burn to know something of its much more numerous congeners on the other side of the Channel. When one thinks that in little more than twenty-four hours one can reach the best collecting-ground in the South of France or the Swiss Alps, where in one day an active man may secure more species than the whole summer through in England, it seems strange that insular predilections should still so largely prevail. And what proper estimate, for instance, can we form here of the true characteristics of that alpine genus Erebia, with its meagre quotient of two, as compared with thirty distinct species and a vast number of varieties on the Continent of Europe alone? Or of our ten Lycænidæ against fifty or more on the Continent?

For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the aspect of a Swiss Valley, from the lepidopterist's point of view, in the month of July, I may be allowed, perhaps, to recall a stroll up one of them, net in hand, on a warm day towards the end of that month. For most species the end of July is late, at the lower end of a valley, but there is often consolation higher up, where species that were ragged 2000 ft. below have here only just emerged. Where all are so beautiful and so prolific in insect-life, it is difficult to make a selection; but the one of which I have the most grateful recollections is the Visper-Thal, off the Valley of the Rhone. A friend and I explored it together in July, 1885. From Visp to Stalden is an easy walk of two hours along a pretty valley, where the vine is still in cultivation; a noisy stream rushes over its rocky bed beneath you, and the snowy peak of the Balfrein blocks out all further view ahead. The only rarity I met with here was a single specimen, much worn, of the var. lycidas of L. zephyrus. Until a year or two previously, Berisal, on the Simplon, was the only locality for this insect. I took two females of it also on the Gemmi in 1886. This is one instance among many of the fact before referred to, viz., that, other conditions being favourable, the same insect may be found at widely varying altitudes, a difference in this particular case of some 4000 ft.

We stayed the night at Stalden, a most picturesque old village at the junction of the Saas and Zermatt valleys. At 6 o'clock the next morning we set out for Saas-im-Grund (5000 ft.), a three hours' walk, but expanded by us into nearly five, by reason of the many snares which beset our path-notably on approaching our destination, when the sun had full possession of the narrow valley, and species new to us were occurring at every step-the most abundant being Polyommatus virgaureæ, flitting dazzlingly among patches of its namesake, the golden-rod, and Erebia tyndarus and goante scattered generally over the meadows. We spent five days at Saas, working each day in different directions; but the most remunerative in species was one on which we walked up to Mattmark Lake (7000 ft.).

In the immediate neighbourhood of the Saas Hôtel five interesting members of the Lycaenidae occur, viz., optilete, pheretes, orbitulus, eros, and donzelii, the deep violet of the first and the silvery grey of the last three being particularly striking when seen for the first time. A little further on a group of fritillaries enliven the scene-Melitaa maturna, phœbe, aurelia, dictynna ; Argynnis niobe, with its var. eris, A. pales, and var. napaa. Parnassius apollo also occurs here pretty abundantly; and a little higher up, where the valley narrows, we took quite a modest series of P. delius, hovering gracefully along the margin of the stream, where they appear to suck the flowers of Saxifraga aizoides, on which also the larvæ are said to feed. Here the scenery begins to grow wilder; huge masses of rock shoot up above the larch, spruce, and birch, with which the slopes are still clothed, the boulders in the river are mightier, and there is a weird feeling of desolation ahead. We are now over 6000 ft. above sea-level, and the alpine Erebias are at hand-mnestra, evias, gorge, euryale. On a barren slope, just before reaching the lake, I took a worn specimen of the very local Eneis aëllo, abundant some years on the Simplon.

The approach to the Mattmarksee is almost diabolical in its savage grandeur. A few scattered bushes of the alpine rose and a little brushwood are the only signs of vegetation; the narrow pass is choked with rocks and stones, and the Allalein Glacier forms a natural dam between the lake and the valley. From out of it rise colossal pyramids of cleft ice sheer against the sky, and from an ice grotto at the lower end issues the River Visp. In this wild spot, on a towering slope of loose shale—with not a particle of vegetation visible, and where a false step meant broken bones, if not something worse-E. glacialis was quite abundant, with an occasional var. alecto. But collecting under these conditions is too exciting to be agreeable, and we soon clambered over the little rocky pass down to the shore of the muddy lake, where a stunted kind of vegetation again appeared, and where we again came across a few specimens of Lycana pheretes, orbitulus, and eros, in much finer condition than those we took 2000 ft. lower down. Erebia lappona was also common and fine at this spot.

