Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1902-08-07
BUrrERFLIEs IN THE Hips.


anu D6buttut SpeCteS arc
at Great Attitudes.
London Standard.
In the new number of the Field
Naturalists' Quarterly, HI. Rowland.
Brown writes pleasantly on butterfly
hunting in tho Alps. The first day
which the British collector spends on
the high mountains, or even on their
approaches, will, as the author rightly
observes, be hereafter marked with a
white stone.
Species which in our islands are ex-
ceedingly rare, or not even included in
our fauna, are seen futtering, some
times abundantly, over the flower
spangled turf or summing themselves on
some projecting stone. Even the COM
mon forms are more abundant there
than with us, and on some of the
smaller kinds moisture apparently ex-
ercises kind of fascination. However
muddy or even foul the puddle may he,
there they are sucking it up so greedily
that they will almost let themselves be
trodden upon.
Certain small species of the familiar
blues and coppers are the most addicted
to drink, and the males are accused of
being more confirmed topers than the
females. But to anyone who has
slight knowledge of entomology, the
variety is not less surprising than the
abundance. Our islands are not rich
! in butterflies, for, according to the
| latest authorities, the number of species
/ does not exceed "a, and even this in
| clude5 several which are doubtful and
some certainly not indigenous Prob
/ ably we are no better off than Lapland,
| which can reckon 60 we'll -authenticated
| species; while France can produce no
less than 240, and even Switzerland
more than ITO.
Nothing better indicates the differ
| ence between the Alps and our own
! country than Mr.. Rowland Browns
| statement that on small mountain
overlooking the Bremen Pass he
; counted on one of the last days in July
So different species of butterflies on
| the wing, and has not unfrequently OBJ
served in Switzerland and other parts
/ of the Alps as many different sorts in
single day as are contained in the
/! whole British list.
/ The not uncommon Birthstone but
terfly of this country may be seen
i flying over piles of stones 5000 feet
above the sea level far beyond the range
of its favorite buckthorn the beauti-
full swallow tail, in this country so sell
dom found out of the Cambridgeshire
fens, is common enough on the Alpine
slopes, and may be seen even up to the
snow line. Such rarities as the Queen
of Spain fritillary, the gorgeous Purple
Emperor, the Bath White, and the
Camberwell Beauty, with its maroon
colored wings and primrose border are
not scarce. and the first occasionally
ranges high.
Some genera are far more rich in
species there than in our islands. That
is true of the sulphurs, the blue, the
coppers and the ringlets. The Alps
possess 26 species of the last named
the genus Erebia-while we have but
one truly belonging to the mountains.
Another species, Erebia glacialis, ac-
cording to Mr.. Rowland Brown, is one
of the most characteristic butterflies Of
the Alps, the other belonging to a
genus not represented in this country.
Another handsome form, which has
in vain striven for admission into
British lists, is the Apollo butterfly,
whose size and beauty seldom fail to
attract notice from the most casual
traveller. This also, like several others,
affords object lessons in the making OF
species to the scientific naturalist, for
at higher attitudes it gives place to a
smaller form, with less transparent
and more primrose tinted wings, to
which separate name has been as
signed
These flowers of the insect world
often range above the toughest Of
pastures into the realm of ice. Mr..
Rowland Brown mentions several occa-
sions where he has seen them flying
over rocks or snowfields we'll over 10, 00O
feet above sea level. One of the earlier
Alpine climbers observed two species
of ringlets and two of Fritillaria
species at the top of the Strahleck
Pass, or at almost IL. 600 feet, and a
small tortoise-shell fluttering about
the topmost rocks of the Griyola, which
is Just over 13, 600 feet.