193 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



streets to see the Emperor; while a few daj's later it was so in- 

 tensely hot that vigorous collecting was impracticable, not to say 

 dangerous. This of course is not without its effect upon the 

 vegetation, and the principal thing that strikes a stranger is the 

 absence of the various evergreens, that do so well in our country, 

 from the public gardens and squares. 



Herr von Harmuzaki, writing on the Lepidoptera of Czerno- 

 witz in Bucovina, in an interesting paper contributed to the 

 ' Entomologische Nachrichten ' for October and November, 1892, 

 and which Mr. Lemann has brought to my notice, draws attention 

 to the fact that the difference between the fauna of that district 

 and that of Western Europe is apparent not so much in the occur- 

 rence of species which are unknown in the west, as in the very 

 different degrees of abundance in which species inhabiting both 

 districts occur in each ; those which are abundant there occurring 

 but rarely in the west, and vice versa. The same remark applies 

 somewhat to the fauna near Budapest. For instance, we found 

 Thecla pruni, T. acacicB, Lycana tolas, and Argynnis hecate, all 

 of which are more or less local in Western Europe, in con- 

 siderable abundance and not confined to isolated spots. On the 

 other hand, Colias edasa, so abundant last year in England, and 

 C. hyale, were decidedly scarce, although perhaps we were too 

 early for the later broods. 



Our best localities for collecting were the Blocksberg ; a hill 

 to the south of Buda, surmounted by a fortress; a wood near 

 the village of Promontor ; and a mountain known as the Schwa- 

 benberg, — all on the right bank of the Danube. 



The Blocksberg is a roundish mass of rock, covered with a 

 scrubby vegetation on its southern and western slopes, where the 

 bladder senna, Colutea arborescens, and the straggling Lycium 

 barbarum grow freely. On the sides of the hills rising imme- 

 diately behind the Blocksberg, one of which is known as the 

 Adlersberg, were several vineyards, which had been devastated by 

 the Phylloxera and left uncultivated for years, but which were 

 very good for collecting. These deserted vineyards, a sight only 

 too common in Hungary, were often very picturesque in their 

 decay, the dea-i vine-stocks being in many cases covered with 

 luxuriant wreaths of the brilliant Orobus tuberosus, while the 

 handsome Linosyris vulgaris and the more delicate Delphinium 

 ajacis were not behind in hiding the ruin. The food-plant of 

 Thais polyxena, Aristolochia clematitis, also grew in considerable 

 abundance in these vineyards. 



The village of Promontor — or, in the Magyar, Budafok — is 

 situate about five or six miles below Budapest, and is best 

 reached by steamer, a very good boat leaving the quay at Pest 

 at nine a.m. We found a wood on some rising ground at the 

 back of the village the best locality in the neighbourhood for the 

 various species of Thecla, no less than six species occurring 



