BULGAEIAN BUTTEKFLIES. 31 



mountains, but followed up the dry, stony bed of a torrent, which in 

 winter pours down from the Tschatalka, to the north-east of Slivno. 

 This is probably the best side of the town for insects, the gorges 

 running down the steep and rocky flanks of the mountain are well 

 watered, and abound in a great variety of plants, whilst the lower hills 

 are more fertile than the stony vineyards to the south and west. I 

 got a good many T. cerisyi here, though the sun was not bright at any 

 time in the day. Further up, in a pretty glen, I found a considerable 

 stream, forming a waterfall ; and here I saw many insects, but nothing 

 new, excepting Thecla ilicis and Chrysophanus alciphron. Next day. 

 May 28th, was fine, so we started up the Tschatalka. It was a long 

 and rather wearisome way, through the dirty straggling town, up 

 through vineyards, and then along arid rocky slopes, till we reached 

 the steep southern spur of the mountain, all overgrown with wild lilac. 

 Bound this we wound by a very steep path, which presently led us to 

 the undulating plateau which forms the top, and stretches away 

 for miles northward and eastward, with many stony eminences and 

 higher rocky points, separated from each other by nice hollows and 

 little valleys, full of mountain flowers, and now resplendent with 

 gorgeous crimson peonies. The sheep had not yet come so high, and 

 the flowers were in full beauty. The peony is the abode of a rare 

 black and yellow beetle, of which Haberhauer took at least a hundred, 

 whilst I searched a beautiful damp meadow, watered by a clear 

 stream, for butterflies. Fritillaries swarmed here, but none in any 

 way remarkable ; P. mnemosyne, E. medusa var. eumenis, and C. 

 leander were plentiful, and close to the water, drinking on the damp 

 gravel, I found the beautiful L. anteros in some numbers, but rather 

 in bad order. In this meadow I also got one specimen of C. thersamon, 

 which I unfortunately did not keep, as it was torn, and as I had taken 

 it in plenty in Bosnia last year, and also near Sofia, I would not keep 

 a bad specimen, expecting to see many more, but I never met with 

 another during the whole time I was in Bulgaria. The day clouded 

 over about 1.30, but I got a good many more L. anteros among the 

 rocks of a dried-up watercourse, on the Avay down. Next day we again 

 tried the sandstone hills west of the town, but got nothing new except 

 L. semiargus var. parnassus (tolerably well marked) and a Sesia, which 

 greatly interested Haberhauer. We went after this Sesia the next day 

 to the same place, and got a good series of it, but very little else. It 

 did not, after all, prove to be so valuable as Haberhauer had 

 anticipated. I saw, but failed to catch, a remarkably fine A. pandora, 

 in the vineyards above the to"\^Ti. 



May 30th was cold and sunless, but the 31st was fine, and we had 

 a good day on the lower slopes and gorges of Tschatalka, in, and just 

 above, the highest vineyards. We took Pieris ergane, a good specimen 

 of P. chlorodice, just out, one A. pandora, one Melanargia larissa, a 

 very dark M. galathea, numbers of M. trivia, which appears to be com- 

 mon on most of the Bulgarian mountains, and three very fine large S. 

 sidae. Thais cerisyi plentiful in the vineyards, C. alciphron, L. iolas, Spilo- 

 thyrus lavaterae, and many other common things. I also took a fresh 

 specimen of ifacroglossa croatica, evidently just out. June 1st was not 

 such a fine day, but we had some sun, returned to the same ground, 

 and were lucky enough to gep P. chlorodyce ? , L. semiargus var. 

 'parnassn,s '} , A. piandora, S. sidae, M. galathea var. turcica, and twoT. 



