A month's collecting in HUNGARY. 55 



species are found in the vicinity, and that accommodation is im- 

 possible nearer to their localities, that one has perforce to stop 

 there. It means quite a journey by tram or train to get any- 

 where at all, as the town is so large it takes a very long time to 

 get beyond the endless suburbs and ramifications of streets and 

 houses ; moreover, this makes discovering fresh ground difficult, 

 and one is apt to go again and again to the two well-known 

 localities — i. e. the Schwabenburg and the Budafok marshes, 

 excellent though they both are, instead of seeking fresh ground 

 and perhaps turning up fresh species. I saw from a distance 

 several places I should much liked to have worked, which looked 

 as though they might produce very good results, if one had the 

 time and means to get there. 



I had arranged to stay at the Hungaria, but I changed to 

 the Hotel Bristol, which I found to be equally good, much 

 quieter, and, most important of all, cheaper. 



My first day at Budapest, May 15th, was devoted chiefly to 

 settling about the hotel and seeing various officials with regard 

 to an expedition to Peszer, which can now only be visited with 

 special permission, but on the 16th I was early on my way to the 

 celebrated Schwabenburg, and after ten minutes in a steamer, 

 twenty minutes in a tram, and forty minutes in a train, I arrived 

 at the station of Schwabenburg itself, and then had only a short 

 walk before I got to the wooded part of the hill which was the 

 objective of my journey. This hill, which is called in Hungarian 

 Svab-Hegy, has been so often described by previous writers that 

 it is quite unnecessary for me to further dilate on it ; at the top 

 are still large patches of untouched wood, with many open glades 

 and spaces, and here I soon found butterflies to be common, 

 though owing to the day being somewhat dull, with a good deal 

 of wind and not much sun, they were not flying very freely. 

 In the warmest and most sheltered spots the two " skippers," 

 Hesperia vialvce and Pt/rgus orbifer were both quite common and 

 in beautifully fresh condition; the two species were generally 

 flying in the same places, though perhaps orbifer was rather 

 more local than the other ; at first they are somewhat difficult 

 to distinguish apart on the wing, though one soon sees that 

 malvce is distinctly smaller and darker. Orbifer when quite fresh 

 has a beautiful plum -coloured flush on the wings which, however, 

 very quickly wears off; they appeared to be a very pugnacious 

 species, constantly chasing other passing insects, to return again, 

 after driving the intruder away, to the same spot. Flying briskly 

 over the flowery spaces were many fresh Colias hyale, but the 

 two commonest species on the wing were Papilio jjodalirius and 

 Euchlo'e cardamines, the latter being extremely abundant, with 

 fine large females. In one or two places Thais polyxena was 

 fairly frequent and still in quite good order, and here also 

 newly emerged Melitaa phoebe were not uncommon, and a single 



