BULGARIAN BUTTERFLIES. — 33 
above the convent. The highest point of these mountains is the Hlenin 
Vrch; it is easily ascended in four hours from the monastery, and 
commands a splendid view southward and eastward over the peaks of 
the Rhodope and the Perim Dagh, whilst northwards the mountains 
fall gradually to the Bulgarian plain, and westwards to the rolling 
hills of Servia. These mountains are everywhere intersected by very 
deep valleys, which are clothed with splendid forests of beech, fir, and 
other trees, wherever the sides are not too precipitous to allow of their 
growth. Above the tree level creeping pine and juniper flourish, 
springs are everywhere plentiful, and the streams are strong and un- 
failing torrents fed by the perpetual clouds that roll up to the summits 
of the northern Rhodope, alike from the Black Sea, the Adriatic, and 
the Kgean. During the whole of June and three weeks of July, which 
I spent in this district, I never had three fine days together; however 
well the weather might promise it always rained on the third day at 
best. On the other hand, it seldom rained all day without stopping. 
There were generally a few glimpses of sunshine at some time or 
other in each day. But 1899 was a very dry summer in the Balkans, 
and the harvest in the Bulgarian plain suffered seriously from the 
drought, so the Rhodope might be far wetter in a bad season. 
June 9th was showery, and I did not go out till the afternoon. A 
beautiful meadow occupies the bottom of the Rilska valley for about 
two miles above the monastery, and slopes up into the woods that 
clothe the base of the precipices—an ideal collecting ground, but I did 
not do much on account of the weather. Next day was rather worse 
than better, and I went down the valley a couple of miles through 
forest, and then up a side valley, where I found good marshy meadows 
and caught C. hippothoe, just out, and M. cinaia, with ground colour 
~ of wings almost white in the @. June 11th was another bad day, 
very cold, and snow low down on the mountains; we had little sun. 
In the valley I took the following :—P. mnemosyne, Leucophasta sinapis, 
A. euphrosyne (very common), A. pales, M. cinaia (with females white 
ground colour), M. phoebe, one L. anteros, one L. baton, one L. ewmedon 
var fylgia, Pararge maera (very dark), P. hiera (dark), one C. leander, 
one U. pamphilus, EH. medusa, Carterocephalus palaemon, &c. June 12th 
was really fine, though the wind blew down very high and cold from the 
fresh snow. We hada tolerably good day on some broken ground 
about three miles up the valley where granite blocks had rolled down 
from the precipices on to a sheltered meadow, at the foot of the woods ; 
these were overgrown with all kinds of flowering weeds and intersected 
by a tiny stream, forming a sort of natural rockwork, the best 
‘“‘butterfly corner’? we found in Bulgaria. Bag as follows: P. 
mnemosyne, U. edusa (and var. helice, taken by Haberhauer), C. dorilis, 
C. hippothoe, C. phlaeas, Pieris rapae and P. napi, E. cardamines, A. 
pales, A. dia, A. aglaia, A. euphrosyne, M. parthente, Nemeobius lucina, 
LL. anteros (plenty), L. icarus, L. hylas, L. bellargus, L. semiargus, L. 
orton, L. eumedon, FE. medusa var. psodea, C. palaemon, S. alveus, and 
Pamphila comma. Next day was cold and gloriously fine, of which unusual 
fact I took advantage to ascend the Elenin Vrch, but it was too early to 
get butterflies so high up, all the last part of the ascent being 
sprinkled with fresh snow, which spoilt the beauty of the lovely purple 
crocuses. But on the way down the lower slopes of the mountain I 
found M. awrinia in some numbers, also M. cinaia. June 14th was a 
