Notes of a Tour in Switzerland. 5225 



of the right sort, is enough to constitute a species. In both there are 

 instances of species unquestionably distinct, which yet so much resem- 

 ble each other that a common observer might be apt to pass them 

 by as identical. Thus, e.g., we have A. Adippe and Aglaia, and again 

 Aglaia and the species just alluded to. In the genus Melitaea, like- 

 wise, there is a great resemblance between Euphrosyne and Selene, 

 and again between Selene and Dia. On the present occasion, when 

 descending into the valley of the Rhone, I took a Melitaea closely ap- 

 proximating to Euphrosyne, but nevertheless distinct. 



I would strongly recommend an entomologist who may happen to 

 go to Brieg to pay a visit to the low grounds, partly meadow and 

 partly under cultivation, which lie between the town and the Rhone, 

 scarcely a quarter of a mile from the former. In this locality, within 

 twenty yards of each other, and in less than half as many minutes, I 

 took (August 30th) Argynnis Lathonia in fine condition, apparently 

 fresh from the chrysalis, and Papilio Podalirius a good deal the worse 

 for wear; and likewise tipped the wings of Mancipium Daplidice, 

 which, however, escaped me. In the same meadow-ground the bota- 

 nist, too, may find some things to his liking, such, e.g., as the quaint 

 little orchid, Herminium monorchis, and a very slender, delicate spe- 

 cies of Erythraea, perhaps one of the varieties ofE. pulchella (gracilis 

 of some catalogues), &c, &c. All the way up the Simplon from Brieg 

 butterflies were to be seen in plenty. At the half-way house where 

 horses usually stop to bait I took a very dark, grim-looking variety of 

 Pontia Napi, which in the Geneva Museum I found was named 

 " Bryonia?." I doubt its being more than a variety, the alpine phase, 

 as it were, of the species. Lycaena Virgauriae abounded on the 

 flowers of a species of wild mint by the road-side near the inn. Just 

 behind the Hospice on the Simplon lies a tract of ground to the 

 heart's content of either botanist or entomologist. A lovely little 

 gentian (Geniiana bavarica) enamelled the surface with its bright 

 deep blue flowers; it so much resembled G. verna that at first 1 took 

 it for that species, blossoming at so late a period of the year for 

 a spring flower (August 29th) in consequence of the altitude of the 

 situation. The alpine anemone made a conspicuous figure, though its 

 blossoms were passed, and it showed nothing but leaves and a large 

 fuzzy head of seed. Here, too, occurred, among other interesting 

 flies, the pale-coloured Colias before alluded to, a well-known spe- 

 cies, no doubt, to entomologists, but which, for want of knowing its 

 specific name, I distinguish as the alpine Colias, for it seemed to be 

 xiv. 2 Q 



