Insects. 991 



Remarks on the Butterflies of Switzerland. 

 By W. C. Hewitson, Esq. 



It was my good fortune to enjoy, during the last summer, a treat 

 which had for many years been the object of my wishes — an entomo- 

 logical excursion amongst the Swiss Alps. 



The entomologist alone can know, when looking over the captures 

 of the past summer, how vividly they recall to his recollection each 

 beautiful spot he has visited in pursuit of them ; it needs not, how- 

 ever, any such assistance to the memory to paint, in bright colours, 

 the recollections of the scenes which await the wanderer in that glo- 

 rious country. 



I went to Switzerland with Mr. Brown's translation of Meisner as 

 my guide, and found it so useful that I fancy a few additional re- 

 marks cannot fail to be acceptable to any one bent on the same de- 

 lightful errand as myself. 



With regard to locality, Meisner's remarks are very accurate, -—not 

 so much so in relation to time of appearance ; but this is always 

 more or less under the influence of seasons, and the inaccuracy may 

 apply only to the past summer : for as with us the spring had been 

 warm and dry, and the butterflies were consequently early in their 

 appearance, so much so, that had I waited the time indicated in 

 these observations to visit some of the localities pointed out, I should 

 have been much too late to take the insects in perfection. 



It is, however, impossible to fix a date for the appearance of 

 either plants or insects in a country like Switzerland, unless they are 

 exclusively the production of some given elevation ; for, when you 

 reach the mountain valleys, you meet with the same flowers and but- 

 terflies in their first bloom which you have taken five or six weeks 

 before at a lower level. Thus, I took our beautiful orange-tip on the 

 2nd of June, a little below the Mer de Glace at Grindenwald, and 

 the Apollo on the 39th of July in the vale of Chamouni. 



Professor Meisner speaks of the Vallais, which is the hottest part 

 of Switzerland, as the district most rich in entomological productions. 

 I found it, however, quite the reverse ; but I might have been too 

 late, considering the earliness of the season ; and though I hunted 

 diligently some of the localities mentioned by him as abounding in 

 particular species, I did so without success : indeed, throughout 

 Switzerland, the valleys and low grounds are very unproductive of 

 butterflies, which always increase in number as you ascend the moun- 

 tains, and this to an elevation of the first 2,000 or 3,000 feet, — not in 



