236 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
the flowers and trees of the Crimean southern coast are those 
commonly met with in mid-Europe. 
We spent five days at Ialta, during which the weather was 
favourable, and we were able to explore every day for Lepi- 
doptera. I must say I was much surprised and disappointed to 
find how western they all were. Scarcely a species was seen 
that cannot be found in the Alps. The only butterfly we noticed 
that was at all eastern in its distribution was Pyrgus orbifer,_ 
which was not uncommon. Colias erate, Zegris ewpheme, and 
Plebeius zephyrus, amongst other species, are said to occur, but 
we did not see any of them. A plant that is very like “Astragalus 
exscapus, the food-plant of P. zephyrus, was, however, abundant 
locally by the roadside near Aloupka, some ten miles from Ialta. 
Most of the ground that seemed promising is enclosed, and a 
considerable part is vineyards, and there is very little space to 
collect in. Butterflies were by no means common either as 
individuals or species, except in one or two instances. Hiber- 
nated examples of Libythea celtis were pretty frequent, although 
we did not see any trees of Celtis australis. 
On the evening of May 12th we once more boarded the 
steamer, landing the following day at Novorossisk, on the east 
coast of the Black Sea. 
Novorossisk is a seaport of considerable size, and trades in 
corn, timber, and other commodities. It is situated at the base 
of what I suppose one might call the foothills of the Caucasus 
Mountains, which have an altitude here of from 1500 ft. to 
2000 ft. 
We stayed five days, and during that time explored the 
surrounding mountains and valleys as much as possible. 
I was again much surprised at the western character of both 
vegetation and Lepidoptera. Many of the little dingles seemed 
very like those one meets with at home; the sides were clothed 
with elm and ash and oak, and many of the common English 
flowers grew beneath. 
The only eastern butterfly we came across was Hrebia afer, 
which was not uncommon some distance up the mountains. 
Unfortunately, we were a month too late for it, and nearly all the 
specimens captured were more or less passé. 
We found some good ground amongst the hills to the north 
of the town, but the best was undoubtedly the valleys and 
mountains south of the harbour. 
In planning an expedition which had for one of its objects the 
making acquaintance with as many eastern butterflies as pos- 
sible, it seemed to me that there were three districts which 
were worthy of consideration. 
First, there is the great range of the Caucasus Mountains, 
magnificent in scenery, historic in the past ages, and peopled 
with some of the most fascinating races in the world. All of 
