SIX WEEKS AMONGST HUNGARIAN BUTTERFLIES. 273 



I should strongly recommend anyone working Herculesbad to 

 secure at the outset a very good map of the district, which can 

 be purchased at the Bazaar for two krones = Is. 8d., and which 

 shows the position of the various localities well known to lepi- 

 dopterists, but otherwise difficult to determine. 



We spent several days collecting by the road (above Hercu- 

 lesbad) which traverses the Cserna valley. Here Neptis aceris 

 was common, but worn ; which was only natural, for Dr. Fischer, 

 whom we met and who kindly gave us the benefit of his experience 

 at Herculesbad, informed me that the first brood is often out by 

 the end of April, and I understood that to get it in perfect 

 condition one ought to be in its locality not later than the 

 middle of May. Here, also, were Brenthis daphne in plenty — 

 with Melitcea athalia and var. mehadensis the most abundant 

 butterflies. Lyccena avion, a small obscure form, occurred in a 

 dingle where a stream crossed under the road just beyond a hot 

 sulphur spring, where also Everes argiades var. coretas was not 

 infrequent, and a solitary example of Brenthis hecate was netted, 

 the only one seen in the district. A clearing on the left side of 

 the road, just before we reached the dingle, was gay with 

 flowers and large numbers of Lepidoptera, including several 

 examples of Carcharodus althece, a species that has always been 

 rare with me, and one or two C. alcece ; a fine form of Chryso- 

 phanus virgaurece occurred, and plenty of Thecla acacia, T. ilicis, 

 and T. iv-album; near this spot, too, Chrysophanus alciphron was 

 common. On comparing my specimens of this species from the 

 three localities in which they were taken, I found a rather 

 striking difference between them. Those from Peszer are the 

 most extreme of the three, with the strongest purple tinge and 

 the least indication of copper in both sexes ; those from Hercu- 

 lesbad had the purple less strongly developed, with a much 

 larger amount of copper; and one example that I saw some 

 2000 ft. above Herculesbad, but did not capture, struck me as 

 very little darker than some Swiss C. var. gordius that I have 

 seen ; the Szada specimens are intermediate between those from 

 the other two localities. 



A couple of Limenitis popidi var. tremulce were taken at rest 

 on the road near the town ; and two or three Apatura ilia var. 

 clytie were observed in the same place. Mr. Tylecote the day 

 before he left for England (June 22nd) captured on the road, 

 about a mile above Herculesbad, a fine Eugonia xanthomelas, the 

 only example either of us came across, though Dr. Fischer 

 informed me that a Hungarian lepidopterist, a few days before 

 our advent at Herculesbad, had taken several. 



A fine brood of Polyommatus orion var. ornata was abundant, 

 generally extending as high as the Quelle. Amongst the species 

 not usually recorded from Herculesbad was a specimen of 

 Chrysophanus thersamon, taken on June 29th in good condition 



