BULGARIAN BUTTERFLIES. 65 



then, climbing the ridge by a steep and difficult sheep track, we crossed 

 the pass into the Ilina Eeka in a blinding sno"\vstorni. We found 

 ourselves at the extreme head of the valley close to the Turkish frontier, 

 and soon got down into warmer regions, the valley appeared to be 

 excellent collecting ground, and I much regretted that we never were 

 able to revisit the spot in better weather. We had at least five hours' 

 ride mostly through splendid forest and lovely scenery, but over 

 almost the worst road I ever traversed, before we reached our quarters. 

 We considered that we never could get the pack horses with the tents 

 up to the head of the Ilina Eeka. 



June 29th was fine, so we devoted the day to " butterfly corner " 

 up the Rilska, and to some good ground which we had observed higher 

 up the valley. We took P. rapae var. mannii (not very well marked), 

 L. eroides, L. alcon, and several fine dark specimens of M. trivia $ . 

 Higher up, we took one E. ejtiphron in bad order, several 7^7. oeme, many 

 A. pale^, F. medusa, M. anrinia and C.dactu (var.), and saw several C. 

 myrmidojie, which we failed to catch. Next day, June 30th, was again 

 fine, and we went into camp in a pretty little valley just over the 

 northern slope of the pass to Samakov, a lovely wild place, about 

 GoOOft. high, well sheltered by rocky mountains, Avith a clear stream 

 handy. Here we remained for four days, of which three were fine, 

 quite the best Aveather we ever had during our Avhole sojourn in the 

 Ehodope. We collected and explored all around and found a good 

 many nice insects, although never in any great numbers anywhere — a 

 fact which was everywhere remarkable. We got a good number of 

 species, but never found swarms of anything. This may probably be 

 accounted for by the extraordinary climate of the Ehodope, which pro- 

 duces a remarkable growth of ferns and mosses, but does not favour 

 the Ehopalocera. The butterflies most plentiful in the higher 

 mountains were M. cynthia, which we took nearly everywhere above 

 7000ft., flying over rough grass or juniper bushes, and K.lappuna, also 

 very common at that elevation. About the same height we got a few- — • 

 a very few — specimens of *S'. cacaliac, and K. cpipJtyon, but both of 

 these were scarce. Lower down, E. oeme, C. davus (var.) and A. jiales 

 were common, a few C. myrmidnne haunted the steep slopes (where 

 they were very hard to catch), and P. rapae, inclining to var. mannii. 

 L. semiaryiis was literally the only "blue," and C. dorilis (very scarce) 

 the sole representative of the " coppers." Vanessa urticae was toler- 

 ably common, and there were a few specimens of C. edusa to be seen, 

 flying wildly across the notch of the pass. Near the lake, K. euryale 

 occurred, just out of chrysalis, and I took one specimen of A. paphia, 

 also crossing the Pass on a high wind. Later on, we should probably 

 have taken E. tyndarus on this ground — we met with it in some 

 abundance at our next camp on the Leva Eeka — where we moved on 

 the 5th of July. This was 2000ft. lower down, and we stayed here 

 two nights getting tolerable weather, but not finding any very 

 remarkable insects — L.ario7i,Yerj bright and blue, appeared commonly, 

 A. euphrosyne swarmed in the brushwood, and we took J/, dictynna, S. 

 serratalae and several C. myrmidone. July 6th Avas again fine, and Ave 

 resolved to break camp and return to Samakov, AA^hence Ave should be 

 able to work the mountains further to the eastAvards by striking the 

 valley of the Marica AA^iere it comes out from the higher ground into 

 the foothills of the northern slopes of Musalla — the highest point of 



