EDWARDSIA W-ALBUM. 181 



of Fontainebleau Forest, in the open spaces to be found by the side of 

 one of the main roads leading through the Forest, where huge giant 

 elm-trees and oaks form the mass of the tall trees, and low plants of 

 rose, bramble, privet, etc., abound in the clearings, this species swarms 

 with its ally, S. ilicis, flying in numbers quite out of reach, and 

 absolutely safely, around the tall trees, but descending as the sun 

 becomes more powerful, until, at about 11 a.m., the bramble and 

 privet blossom form a living, active, insect home, with imagines of 

 Limenitis sibylla, Dryas paphia, Melitaea athalia, Epinephele ianira, etc., 

 disturbing the busy " hairstreaks " that want to settle down quietly to 

 the luscious feast. Here they continue to assemble until the sun 

 leaves the glades and openings, when they soon mount to safety in the 

 arms of the leafy monarchs above. The other locality was an entirely 

 different one. A steep mountain-path, leading from the little village of 

 Alios to the lovely Lac d'Allos, levels out for some distance about a mile 

 above the village. Here the path is bounded with a rough hedge on 

 either side, chiefly formed of gooseberry, barberry, and blackthorn 

 bushes. Among these a few fairly- grown elm-trees are found, edging 

 the road for a short distance ; on one side the steep rocky slopes here 

 and there give place to cultivated patches, whilst, on the other, a field 

 slopes down to the chasm through which rushes a boiling mountain 

 stream. Here, a few worn specimens of Edwardsia w-album still lingered 

 on August 11th, 1906, flitting about the elm-trees, gambolling with the 

 more abundant N. acaciae, which frequented the neighbouring black- 

 thorns. Two more unlike habitats of E. iv- album could scarcely 

 be imagined than this and that in Fontainebleau Forest, and it is just 

 possible that the point reached on this mountain pathway represents 

 the greatest altitude that the species attains in Europe. Throughout 

 France, however, its localities are, as in England, woodlands, or places 

 where elms are abundant. In the French Pyrenees, it occurs in 

 avenues of elm-trees, along the main roads, on bramble-blossom in the 

 bye-paths, and on flowers of Lathy r us sylvestris (Rondou); in the woods 

 of the Dept. Indre, etc. (Sand) ; throughout the Haute-Garonne 

 wherever elms grow (Caradja), in promenades planted with elms in 

 the Gironde (Trimoulet), in woods at Brenne (Martin), in woods and 

 along avenues of elm-trees, near Paris (Villiers and Guenee), in the 

 forest of Raismes, in the Dept. Nord (Paux) ; in the forests of Baeren- 

 thal and Voipy, in Alsace (Cantener), etc. In the Baltic Provinces, it 

 occurs in woodland meadows (Nolcken). In Switzerland, its localities 

 are somewhat similar, but it is much more frequently found by road- 

 sides, and in gardens, near which elms grow. One of the best known 

 localities is the road between Aigle and Sepey, whilst, in Geneva, it 

 often occurs in the gardens on the outskirts on the town (Blachier). 

 In Italy, it is also, sometimes, a town insect, occurring in the 

 Piazza Beccaria, in the city of Florence (Tolomei). In Germany, 

 Speiser notes it as being largely confined to woods of deciduous trees 

 in East and West Prussia, whilst in Pomerania, Hering observes it as 

 being not rare, near the forester's house on the Schrey, near Garz-on- 

 the-Oder, where it affects Ulmus alba, whilst it is very rare at Stettin, 

 where only Ulmus campestris is found. Voelschow notes that the 

 species is very retired, and difficult to find in nature, in the imaginal 

 state, in Mecklenburg, but that the larvae are fairly abundant where 

 elms are abundant. Tessmann captured the species in a wood near 



