BULGARIAN BUTTERFLIES. 65 
then, climbing the ridge by a steep and difficult sheep track, we crossed 
the pass into the Ilina Reka in a blinding snowstorm. 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 Reka. 
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 JM. trivia @. 
Higher up, we took one lv. epiphronin bad order, several /. oeme, many 
A. pales, I}. medusa, M. aurinia and C. davus (var.), and saw several U. 
myrmidone, which we failed to catch. Next day, June 30th, was again 
fine, and we went into camp in a pretty httle valley just over the 
northern slope of the pass to Samakoy, a lovely wild place, about 
6500ft. high, well sheltered by rocky mountains, with a clear stream 
handy. Here we remained for four days, of which three were fine, 
quite the best weather we ever had during our whole sojourn in the 
Rhodope. 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 Rhodope, which pro- 
duces a remarkable growth of ferns and mosses, but does not favour 
the Rhopalocera. The butterflies most plentiful in the higher 
mountains were J. cynthia, which we took nearly everywhere above 
7000ft., flying over rough grass or juniper bushes, and /’.lappona, also 
very common at that elevation. About the same height we got a few— 
a very few—specimens of S. cacaliae, and Hl. epiphron, but both of 
these were scarce. Lower down, HH. oeme, C. davus (var.) and A. pales 
were common, afew C. myrmidone haunted the steep slopes (where 
they were very hard to catch), and P. rapae, inclining to var. mannii. 
L. semiargus 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, l’. euryale 
occurred, just out of chrysalis, and I took one specimen of 4. paphia, 
also crossing the Pass on a high wind. Later on, we should probably 
have taken HM. tyndarus on this ground—we met with it in some 
abundance at our next camp on the Leva Reka—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. arion, very bright and blue, appeared commonly, 
A. euphrosyne swarmed in the brushwood, and we took M. dictynna, S. 
serratulae and several C. myrmidone. July 6th was again fine, and we 
resolved to break camp and return to Samakov, whence we should be 
able to work the mountains further to the eastwards by striking the 
valley of the Marica where it comes out from the higher ground into 
the foothills of the northern slopes of Musalla—-the highest point of 
