45 
non-British species besides : the thyme and marjoram teem with these 
strange little creatures, which make their wings appear to rotate by a 
process of moving those on opposite sides in different directions. No 
Nemeobius lucina were observed here, although a second brood turned up 
at Aix, but malvcie- like Skippers were in dozens. How many species 
there were I dare not say ; whether Pyrgus rnalvae was in fact one of 
them it is equally unsafe to assert. Nisoniades tages and some butter¬ 
flies which resembled but were not it occurred, not here but at Aosta; 
but here, with the Yellows and Fritillaries, thousands of Pamphila 
comma dart about diving their probosces deep into thistle and scabious, 
hustling the Burnet moths, the apollos, and even the bees. P. linea and 
P. lineola, P. sylvanus and P. actaeon all occur here, P. lineola much the 
most frequently. 
Thus much for some of the butterflies round Courmayeur. Those 
species which are not found in England find so little favour in the eyes 
of British collectors that this must be my excuse for not naming them; 
but when three-fourths of our British species and as many other 
non-British species besides, can be seen in one or two morning walks 
among some of the most beautiful scenery in the Alps, with the Sovran 
Dome of Mont Blanc keeping silent and watchful guard, where, when 
butterflies and Burnet moths pall, one can turn to lovely flowers, glacial 
torrents, glistening snow, sparkling cascades, silent and majestic moun¬ 
tains or deep deep blue sky, can watch the filmy haze weave itself into 
fanciful shapes around the aiguilles yonder and float off a wraith so 
fairy-like and light that the blue of the sky appears to pierce it, whilst 
the sound of the cow-bells comes peacefully from the pastures above 
and woos the sleepy dream-god,Alien I feel it safe to assert that there 
are many worse occupations than catching “Hampstead Heath” antiopas, 
“ Dover ” latonas, “ Folkestone ” daplidices, and Midland dias, on the 
breezy slopes of the mountains around Courmayeur. 
Sept. 18th, 1894.—Exhibits :—Mr. Oldham : males of Odonestis 
potatoria from Wisbech; one of them was of a buff colour, except the 
usual oblique dark streak which was somewhat faint. Mr. Riches: 
Ocneria dispar, and some “ Ribbon-grass ” ( Phalaris arundinacea varie¬ 
ty ata, also called Digraphis arundinacea). Mr. Gates: among other in¬ 
sects, Gortyna ochracea, and the stems of burdock from which they had 
emerged. Mr. Battley: 2 bred males of Lasiocampa quercifolia from 
Wicken ; also Apatura iris ( $ ) and Geometra papilionaria from the New 
Forest. Mr. Bayne: Noctua dahlii from the New Forest and Aberdeen. 
Mr. Tutt remarked that this species is sexually dimorphic at Aberdeen, 
the males being chestnut brown and mottled, the females, dark purplish in 
tint, and that a similar phase of sexual dimorphism occurred in Yorkshire 
and in Essex. In Sligo, on the contrary, both males and females were of 
the dark purplish tint, and the mottled chestnut males appeared un¬ 
known, whilst at Morpeth in Northumberland the females were of the 
usual purplish coloration, but the males were sometimes chestnut coloured, 
at other times dark purple like the females. He further remarked that it 
was a species well worth studying, both from the points of geographical 
and of sexual variation. The red form exhibited b} 7 Mr. Bayne he con¬ 
sidered very peculiar and certainly very rare. Mr. Bell: young larvae 
of Cerigo matura, which Mr. Tutt stated fed throughout the winter on 
grass. Mr. Nicholson then read the following paper on: — 
