1881.] ]_]_ 



side of the stream crested larks delighted to dust themselves, and 

 from the corn fields their larger brethren, the Calandra larks, sprang, 

 and with joyous notes ascended aloft until nearly lost to sight. Here 

 and there a huge stork walked sedately on the look out for a meal for 

 his family, who were waiting his return in their nest on a neighbouring 

 chimney. 



Above the cultivated fields, towards the valley of Ak-y-lar, the 

 country rises into rounded hills or downs, intersected at every half- 

 mile by narrow gullies, through which, during the winter months, 

 little streams run into the sea, but in the summer only a few stagnant 

 pools remain. Patches of prickly mimosa (the " wait-a-bit " thorn of 

 sportsmen), stunted blackthorn bushes, and tufts of rushes, grow 

 sparingly in these valleys ; while the downs themselves are covered 

 with mosses, lichens, thistles, wiry grass, cotton rush, and innumerable 

 clumps of a low-growing prickly shrub, which, at a distance, looked 

 like heather. As one walked across, two or three species of Zygcena 

 would fly heavily by and settle on a thistle flower ; but, with the ex- 

 ception of Vanessa cardui, Lepidoptera on these uplands were by no 

 means abundant, being represented throughout May and June by 

 Colias Edusa, Melanargia Galathea and Larissa, JEpinepJiele Janira, 

 Spilotlnjrus alcecB, Hesperia Thaumas, Macroglossa stellatarum and 

 croatica, &c.,and the following month Satyrus Briseis and S. statilinus 

 var. Allionia were the only notable additions. A remarkable Neu- 

 ropteron (AscalapJius Kolyvanensis), with conspicuous black and yellow 

 wings, was somewhat plentiful, and when first seen, was taken for 

 some species of Zygcena, as it flew much in the same fashion. 



On arriving near the valley of Ak-y-lar, the downs gradually slope 

 towards the stream of Buyak Dereh, which flows through its centre, 

 and on the opposite side there is a broad tract of cultivated country, 

 bounded beyond by a lofty range of thickly wooded hills. The bed 

 of this stream is in some places thirty or forty yards wide, and although 

 in the summer it contains but little Water, yet it was easy to see that 

 it is occasionally swollen by winter rains into a formidable torrent. 

 Trees and brushwood grow plentifully on its banks, and, in addition 

 to the species already enumerated as flourishing by the side of the 

 stream near Gallipoli, elm, oak, broom, and barberry were observed. 

 However, notwithstanding that this valley, in comparison with the 

 surrounding country, looked favourable as a collecting ground, yet, on 

 trial, it did not quite come up to one's expectations. Limeiritis Camilla 

 floated gracefully amongst the brushwood wherever honeysuckle grew ; 

 Lycana Argiolus confined itself to the barberry bushes, upon the 



