SIX WEEKS AMONGST HUNGARIAli BUtftERFLIES. 275 



ing the Domogled to steadfastly refuse to go up by any other 

 way than that past the Weisses Kreuze ; the path by this route 

 is good, the slopes are easy, one is in shade practically all the 

 way, and, best of all, the butterflies that affect the mountain are 

 there found most abundantly. 



My chief object in working the Domogled was to obtain a 

 good series of Nejjtis Incilla, which is usually abundant there, 

 though rare in the Cserna valley; judging by Mr. Jones's 

 experience I ought to have obtained my object in one journey ; 

 I did certainly eventually obtain about two dozen fine examples, 

 but I made eight ascents for them, during which I calculate 

 I climbed not less than 18,000 ft. I suppose the books are right 

 in giving the food-plant of this species as Spircea salicifolia, and 

 that of N. accris as Orohus vermis, but I could not see any- 

 where at Herculesbad a plant that I should consider a Sjm-cea, 

 nor did I ever see a specimen of Neptis aceris near a plant of 

 Orohus vernuSy which was abundant in certain places there. 

 The habits and haunts of both these butterflies are similar, 

 except that Neptis aceris rarely rises much above the Cserna 

 valley, whilst iV". lucilla is scarce until one gets up at least 

 1000 ft. Both seem to delight in small clearings in the forest, 

 and if one of these is found overgrown with Clematis vitalha or 

 bramble, one or two specimens of a Ne2ytis is pretty sure to be 

 there sailing slowly round the bushes on motionless wings, 

 except for an occasional flap to give impetus, and from time 

 to time settling upon some spray or approaching the resting 

 place of another specimen, which will thereupon rise and toy or 

 fight with the intruder, both soaring to a considerable height, 

 then separating, and each proceeding on its way, which did not 

 usually take it out of the clearing. Both species not infrequently 

 settle on the ground in dry weather, probably for the sake of 

 moisture they find there. The flight being so slow would lead 

 one to suppose they are easy to capture ; this is not so, how- 

 ever ; the very slowness of the motion leading one to strike in 

 advance, and at Neptis lucilla especially I missed quite a number 

 of apparently ludicrously easy shots. 



Beyond N. lucilla I did not see much of note on the Domogled ; 

 most of the species previously noted in the Cserna valley were 

 there in some numbers, and on the peak itself Erebia medusa 

 var. psodea was not infrequent, the males in bad order, the 

 females fairly fresh ; this species was not confined to the peak, 

 one example being netted by Mr. Tylecote a few hundred feet 

 above Herculesbad, whilst I found two or three in an alpine 

 meadow on the way up the mountain at an altitude of about 

 2000 ft. On the peak Melitcea trivia was fairly common, and 

 still in good condition on June 21st. The Quelle clearing, 

 where in most years good insects usually swarm, was an extra- 

 ordinary failure, and beyond a few M. viaturna, one example of 