There is a small inn here, where fair accommodation and Italian wines may be had. At Saas-im-Grund also is a capital hostelry-the Hôtel du Monte Moro-where board and lodging are only 58. per diem; so that a fortnight's excursion to this valley from England may be accomplished easily and comfortably for from ten to twelve pounds.

I append a list of Rhopalocera, observed or taken, between Visp and Mattmark, in the third week of July, and shall be glad to give information about other valleys and hotels to any one desiring it.

The language of the Canton Vallais, where Visp lies, is German, but as it adjoins a French canton many of the people speak that language also. Kane's Handbook of European Butterflies' will be found a most useful vade mecum.

List referred to above. - P. podalirius, machaon, P. apollo, delius, P. brassica, rapæ, napi var. bryonia, callidice; L. sinapis; C. phicomone; P. virgaureæ var. zermattensis, hippothoë var. eurybia, alcipliron, var. gordius; L. ægon, argus, optilete, zephyrus var. lycidas, pheretes, orbitulus, astrarche, eros, icarus, eumedon, escheri, donzelii, minima, semiargus, arion, var. obscura; V. urticæ, io; M. maturna, aurinia var. merope, phoebe, didyma, var. alpina, dictynna, athalia, parthenie; A. euphrosyne, pales, var. napæa, latonia, niobe, var. eris, paphia, var. valesina; M. galatea; E. epiphron var. nelamus, melampus, mnestra, ceto, evias, glacialis, var. alecto, lappona, tyndarus, gorge, goante, æthiops, euryale; E. aëllo; S. hermione; P. mœra; E. ianira, lycaon, hyperanthes; C. satyrion, pamphilus; S. carthami, alveus; N. tages; H. thaumas, lineola, sylvanus, comma.

Framingham Earl Hall, Norwich, December, 1889.

ON THE VARIATION OF HELIOPHOBUS HISPIDUS AT

PORTLAND.

BY N. M. RICHARDSON, B.A.

I think that I can give an explanation of the confusion that has arisen with regard to the violet tinge of Heliophobus hispidus at Portland. I sent to Mr. Tutt on Oct. 1st, 1888, specimens taken during September, and on Oct. 15th answered a letter of his asking about the violet tinge. It is probably a part of this letter that he quotes (Entom. xxii. 136), and so far as I remember I had not at that time noticed any distinct violet tinge.

This year I found that many specimens, when alive and for some time after death, were distinctly tinged with violet, or perhaps more accurately pinkish-lilac, but that after a few weeks this tinge entirely disappeared. At the present time, though I kept for myself several strongly tinged specimens, I cannot find a trace of this violet tinge in any of them.

Hübner therefore probably figured the moth alive or when very recently killed. I could not, however, say of any of the Portland specimens, even during life, that their "pale markings were of a delicate violet"; on the contrary, they are very pale ochreous, some of them being almost white: the violet is nothing more than a tinge, far less intense than the pink colour of a fresh specimen of Xylocampa lithoriza, and is, as I have said above, very evanescent. It is spread over the whole of the fore wings, but is most striking on the hind margin and fringes.

