138 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



over the rough hillside in my service ! After a good deal of talk 

 the matter had to be compromised, and I was glad to get rid 

 of him. 



I arrived late at night at Hammam R'Irha, a well-known 

 bathing resort with a very comfortable hotel, situated among the 

 mountains some distance to the south-west of Blidah, at an 

 elevation of 1900 ft. above sea-level. When I left my bedroom 

 in the morning I found that I had reached a very charming spot. 

 As J sat at breakfast some pretty birds of a species unknown to 

 me were pecking the dates from a palm outside the window. 

 The air was filled with a delicious perfume from the roses and 

 other flowers growing in the extensive gardens, and the sunshine 

 made the place seem a veritable paradise. But, as was so often 

 the case, a bright morning was followed by a gloomy day. Hurry- 

 ing out with my net I worked round the gardens and then along 

 a road leading to the forest. In a meadow by the wayside I was 

 pleased to take the beautiful Algerian form of Epincphele jurtina, 

 known q,s fortunata, which very much resembles the better-known 

 hisjyidla, but is larger and more brilliant. Especially is this the 

 case during life, for when killed much of the brightness which is 

 so striking a feature in the living insect disappears. After this 

 there was no more sun, and consequently no more butterflies, but 

 in a forest clearing I found at rest on the flower heads a Zygfenid 

 which I have not yet determined. I struck a woodland path 

 along which I wandered until it began to rain, when instead of 

 retracing my steps I tried to take a short cut through the under- 

 growth and, of course, lost myself. The rain became a steady 

 downpour, a state of things for which I was unprepared. After 

 a rough-and-tumble scramble up and down the mountain-side I 

 at length hit upon a clearing where an Arab boy was at work, 

 and he showed me the way down into the valley. Here I found 

 some native dwellings, and the Arabs told me to follow a cart 

 track, which ultimately led me to the hotel. The remainder of 

 the day had to be spent indoors, for the heavy rain continued 

 until evening. The day's bag consisted only of three burnets, 

 two E. var. fortunata, one CoUas edusa, one E. megcBva, and one 

 E. egeria. Towards evening the storm abated and I determined 

 to push on towards the Great Desert by way of the Saida and 

 Colomb B6char Railway, which joins the main Algiers-Oran line 

 at a place called Perr^gaux. In order to catch the west-bound 

 night express, I had to change trains at the little station of 

 Afronville, when a wait of two hours was relieved by catching a 

 few Noctuse on the station lamps and by watching the comet — 

 Mademoiselle Halley, the French called it — which was shining 

 with great brilliancy, and quite came up to one's idea of what a 

 respectable comet ought to be. At five o'clock the next morning 

 I was awakened by the guard, and turned out of my berth to find 

 we were approaching Perr^gaux. From here we travelled through 



