HARDWICKES SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



3i 



imagine ; it is hardly more like Aurinia than the latter 

 is like the female of Cynthia, the distinctness of 

 which no one doubts for a moment ; and the same 

 remark applies quite as (or even more) strongly to 

 Provincialis and Desfontanii, two other very beautiful 

 varieties of Aurinia, though they are very unlike the 

 type, and still more unlike Merope. Moreover, the 

 food-plant of Merope is said to be Primula viscosa, 

 (though, by the way, I have great doubt as to this 

 being so), whereas Aurinia usually feeds on Scabious 

 and Plantain, and never, I believe, on any kind of 

 Primula. Having done with Merope, I turned my 

 steps towards the place where I had seen the white 

 butterflies. On my way thither I passed over a large 

 space of ground where B. hmaria was growing in 

 such profusion as I never saw elsewhere : the plants 

 stood so thickly that it was almost impossible to put 

 one's foot down without treading on one ; they were, 

 too, unusually large and robust, and oh ! how different 

 from the few puny examples I have seen growing in 

 England of this curious little fem. 



About half-way between the swamp and the ridge, 

 my eye suddenly fell on a beautiful male Cynthia 

 settled on the ground a yard or two away, its white 

 checkered wings outspread after the manner of the 

 genus. I had never seen this insect before, but there 

 could be no mistake about its identity, for no other 

 Swiss Melitea has any white on the wings. 



Approaching carefully, I struck too hurriedly, the 

 net hit the ground, and the prize was gone ! I wasted 

 more than an hour about the spot, but I did not get 

 a glimpse of another specimen there. The white 

 butterflies turned out to be Callidice, a very restless 

 insect and a very rapid flyer, but by quietly waiting 

 at one spot and making a rapid dash as one passed 

 near me, I managed to net four or five, and I got 

 two or three more by stalking them, when they 

 settled on the ground as they occasionally did. 



All the specimens were males, and in good con- 

 dition. (A day or two later, I got half-a-dozen more 

 above the Riffel-Berg Hotel, one of which was a 

 female.) Whilst I was catching Callidice, I saw 

 another Cynthia, and secured it, and subsequently I 

 found a spot where a brood had evidently just 

 hatched out. I got a number of fine fresh specimens, 

 but unfortunately only one of them was a female. 

 The white checkers are wanting in this-sex. 



On another occasion, I made an excursion to the 

 Schwartz-See for the purpose of getting Gorge, but I 

 only saw two specimens, and one of these escaped me. 

 I took some fine Tyndanis and Lappoda, however, 

 and saw a few Palseno and Callidice, but on the 

 whole this was not a successful day. My attention 

 was turned chiefly to butterflies, but I observed a 

 number of plants of Lloydia. serotina, and of Jianun- 

 culus ruttzfolia on the alps round the Schwartz-See 

 Hotel. 



We left Zermatt on the 14th July for Berisal, where 

 I found Gordius quite plentiful. I may say here, 



that this insect is far finer in colour and larger on the 

 Italian side of the pass. A German gentleman stay- 

 ing at Berisal made an expedition to Crevola, and 

 returned with a fine series caught there ; it was very 

 interesting to notice the marked difference between 

 these, and those he had taken at Berisal. All the 

 Swiss species of Parnassus are to be obtained here. 

 Mnemosyne is fairly common quite close to the hotel, 

 and is extremely abundant on the alp high above the 

 second refuge, where I also saw Eurybia, Lathonia, 

 Carthemi, etc. 



The male of Goante is by no means uncommon on 

 the roadside just beyond the bridge (which is about 

 ten minutes below the hotel), but the female is rare. 

 Hylas, Eros, Pheretes, Donzelii, Damon, Alcon, 

 Escheri, the rare Lycidas, Parthanie, Didyma, Her- 

 mione, and numerous commoner species maybe taken 

 on or near the roadside, between the bridge and the 

 second refuge, but every fine day in the season 

 witnesses several nets going all along this road, so 

 that it would seem almost a wonder that anything 

 should escape ; nevertheless, the species do not appear 

 to diminish in numbers from the annual raids made 

 on them. 



Both Hippothoe and Virgaurex are plentiful all 

 about Berisal, the latter being especially abundant in 

 the rough valley which runs up from the bridge to 

 the Bortel-Alp. 



Here, too, Apollo and Dolius are common, and a 

 few Areas occur. High up above Berisal, on very 

 rough stony slopes near the snow-line, I caught about 

 a dozen Gorge, but it is a very wary insect and by no 

 means easy to take on its favourite ground. I only 

 saw one Cynthia, but I believe it is sufficiently abun- 

 dant on some of the high alps above the hotel. 



Besides the butterflies I have mentioned above, 

 and the commoner kinds, I got specimens (more or 

 less) of each of the following species : Euphemus, 

 Asteria, Melampus, Stygne, Medusa, Celo, Euryale, 

 Lavaterre, and the pretty little Sao, which is rather 

 common almost everywhere. 



One day I explored the ground round the Hospice, 

 but with small results ; I saw a marmot, one or two 

 Palasno, and a few Lappona, but nothing else. 



When returning to Berisal I took the low, and in 

 some places extremely narrow, valley which runs nearly 

 straight down from the fourth to the second refuge; 



The old mule-road over the pass went through this 

 valley; this road after eighty-five years' disuse is still 

 plainly marked in many places, but portions of it are 

 nowadays extremely rough, avalanches having indeed 

 carried it away altogether in places, and in others 

 covered it with a chaos of withered fir-trees and 

 enormous boulders, so that it is anything but an easy 

 matter to get down the valley at all. 



The venture was not repaying, nevertheless I got 

 a good series of Arcania, var. Darwiniana, and a few 

 commoner kinds. 



I devoted one day to a visit to the Bel-Alp for 



