282 the entomologist's record. 



Sad was the appearance of the hills on the opposite side of the 

 Cserna, not a leaf on the trees, even the grass was devoured by the 

 larvae of Porthetria dispar, Esp. The authorities, rather late in the day, 

 placed a ring of greasy matter round the trees, as is the practice in 

 our own orchards. The larvae crawled up to the ring, forming a living 

 mass all round the base of the trees, and they were then swept off with 

 a broom by the men in charge. I also noticed a few Lymantria monacha. 

 On the Domogled side of the stream there were no traces of larva?. 



The weather was not quite so settled as it might have been, and Dr. 

 Fischer and I decided, until it improved, to devote our attention to the 

 valley (pi. x.). Neptis aceris was not uncommon, flitting about 

 wherever the sunlight was admitted ; I was, however, too late for the 

 first brood, and the second was not yet out, but I managed to take a 

 fair series. About a mile or so from the town, the valley widens and there 

 is some excellent open collecting ground. Brenthis daphne was in the 

 greatest abundance, flying over bramble blossom. Melitaea athalia var. 

 mehadiensis, a fine form, was also very numerous. Limenitis sibylla 

 and Dry as [Argynnis) paphia were not uncommon, and occasional 

 specimens of Limenitis populi, Apatura iris, A. ilia, and var. clytie, were 

 taken at rest on the muddy roads. Flying over loose stones in the 

 road in the hot sunshine, Libythea otitis was fairly common. 



On June 21st, the weather improved, and we made an excursion to 

 the "quelle" or "spring," about 1000ft. above Herculesbad — a zigzag 

 path through the wood led to the " Weisses Kreuz," where a beautiful 

 view over the valley was obtained. The route now became of quite a 

 romantic character. The trees were of great size and grandeur, the foliage 

 scarcely admitting any daylight beyond a few glints of sunshine on the 

 undergrowth beneath. The " quelle " was reached — a spot of about 

 half-an-acre which had been cleared in the forest — and there was 

 naturally, as the name would suggest, a brook. The butterflies con- 

 gregated here was a sight not to be forgotten. Limenitis populi, L. 

 Camilla, L. sibylla, Neptis lucilla, and N. aceris were practically all on 

 the wing together, although .V. aceris was represented by a single 

 specimen only, the others were quite common. A little further up the 

 valley, in another open space, Melitaea maturna was not uncommon ; 

 beyond a solitary specimen of Parnassius mnemosyne, no other species 

 of butterflies was seen, not a single Argynnis ! 



It seemed quite a lottery, on June 23rd, when we left the Kursal at 

 6.30 a.m. in the morning for the Domogled, how the weather would 

 turn out, but it remained perfect throughout the day. We secured a 

 youthful guide, Nikolas Kolopenza, of Pecseneska, who was a bit of a 

 collector, and who, after I left, captured and sent me a beautiful series of 

 Erebia melas. At the " quelle," the road diverges to the right, the guide 

 for some reason took us by a roundabout route, by way of the Kleiner 

 Domogled. I was not sorry, for the collecting here was good. We 

 searched in vain for E. melas — but there were other butterflies of 

 interest — Neptis lucilla was extremely numerous, the specimens being 

 large and in beautiful condition. This species occurred almost to the 

 top of the Domogled (3630ft.). The view was very fine — to the left 

 we could see the fields of Eoumania, for we were practically on the 

 frontier, and to the right those of Servia, and on the horizon line the 

 Danube. On the summit we saw one butterfly, Limenitis populi ; on 

 the southern grassy slopes Erebia medusa var. psodea was not uncommon, 



