere near them, not 

 always returning, but generally passing on to another place. It was 

 of very little use following them if you missed your first stroke with 

 the net, as they went away like the wind, and seldom let you get a 

 second chance; indeed, it was difficult to follow them, as keeping your 

 eyes on them and the boggy places was rather a difficult job. Fleck 

 says that, in Roumania, one finds the 2 s very abundant on flowers of 

 thistle, and centaurea. The $ s, he says, fly very rapidly and dart directly 

 forwards, and do not often settle ; they flap the wings together in 

 flight; for the twinkle of an eye one sees the brilliant red of the upper- 

 side and then the insect suddenly disappears from sight. Peyerimhoff 

 also notes that the species is very irregular in its appearance in Alsace, 

 and states that for four years he had sought the species in vain, in 

 localities where it was usually common, he observes it as most abundant 

 in August, 1879, at Colmar. Riihl observes it as a species of irregular 

 appearance, sometimes disappearing for years from localities where it 

 has previously been abundant. Rehfous observes that, at Glanon- 

 sur-Saone, rutilus flies only if it is warm and the sun shines, from 

 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. ; when the sky is cloudy or it is windy, the 

 insect disappears completely. Its flight, he says, is short, and it loves 

 to settle, by preference, on flowers of Ly thrum salicaria, the wings 

 drawn up and closed ; sometimes it opens them completely, and then 

 glitters in the sun, so that it can be seen from a distance. Lowe 

 observes that at Neu Breisach, he thought the species resembled 

 Ueodes virgaureae in flight and habit, and he considered the flight 

 slow and the butterfly rather sluggish, the imagines basking on the 

 broad leaves of the large water-dock. Aigner says that, in Hungary, 

 it is specially fond of visiting ranunculus and scabious flowers. 



Habitat. — We have already quoted (antea p. 423) Bree's note 

 concerning the low marshy ground frequented by this species in the 

 fen districts of this country, and his expressed surprise that the 

 inundation of the locality during a great portion of the winter had no 

 ill effects on the species, although large tracts of the country inhabited 

 by it were completely under water. Godarfc observed that, in France, 

 it inhabits marshy places, being very common in such localities near 

 Compiegne and Villers-Cotterets, whilst Brown notes it as common in 

 the marshes extending to the north and northwest of Bordeaux, etc. 

 In the Somme district it occurs in peaty marshes (Giard), whilst in 

 the dept. Aube it is very local in marshy fields (Jourdheuille), in the 

 marshes of the dept. Aisne (Dubus), and of Bacalou near Bordeaux 

 (Oberthiir). Norris says that, in Piedmont, it occurs on the marshes 

 round the great springs of Beinette, in the Pesio district ; Verity 

 notes it as occurring in the small marshes that extend along the 

 coast of Tuscany, from Pisa nearly to Spezia, whilst Curo observes 

 that it is not rare in fields in Piedmont. Mrs Nicholl records it as 

 rather abundant in the marshes of the Save, near Bosnisch Brod, and 

 around the glacis of the fortress of Slavisch Brod, and states that the 

 insect is difficult to chase over the boggy ground of the marshes, but she 

 also notes it as occurring in every wet valley of north Bosnia up to 2000ft. 

 or more ; she also found it in the marshes near Jajce, by the Pliva ; 

 and, in Bulgaria, in the marshes of the Struma valley. In Germany, 

 Speyer says that it flies preferably in damp meadows, and seems 



