SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



165 



of that magnificent Hymenopteron, Scolia quadri- 

 maculata. Great numbers of white storks were 

 standing all round the pool, and there were others 

 of these birds flying about overhead. 



Our next excursion was to Comana. This is a 

 wooded hill due south of Bucarest, about half-an- 

 hour away by train on the Bucarest-Giurgevo 

 Railway. Here the insect fauna was quite different, 

 extremely rich, and the specimens were more 

 mature. One little corner seemed literally alive 

 with insects. A sweep of the net brought in 

 several specimens of Poecilimon, Isophya, Chryso- 

 chraon, Podisma, Leptophyes albovittata, and various 

 species of Stenobothnis. Cicada were chirping all 

 round, as were also tree frogs. Large numbers of 

 butterflies, such as Melanavgia and Papilio podalirius, 

 were fluttering about. Many Coleoptera and 

 Hemiptera were taken, but the crowning capture 

 was a fine female Onconotus servillei Serv. This is 

 a curious Locustid, closely allied to our English 

 Locust a viridissima, but quite unlike it in appearance. 

 It is a thick-set insect, nearly black in colour, with 

 a very large pronotum, fringed behind, and flat- 

 tened from above The whole creature looks very 

 oriental and extra-European. 



A further walk through the woods brought Tettix 

 bipunctatus, T. subulatus, Thamnotrizon cinereus, 

 T. littoralis, Stenobothnis parallelus and Podisma 

 alpinum var. collinum. The previous year, in this 

 very locality, M. Montandon had taken two species 

 of Orthoptera new to science, one of which, Calli- 

 menus montandoni Burr, we especially sought, but 

 in vain. This is a great, ungainly, clumsy, black, 

 shining Locustid, as large as a good-sized mouse, 

 and about the same shape. This day's collecting 

 at Comana was perhaps the best day's entomolo- 

 gical work I have ever done in my life. Hunting 

 in a neglected district in a foreign land, in beau- 

 tiful weather, in a very rich locality, with an 

 eminent entomologist and charming companion — 

 what more could one desire ? It was here also 

 that we took Ascalaphus kolyvanensis, a species of 

 eastern Europe and western Asia, and also the 

 rare and curious Bittacus hageni, that looks like a 

 daddy-longlegs, but is really a Panorpid. 



The collecting at Comana was so good that I 

 feared any other locality would afterwards seem 

 dull, but Bufta, a little village due north of 

 Bucarest, was not disappointing. There, in a 

 great bed of thistles, we took four males of Onconotus 

 servillei, stalking them down by their chirping. 

 Though they are in appearance so unlike their 

 first cousins, Locusta, the chirp is almost identical. 

 At the same time we took also Celes variabilis Pall, 

 and Platycleis vittata Charp. 



This was the last excursion that M. Montandon 

 and myself took together, for on the following 

 evening I left Bucarest. The Roumanian capital 

 is rather a disappointing town. It is not oriental, 



nor yet quite occidental. A few Turks are to 

 be seen about, but most of the natives look like 

 gipsies : their costumes are picturesque and they 

 are fond of bright colours. When spoken, the 

 Roumanian language is very like Italian, and one 

 can often gather the drift of the conversation 

 without actually knowing a word of the language. 

 There are naturally a good many Slavonic and 

 Turkish words interspersed. 



I arrived at Orsova at three o'clock on the 

 morning of July i6th, and promptly went to sleep 

 for a few hours. About nine o'clock I shouldered my 

 net and went for half-a-day's collecting. Orsova, 

 famous for its caviare, is just above the Iron Gates, 

 and situated exactly on the corner of the Danube 

 where Hungary, Serbia and Roumania join. Rou- 

 mania was across the river, but I am not yet certain 

 whether the insects that I took that day are from 

 Serbia or Hungary. To get out of the difficulty 

 I label them " Orsova," which is near enough. 



Returning very thirsty I halted for refreshment 

 at a little cottage with the sign " Bor, Sor " in 

 Hungarian, that is to say, wine and beer. I asked 

 in vain, in my best Magyar, for a glass of beer, 

 about the only words I knew of the tongue ; but 

 though I had been understood at Budapest, English 

 would have been here just as useful. It turned 

 out that the mother tongue of these villagers was 

 Roumanian, though much Serbian was spoken. 

 As a matter of fact, of the whole population of 

 Hungary, barely more than half are Magyar. The 

 remainder are mixed Slav races, with a large 

 quantity of Roumanians and some Saxons. Nearly 

 all speak several languages, and a porter at the 

 station at Orsova knew Magyar, German, Rou- 

 manian and Serbian equally well. Imagine an 

 English railway porter speaking four tongues, and 

 each of a different group of languages. 



The locality seemed good, but the season was not 

 so advanced as near Bucarest. The only species 

 of Orthoptera that I took for the first time that 

 day were SphingonoHis caerulans L. and Gryllotalpa 

 gryllotalpa L. It is a hilly region, and the hills 

 are very dry, but in some places thickly wooded. 

 I saw a great purple-heron ( Ardea purpurea L.), and 

 in a clearing in a wood, at quite close quarters, 

 I watched a hoopoe (Upupa epops), the scene re- 

 sembling the plate of this beautiful bird in the 

 "Royal Natural History." 



At two in the afternoon I started on a weary 

 train journey for Bosna Brod, on the way to 

 Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, After twelve 

 hours the train reached Szegedin. An hour's wait, 

 then half-an-hour in the train, then another change, 

 again another change and wait, at last, at midday 

 Sunday, I arrived at Slavish Brod, drove across 

 the Save to Bosna Brod, and found myself in 

 Bosnia. 



(To be continued.) 



