BUTTERFLY HUNTING IN GREECE IN THE YEAR 1900. 29 



Butterfly Hunting in Greece, in the year 1900. 



By MAEGARET E. FOUNTAINS, F.E.S. 



For several years I have traversed the countries of central and 

 southern Europe, a somewhat grotesque figure, armed with a butterfly- 

 net. I have wandered along tlae glorious shores of the Mediterranean, 

 on the French and Italian Rivieras, and up the mountain gorges of 

 the Bassos-Alpes, where, in the neighbourhood of Digne, at least, the 

 butterfly-catcher is no longer an object of idle curiosity to the natives, 

 who have long since grown accustomed to him as " a figure in the 

 view," Digne being a locality of such vast repute in the " butterfly 

 world." Then, too, I have trod the dry arid hill-sides of Andalusia, 

 where the dwarf palm grows in clusters, and vegetation does not seem 

 to flourish. I have climbed to the lofty alpine pastures of Switzerland 

 and North Italy, and penetrated through the dense mountain forests 

 of Hungary, so still and soundless, save for the silent droppings of 

 the beech-nuts, and the faint whisper of the summer wind among the 

 tree-tops. I have also visited the Island of Corsica, which might be 

 a small item from another planet, for all the resemblance its ways and 

 customs bear to any other spot on earth, possessing, moreover, a separate 

 fauna, as it shares with its neighbour. Sardinia, the interesting fact, 

 that many of its animals, birds and various insects (butterflies by no means 

 excepted), as well as plants, are peculiar to these two islands, and not to 

 be found onthemainland of France or Italy, or, indeed, any other country 

 in the world. Sicily, too, is a glorious spot, one vast flower-garden in 

 the month of May, a fruit-orchard in June, and in July a parched-up 

 wilderness. All these countries do I know, and knowing, love. The 

 happy hunting-grounds of the Red Indian could not have been pictured 

 in more glowing colours to the eyes of imagination than must these 

 southern lands — the happy hunting-grounds of the entomologist — for 

 ever remain in the memory of those who have visited them in order 

 to enjoy the pleasures of "la chasse aux papillons ! " 



In the year 1900 I spent the months of May and June in Greece, 

 and it is my humble hope that the experiences herein recorded may 

 possibly claim some slight interest from at least a few of the readers 

 of this journal. Now I am not going to write about Athens, to enlarge 

 upon the sublime beauties of the Acropolis, and so on, because that 

 is the archaeologists' province, upon which I fear to tread, besides, 

 most people know all about that already. Ordinary tourists will 

 almost invariably take their passage on board an Austrian Lloyd, or 

 Italian steamer at Brindisi, spend a few days, or a week, in passing, 

 on the lovely Island of Corfu, proceed by boat to Patras, or perhaps 

 the Piraeus, en route for Athens, where they probably remain a week 

 or two, and then, bidding farewell to the Hellenic shores, they sail foi- 

 other lands, and consider that they are now in a position to say they 

 have "seen Greece!" But merely to have visited Athens and its 

 immediate neighbourhood is, in my humble opinion, by no means to 

 have " seen Greece ! " and it was into that fascinating, half-civilised 

 region, generally spoken of amongst the English colony in Athens, 

 as " the Interior," that my inclinations, as an entomologist, prompted 

 me to explore. Of the various hardships and inconveniences I had 

 been led to suppose I should have to encounter in so doing, I do not 

 think, on the whole, I had received at all an exaggerated description. 

 February 15th, 1902. 



