BUTTERFLY HUNTING IN DALMATIA, MONTENEGRO, ETC. 7 



that very few insects were to be had. But on a rocky ridge which 

 sloped up to the highest point of the mountain, I got 1'. eroa, in poor 

 condition ; and then, as we were descending this same steep ridge, I 

 marked a fine black Erchia rising wildly from the stones. After an 

 arduous chase I netted it, and rejoiced greatly to find that it was 

 Erchia mela:^, just hatched, and remarkably early. We did not take 

 the insect in any number till a week later. We slept in the forester's 

 hut, after supping off a sheep, roasted whole on a long stick. We had 

 intended to return next day to Ga9ko over the Bislasnica, a mountain 

 about the same height as the Baba Planina and running parallel to it, 

 but bad weather drove us straight down to the hotel, and we started 

 next day on an excursion along the Austrian and Montenegrin 

 boundary, a wild and most beautiful district, stretching for a distance 

 of about 45 miles in a direct line from Ga9ko to Fo^a, on the Drina, 

 near the Servian frontier. It is a forest country, and in many places 

 the forest is still as nature made it ; such trees I have never seen 

 any^vhere else. Villages there are none, nor any houses, except the 

 frontier posts of the Austrian constabulary. The actual boundary line 

 runs along the summits of a group of fine mountains, 8,000ft. high, 

 of which Maglij and Vlasuljak are the highest and most remarkable. 

 Both of these we ascended, and took E. melas in abundance on the 

 southern slopes of both, but we were rather early for it (July 17th and 

 19th), and consequently we got very few females. E. vielaH is a wary 

 insect, but not nearly as wild and hard to catch as the Erchia which 

 I took at Campiglio and supposed to be Ei. viclaa (which it greatly 

 resembles). We found E. mclax to be exceedingly variable ; sometimes 

 there were eyes on the hind-Avings, sometimes none. We also took 

 two specimens with the eyes on the fore-wings very small and incon- 

 spicuous, and placed on a small hroim blotch. They haunted the 

 high slopes of rolling stones, and always preferred certain special 

 spots, by waiting at which it was easy to secure a good number. 

 Mr. Witty took six, without rising from his seat on a big stone which 

 was close to one of their favourite beats, up and down a stone slope. 

 It is lost labour to run after them, as the clatter of your feet on the 

 loose stones frightens them entirely away from the slope. The 

 E. vu'las of the frontier mountains were larger than those which we 

 afterwards got on the Prenj , some 60 miles further west (and probably 

 the western limit of the eastern iiielas). Besides E. iiiclas, we took on 

 these frontier mountains: E. pronoe, E. (jorijc (tj^pe), E. curt/ale, 

 E. ti/ndariiK, and Mclawjiias casaiope. Of E. ti/ndarits we took the type, 

 freshly hatched, in plenty near the summit of Maglij, and var. 

 Jialcanica, very well marked, about 1,000ft. lower down, the difference 

 between the two being remarkable as occurring within an hour's walk 

 of one another. E. actJiiops was common in the valleys ; UroitJiix pales 

 near the top of Vlasuljak, and we took a few common mountain 

 insects ; but, on the whole, we were rather disappointed with the 

 butterflies of these beautiful mountains. In the valley of the Drina 

 we took A. iris, A. ilia, and EnmUa dri/as, as well as most of the 

 common insects of the eastern Alps. "Blues" were remarkably 

 scarce, and the season was now too late for most of the Argynnids 

 and Melitfeas, but I saw 7>. amatJnma and .V. viatiirna. Probably the 

 climate is too severe for the southern and eastern Hatyrids. I failed 

 to get any specimens of Si/riclit/nts andromcda, which is to be had 



