11 



Notes on Hungarian Butterflies. 



By A. H. Jones, F.E.S. Read May 14///, 1908. 



Hungary may be described as an extensive plain about 350 miles 

 from east to west and 250 miles from north to south. For instance, 

 from Vienna to Buda-Pest and thence to Temesvar, a distance of 

 about 300 miles, the country is one level plain, under a considerable 

 amount of cultivation, principally pasture and arable land, drained 

 by dykes as in our Essex marshes. There are faint indications of 

 hills on the horizon line, but they are of no great elevation until the 

 Carpathian mountains are reached. These extend for a distance of 

 about fifty miles, separating Hungary from Galicia, an Austrian 

 province. We find the loftiest mountains in Hungary in this 

 range — the Hohe Tatra reaching an elevation of 8375 feet. This 

 district is very rich in Lepidoptera, especially in the Apaturidae, but 

 I was told it is not quite so good as farther south in the Tran 

 sylvania Alps, which may be considered a continuation of the 

 Carpathians in a southerly direction. The Transylvanian Alps 

 separate Hungary from Roumania, and practically terminate at Orsova 

 on the Danube. Herculesbad, about ten miles distant, may be 

 considered the most westerly point of these mountains. Herculesbad 

 is visited yearly by many entomologists, and may be described as 

 Hungary's "happy hunting ground." It is truly an ideal place in 

 which to collect. On one side of the stream there are open uncul- 

 tivated tracts of land ; there is a beautiful valley along which you 

 can wander for miles, take Neptis aceris, find the Apaturidae resting 

 in the muddy woods, and see the numberless Argynnis daphne 

 feasting on the bramble blossoms. When satiated with all these 

 pleasures, you can cross the stream, climb 1000 feet and enter the 

 solitude of the forest. The trees, principally beech, are of great 

 size and grandeur, and sunlight is practically obliterated by their 

 foliage. Only here and there are there any glints of sunshine. The 

 undergrowth with this dearth of sunlight is naturally scanty. 

 Few butterflies are to be seen in this part of the forest except when 

 a small clearing can be found. One I discovered was a place called the 

 " Quelle," and the number of butterflies here congregated was truly 

 a beautiful sight ; Limenitis populi, L. Camilla, Z. sibylla and JS'eptis 

 lucilla were all on the wing together. This spot is on the route to 

 the Domogled, a mountain of an elevation of 3630 feet, on the 

 summit of which are found the beautiful species of Erebia medusa 

 var. psodea in May, and of E. me/as in July. Libythea celtis is 



