SIX WEEKS AMONGST HUNGARIAN BUTTERFLIES. 247 



With the companion of several previous expeditions, Mr. 

 E. F. S. Tylecote, I reached Budapest on May 29th last. The 

 next day the net was unfurled on the Schwabenberg, or Svab- 

 hegy as it is called in Magyar, a hill several miles west of 

 Budapest, best reached by taking the electric tram from the 

 west end of the Franz Josef Bridge over the Danube as far as 

 the Varos Major terminus of the rack and pinion railway, by 

 which one then travels to the station of Svab-hegy itself. 



Svab-hegy is a large rounded hill, rising to perhaps six or 

 eight hundred feet above the surrounding country, fast becoming 

 a suburb of Budapest, and already covered in parts with villas. 

 But it has still considerable stretches of uncultivated land, con- 

 sisting of grassy slopes, rough ground thickly covered with a 

 growth of herbs and flowers, and stretches of wood, chiefly oak, 

 with open glades in places ; the subsoil is calcareous. 



On leaving the station one follows the line which terminates 

 at the top of the hill further on by taking the road on the left 

 side, running parallel to it for a few hundred yards, until 

 a flight of wooden steps is seen leading to the left up the hill- 

 side, at the top of which is a patch of oak scrub of several acres 

 in extent, with some nice glades running through and amongst 

 it. Here were plenty of butterflies, amongst them Coenonympha 

 iphis and C. arcania being abundant ; the latter a fine, large, 

 bright form ; the former with the ocelli much larger than in 

 French or Swiss examples ; MelitcEa phoebe was frequent, and 

 the slow flight of Leucophasia sbiapis was unmistakable. A 

 large Hesperiid flying plentifully rapidly to and fro M'as netted, 

 and proved to be H. carthami ; various species of the Lyctenidae 

 were seen, including Lyccena hylas, L hellargus, L. icarus, and 

 Rusticus argils {(egon), which was abundant. 



Proceeding further I came to a large open space thickly 

 covered with flowering plants, almost to the exclusion of grass, 

 and including the fine purple Salvia pratensis (a rare British 

 plant), various species of vicia, and numerous composites. 

 The wealth of insect life here was quite unusual, and, in 

 addition to butterflies, one came across many moths found 

 in Britain, including Lithostege griseata, Agrophila sidphuralis, 

 Scoria lineata, Heliothis dipsacea, and Acontia luctiiosa ; an 

 assemblage which it would be difficult to meet with in our islands 

 in one field. With them occurred in abundance the butterfly 

 which was the chief object of my visit to Svab-hegy— the lively 

 little black and white skipper Pyrgus orhifer, which reaches at 

 Budapest almost its western limit. My predecessors, who had 

 visited Hungary in early June, had invariably found this species 

 passe. On this day it was considerably past its best, and I had 

 to use much selection to get a good series. I should give the 

 middle of May as the best time ; its habits of flight are similar to 

 Hesperia malvce, which was equally common with it ; on the wing 



