186 Mr. H. J. Elwes on the 



Mrs. Niclioll nor I could name, but which appears to be 

 most nearly allied to U. gorgone, a Pyrenean species not 

 found in the Alps. We were in hopes of finding some 

 limestone mountains in this neighbourliood, but failed to 

 do so, granite seeming to be the principal formation in the 

 district. From the high peaks near our camp when the 

 clouds cleared off, which was seldom, we could see the high 

 range of Perim Dagh in Macedonia and a large tract of 

 mountainous country to the west and' north of us, whilst 

 the southern slopes of the Balkan range looking, as they 

 are, lower, drier, and less wooded than Rilo Dagh, were 

 visible to the north-east. 



Bad weather dogged our steps for a whole fortnight, and 

 though by making the most of every gleam of sunshine we 

 gradually accumulated a fair number of Lepidoptera, yet we 

 were quite unable to get a series of the supposed new 

 Ercbia or to find the female at all. 



We then descended to a p!ace called Kostenetz, where a 

 small and very humble bathing-place is newly started, and 

 where we got a few low-country butterflies not hitherto 

 taken ; but though Mrs. Nicholl was very unwilling to 

 leave the district without a series including both sexes of 

 her long-hopod-for prize, a new Erchia, we were at last 

 obliged to go back to Sofia for mone}^ and supplies. Here 

 letters arrived which obliged us to return home, and in 

 order to see whether the Western Balkans were a promis- 

 ing field for future exploration we chose the road over 

 the Ginci Pass via Berkovitza to Lom Palanka on the 

 Danube instead of the usual route by rail to Belgrade. 

 This is a pleasant drive of about one hundred miles, and 

 produced eight or ten species not hitherto taken ; but again 

 we were overtaken by violent thunderstorms in the most 

 promising part of the mountains, which here have rather 

 the character of downs, and which extend for thirty or forty 

 miles north of Sofia to the pass, where they fall sharply in 

 steep beech-clad slopes to the valley of the Danube. 



On descending into the great plain or rolling steppe 

 country which lies between the Balkan and the river we 

 found a great chanoe in the climate and flora, for whilst 

 the Rhodope had had too much rain the Danube Valley 

 was nearly dried up and the harvest very scanty. We did 

 not see any indications of a rich insect fauna in this part 

 of the Balkan, though probably better collecting-ground 

 may be found farther east in the neighbourhood of the 



