15. November 1886. 



a.a 



IB&7 



No. 15. 



I. Jahrgang. 



Societas eitomologica. 



Journal de la Societe entomologique 

 internationale. 



Toutes les correspondanees devront 6tre adressees 

 ä Mr. le President Fritz Rühl ä Zurich-Hottingen. 



Messieurs les merabres de la societe sont pries d'en- 

 voyei' des contributions originales pouv la partie scienti- 

 fique du Journal. 



Organ für den internationalen 

 Entomologen verein. 



Alle Zuschriften an den Verein sind an den Vor- 

 stand desselben Herrn Fritz RÜlll in Zürich - Hot- 

 thujen zu richten. Die Herren Mitg-Iieder des Ver- 

 eins sind freundlich ersucht, Originalbeiträge für 

 den wissenschaftlichen Theil des Blattes einzusenden. 



Organ for the International-Entomolo- 

 gical Society. 



All letters for the Society are to be directed to Mr. 

 Fritz Rühl at Zürich- Hottimjen. The Hon. membersof 

 the Society are kindly requested to send original 

 contributions for the scientific part of the paper. 



Some notions about Caucasus. 



in. 



But I speak only of extraordinary cases, be- 

 cause even the Tartares are tio more, what they 

 have been some years ago and if tliere is any 

 danger for the tourist, it may be only when meeting 

 with a whole band of them. 



And this also is a matter of aeeident, for or- 

 ganized bands of Tartares are now very rare in 

 the Caucasus, thanks to the vigilance of Cosaks, 

 fulfilling there the duties of gendarmes and to 

 the severity of the laws against robbers and 

 agressors. 



Besides, Tartares are such men as others, if 

 you live for some time in the country, if you 

 know their wants and customs, and their charaeter, 

 you may even enter into relation with them, — it 

 won't be friendship perhaps, but at all events, it 

 may assure you the moral preponderance of a 

 civilized man over the savage son of the stepps. 



As for the journey itself, it presents no diffi- 

 cultiesandthecosts arenotso very considerable. The 

 railroads that cross the Caucasus from east to west 

 make the communication easy and allow to visit 

 all the prineipal places, allthough, to my mind, it is 

 more rational for a tourist in general and a na- 

 turalist in particular, to travel on horseback, or to 

 have any other quadruped proper for riding, such 

 ar a mule or an ass. I dare say, it is even more eco- 

 nomical, as the feeding does not cost anything at 

 all, because there are everywhere in the stepps 

 rieh pastures, belonging to nobody and the moun- 

 tains are covered with abundant grass and splen- 

 did Vegetation. Besides, the acquisition represents 

 always the same value, as it is easy to seil the 

 animals, as soon as they are no more required 

 and to buy new ones when necessary. A horse 

 is even of the strictest necessity to a naturalist, 

 who intends to undertake long excursions in order 

 to collect and to study. It is of great service in 



such wildernesses, where it is necassary, to carry 

 eating about, where one feels so lonely that this 

 clever creature is indeed a faithful friend, an excellent 

 guide, and a wise guardian, whose instinet is a 

 kind of saveguard against danger. It helps also 

 to avoid entering into relations with the treache- 

 rous tribes of natives and being cheated by them, 

 as by its means, instead of looking for a mes- 

 senger, one may easily bring himself his collections 

 into one place, a town or a borough and is tho- 

 rough master of his time and fancy. 



The usual price of a horse is from 80 to 120 

 roubles, and if one looses occasionally a few 

 roubles when reselling it, it is indeed a trifte, in 

 comparison with the money that is saved for the 

 hiring of the beasts and the Services of the na- 

 tives. Now the costs of living are very relative. 

 Towns for instance, as Tiflis, Baku, Elisawetpol, 

 Wladikawkas are as dear for a stranger as the 

 largest residences in Europe, particularly Tiflis 

 does not differ from Vienna or Petersburg. A 

 striking circumstance is, that second rate lodgings 

 are dearer than first rate ones, as it is the case 

 in Tiflis, where the first hotel, called Grand Hotel 

 Delaland is also the cheapest. 



And a naturalist ought to be in Tiflis, in order 

 to see the rieh collections of the magnificent Mu- 

 seum, open to everybody, where a stranger may 

 gather very precious indications about the country. 



But whilst 24 hours spent in Tiflis, require at 

 least 3 roubles for one person, in little towns on 

 the contrary, living is uncommonly cheap. For 

 instance in Signach, in Carskie Kalodcy, in Lago- 

 dechy, about 20 miles distant from Tiflis, half a 

 rouble daily is quite sufficient for eating, lodging 

 and even smoking. It is because meat is cheap 

 and game is to be had in extraordinary profusion, 

 not to speak of fruit and vegetables, that one 

 has almost for nothing. Therefore a kilo of meat 

 that costs from 6—12 copecke, a bottle of Ca- 