With regard to the varieties of H. hispidus found at Portland, I wish, in the first place, to correct the apparent meaning of a quotation which Mr. Tutt makes from a letter of mine (Entom. xxii. 137), "This (var. pallida) is a more common var. and very pretty." As he does not give the context, it would appear that I meant " more common than his var. argentea (which represents, I suppose, the commonest form at Portland), whereas I have little doubt that I referred to a very small (1 in. 2 lines) and dark var. (his var. obsoleta ?), of which I have only taken two specimens, one a good specimen of the extreme form, and one a bad specimen somewhat resembling it, which is the one I sent to Mr. Tutt. I have seen no others just like these two specimens, which differ from the ordinary form in being smaller, darker, and having less distinct though similar markings. All the other Portland specimens that I have seen resemble each other in the general style of their markings and in size (about 1 in. 5 lines), but vary a good deal in the shade of their ground colour, from very pale greyish brown to almost black. There is, as Mr. South says (Entom. xxii. 282), very little variation in the arrangement of the markings.

Between these two extremes there is every intermediate form, and it would be impossible to make any line of division, as a graduated series could be arranged in which the differences between consecutive specimens would be almost imperceptible. The bulk of the specimens are neither very dark nor very light, but the very light ones are commoner than the very dark ones. I have seen nothing that can be called a variety amongst the females; they vary a little in size, but are far more constant in shade of ground colour than the males, and never very light or very dark; they are much less handsome than the males, and of a less graceful shape.

I do not possess any Torquay specimens, so cannot unfortunately compare them with those from Portland.

Montevideo, near Weymouth, Dec. 21st, 1889.

WHY a moth should rush to a street-lamp, and decline to waste its energies in a straight course for the moon,-why, in other words, the insect should be attracted by artificial light, and shun that which is natural,-is a matter that has exercised the minds of philosophers, ancient and modern. Between the moral drawn from the question by the early Greek, and the speculation of the latter-day scientist, one thing to the entomologist is certain, that by taking moths "at light" he can add captures to

his collection which otherwise he might seldom, if ever, make. Among the methods of taking moths at light, these observations will be confined to the working of gas-lamps, to a method followed by me for years, and, lastly, with reference to captures made personally, with the exception of a solitary insect.

Perhaps our best hunting-ground here is a lonely road about half a mile south of the city. Along one side stretches a plantation of miscellaneous trees and undergrowth, chiefly oak; on the other is a footway, with lamps two hundred yards apart. Beyond this open fields stretch away into the country. A hawthorn hedge bounds the road on either side.

I rarely take a net, my only apparatus being a cyanide bottle -the cyanide (of potassium) being covered by a layer of cottonwool-and a twelve-foot ladder, taken close by a few silent friends from a neighbouring graveyard. The bottle is an ordinary pomade-bottle; it fits the waistcoat-pocket, and so, with the aid of the cotton-wool, prevents the insects from rolling about. The ladder I prefer to all other appliances, because the outside, inside, and framework of the lamps can be examined. Again, the use of the ladder enables the entomologist to work with little interruption, the collector being taken as a rule for a gas man." Nevertheless, the night is sometimes varied by incidents more or less amusing. You become " a character wellknown to the police"; nay, it is likely enough that the stalwart officer on the beat, in spiked helmet and greatcoat, may assist in "running in "-to the cyanide bottle-a refractory insect.

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Many moths, not even singed by the flame, rest inside the lamps; many of course on the glass outside; but others, such as Pocilocampa populi and Asteroscopus sphinx (cassinea), lie close to the framework inside, outside, and under the lamp, so that they are invisible to a spectator on the footway. Again, a female, finding herself imprisoned, will often deposit her eggs in the lamp, or she may be captured, taken home, and made use of for breeding purposes. All this can be best effected by means of a ladder. I have carried mine, to be modest, one hundred miles. It is well to have in one's pocket two or three chip-boxes to accommodate eggs or females. My only companion, in nine cases out of ten, is a trusted stick.

All moths are not equally attracted by the lamps. I never took a single hawk-moth, or a Taniocampa, although the latter might be swarming on the sallows near. P. populi comes well to lamps; not so Eriogaster lanestris, its near relative. Up to 1889 I had only one record of Plusia gamma, when in that year the insect changed its character and became a nuisance. I never took a Dicranura vinula. But my experience goes to show that the great majority of moths, males chiefly, come to lamps, and more especially the Geometers. Among the latter, Hybernia,