BUTTERFLY-HUNTING IN THE BALKANS. 



107 



thence to the source of the river Ombla. It Wtas too rough to 

 land on the island, so we steamed round it, and running for a 

 few miles up the coast, the little boat tumbling about a good 

 deal in a very choppy sea, we entered the estuary of the river, 

 where we found smoother water. We steamed up it as far as 

 the boat could be taken, landing in front of a little inn, five 

 minutes' walk from a mighty cliff, where the Ombla issues 

 from the bowels of the earth a full-grown river. During the 

 half-hour or so we spent here I took a few P. ergane and 

 other insects. It seemed a good spot for collecting, so I 

 resolved to revisit it the next day, when I decided that I 

 would try to reach it by climbing over the mountain behind 

 Eagusa, instead of by following the coast line. It was a 

 very rough scramble to the top of the hill, for I failed to 

 find the path, the nature of the ground making butterfly- 

 hunting quite impossible, but when once the summit was gained 

 I was rewarded by a beautiful view of the coast. In a little 

 hollow Agriades thetis was flying in considerable numbers and 

 good condition. Having crossed the plateau I struck the railway 

 from Gravosa, which had climbed high up on the side of a 

 valley. A path zigzagged from the little station down to the 

 village. By the side of it I got Melitcea cinxia and M. trivia 

 in single specimens, M. didyma, Thecla spini, and T. ilicis. 



One of the most interesting captures of the day was a Hes- 

 perid, which at the time I thought was Pamphila nostrodamus, but 

 which I now believe to be P. lefehvrii. Two males, both rather 

 worn, were taken. In vol. iv. of * Lepidopterologie Comparee,' 

 M. Oberthiir sets out at length the distinguishing features of 

 these two species, and on Plate Ixiv. in vol. v. there are 

 excellent figures of upper and under sides of both sexes, 

 drawn from specimens taken by Signer Querci at Formia, in 

 the Itahan province of Caserta, I have a good series of P. 

 lefehvrii from the same place, and comparing these two speci- 

 mens both with M. Oberthiir's figures and with my Italian 

 insects I think that the Dalmatian specimens must be assigned 

 to Eambur's lefehvrii, notwithstanding the fact that M. Oberthiir 

 gives Dalmatia as a locality for P. nostrodamus. At the little 

 inn by the landing-stage I made an unsatisfactory lunch of raw 

 ham and hard-boiled eggs, with coarse bread hot from the oven, 

 washed down by a bottle of Giesshubler water and the wine of 

 the country. Then I sought the hillside where on the previous 

 day I had found P. ergane. The mountain was steep and the 

 sun overpowering, so I had to remain under the shadow of 

 a small tree and capture the few specimens which came my 

 way. On the other side of the river the ground was a little less 

 precipitous and there was more shade, so I made my way thither 

 and took several P. egea, a poor L. Camilla, and things of lesser 

 note, but was also fortunate enough to secure another specimen 



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