IN SEARCH OF RUSSIAN BUTTERFLIES. 235 



On mentioning my project to the companion of my Spanish 

 expedition of last year, Mr. A. H. Jones, I was very glad to find 

 that he was able and willing to come with me once more, and 

 we left London on the evening of April 29th, for Odessa, which 

 was reached after a most uninteresting journey of seventy-two 

 hours, during which, after crossing the Channel to Flushing, we 

 did not pass through a single tunnel. 



I wished before the more serious entomological work of the 

 journey commenced to see something of the beautiful south 

 coast of the Crimea. On the day following our arrival at Odessa 

 we therefore got on board the "Black Sea steamer, landing the 

 following morning at the famous fortress of Sebastopol. 



We spent a couple of days at Sebastopol, which were 

 occupied in visiting scenes of the principal events of the siege of 

 sixty years ago, not doing any actual collecting, but we saw a 

 good number of butterflies, and the district impressed us as 

 better ground for Lepidoptera than any we afterwards saw in 

 the Crimea. The valley leading from Sebastopol to the English 

 Cemetery appeared particularly promising. 



On May 7th we hired a carriage and drove to beautiful lalta, 

 a drive that will always remain vividly impressed upon my 

 memory for the loveliness of the scenery en route. Apart from 

 the interest of the journey, we were much impressed with the 

 manner in which the three little Tartar horses dragged the four- 

 wheeled carriage, ourselves, our luggage, and the driver, the 

 whole distance of sixty-one miles, without turning a hair, 

 galloping uphill and downhill equally as on the level. The 

 route is for the first half of the distance inland. Balaclava is 

 passed on the way, and then one gradually mounts upwards, 

 between woods — full of wild paeonies at the time of our visit — 

 until a col named the " Porte de Baidar " is surmounted, then 

 all at once the beautiful south coast bursts into view from a 

 height of almost 2000 ft. The day was perfect, and the sea 

 almost as blue as the Mediterranean can be ; the view itself is 

 superb, and the conditions we saw it under were the best 

 possible. Beyond Baidar the road is entirely alongside the sea, 

 which is never lost sight of, and vistas of surpassing loveliness 

 continually burst into view. Just before lalta is reached, the 

 Imperial Palace and Park of Livadia are passed. The Czar was 

 in residence, and the road, and in fact the whole district, was 

 patrolled by picked Cossaclss, magnificently mounted and armed. 

 It was an impressive scene ! 



lalta is in situation and surroundings very similar to 

 Mentone, but it is even more beautiful. The vegetation is, how- 

 ever, not so southern ; one sees plenty of cypress trees and 

 occasional palms, and in the main street I saw several fine 

 specimens of Jacaranda mimosaefolia, which just then were a 

 gorgeous mass of purple tubular flowers ; but with few exceptions 



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