NOTES ON LEPIDOPTERA FROBI THE MEDITERRANEAN. 221 



and Alexandretta, but I saw no butterflies at any of these places. 

 On December Ist we arrived at Ay as Bay, a large and shallow 

 bay in the elbow of Asia Minor, opposite Alexandretta. Here 

 M. stellatarum was again common about the ship. On the 4th 

 I went ashore, but there were few butterflies, as the nights were 

 now getting cold ; the only species I saw were P. carclui, E. edusa 

 (one), and a few little moths. 



On December 8th we left for Alexandretta again, and then 

 went on to Mersina, Smyrna, Deuthero, Salamis, and Suda Bay, 

 arriving at Malta again on January 18th. During this time the 

 weather was far too cold for insects ; indeed, when we were 

 at Deuthero, in Roumelia, the thermometer was hovering round 

 the freezing-point the whole time, in spite of our being in the 

 sunny Mediterranean. 



On January 20th I walked out to Birzebbugia, at the south- 

 eastern corner of Malta. It was a beautifully bright warm day, 

 which had brought out all the lizards from their holes in the 

 stone walls, but there seemed to be no Lepidoptera on the wing, 

 except a few worn Pyrameis cardui and one Nomophila noctuella, 

 though from the quantity of flowers about I should have expected 

 more. 



On January 26th we left Malta again for Plataea, in Greece, 

 arriving there next day. This is a small harbour, with hills 

 almost all round ; these hills are covered with thick bushes and 

 small trees, but the going is very rough indeed, as great jagged 

 blocks of stone are scattered about everywhere. On January 30th 

 I took M. stellatarum and Orneodes hexadactyla. February 2nd 

 was a gloriously fine day, and I went off with a shooting-party 

 out beyond the lakes, which are some four miles off. Almost at 

 the first start-off I took a nice Pararge egeria var. egerides (the 

 British, and not the South-European form), and along the path 

 a couple of newly disclosed Eurymus (Colias) edusa ; there were 

 several Pyrameis cardui about, and P. atalanta was quite common, 

 especially near the lakes ; the cardui were mostly worn, but the 

 atalanta quite fresh. On February 7th I saw a tine Colias 

 {Gonepteryx) cleopatra in addition to the foregoing species, but 

 after this we had a spell of dull, wet, and windy weather, which 

 seemed to put everything back, for I saw nothing new. 



On February 18th we left for Zea, a little island about fifty 

 miles south-east of Athens. It is very steep and rocky, and 

 rather bare, and there is little undergrowth, but some almond 

 trees, which were now in bloom, attracted the few butterflies 

 about — principally P. atalanta. M. stellatarum was very abun- 

 dant, and I spent a long time one afternoon trying to " kodak " 

 a specimen feeding on the wing ; by the way, very little seems 

 to have been done in this direction — i. e. the photographic 

 portrayal of insects in their natural environment — though, of 

 course, the subject is a difficult one. 



