SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



A NATURALIST IN SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE. 

 By Malcolm Bdrr, F.E.S., F.Z.S. 



{Continued from page 165.) 



DROD, which means in Croatian, "ford," is a 

 village bisected by the Save. The northern 

 part is known as Slavish Brod and the southern 

 as Bosna Brod, the two being united by a very 

 fine modern bridge. It is at Bosna Brod that 

 the traveller begins to observe Turkish influence. 

 Most natives wear the fez, and there are many 

 Mahomedans in turbans. Strolling along the 

 southern or Bosnian bank of the river to pass 

 away the twelve hours of waiting for the train, 

 I took several species of Stenobothrus, a Nemobius, 

 Calopteryx, Labia minor and other insects, but 

 nothing very rare. 



The narrow railway line runs almost due south 

 through the hills of northern Bosnia, and during 

 this journey I saw for the first time a woman in a 

 yashmak. 



It was about midday, Monday, July 18th, that 

 the train arrived at Sarajevo, perhaps better known 

 as Bosna Serai. Here there is a quaint mixture 

 of oriental with occidental manners and customs. 

 Side by side are seen men in turbans, and smart 

 Austrian officers, and a more or less up-to-date 

 hotel next to a white mosque. 



That afternoon I called on Herr Apfelbeck, at 

 the Landesmuseum, who very courteously gave 

 me information about the best collecting-grounds 

 of the neighbourhood. So on July 19th, following 

 his advice, I walked along a good road by the side 

 of the Miljachka ( 2 ), a stream that runs through the 

 town, as far as Kosija Chuprija, the Bridge of 

 Goats, which spans the river in one arch, and is said 

 to have been built by the Turks about the year 

 1600 a.d. It is a very pretty road running along- 

 side the stream, with great hills rising on each 

 side, some dry and barren, and some thickly 

 wooded. Half way along I saw a large grass 

 snake, but left it undisturbed. A man with a cart 

 behind me, however, cursed the creature and 

 hurled great stones, but it escaped. 



On the hills beside the river I took Stenobothrus 

 miniatus Charp., Caloptenus brunneri Stal., Oedipoda 

 miniata Pall., Leptophyes albovittata Koll., Mantis 

 religiosa L. (nymph), two or three species of 

 Zygaena and Satyrus. While hunting for Notonecta 

 and Gerris in a little pond, I saw a curious creature 

 crawling along the bottom, which proved to be a 

 crayfish or "krebs," otherwise "ecrevisse" (Astacus 

 fluviatilis). The locality, which did not appear 

 to be very rich in animal life, was somewhat 

 disappointing. 



(1) Owing to the difficulty of reproducing the various dia- 

 critical signs used in the Croatian tongue, I have spelt some 

 of the words phonetically. 



The following morning, July 20th the local 

 train took me to Ilidzhe, a pleasure resort, thirteen 

 kilometres from Sarajevo. The Austrians think 

 it charming, with its merry-go-rounds, booths, 

 shooting galleries, and nicely laid-out gardens; but 

 not having come so far as Bosnia to go to a fair, I 

 walked on about two miles further, to the source 

 of the Bosna, There the river suddenly appears 

 at the foot of a mountain in several separate 

 springs, which unite almost at once. Thirty yards 

 down from its source the stream is as many yards 

 broad. Over that mountain I was told was the 

 pass of the Igman Planina, so I straightway set to 

 work to clamber up a very steep path on the side 

 of the thickly wooded hill. Here were Stenobothrus 

 morio Fabr., 5. biguttulus L., Gomphocerus rufits L., 

 Pachytrachelus gracilis Br., and higher up Aphlebia 

 macuiata, Schreb., with Ectobia lapponica L., 

 and Thamnotrizon transsylvanicus Fisch. Near 

 the top the path was at one moment a wide 

 bare strip in the wood, at another a narrow 

 passage cut through overhanging rocks. At one 

 place I gave a casual sweep of the net among some 

 high weeds, and found, to my great delight, that it 

 had captured a pair of one of the larger species of 

 Poecilimon. They are magnificent emerald-green 

 grasshoppers, very large, with rudimentary organs 

 of flight, and long slender antennae. I heard 

 Gryllus campestris L. chirping, and marked him down 

 as he was sitting under a plank. A quick grab, and 

 he was caught. I was greatly pleased with my 

 dexterity, but his want of activity, I found, was 

 to be accounted for by an absence of hind 

 legs, perhaps lost in fight. Among butterflies I 

 noticed Papilio niachaon and P. podalirius, Polyom- 

 matus thersamon, Lycaena corydon, Limenitis Camilla, 

 Erebia, sp., and one hawk moth, which I think 

 was Deilephila euphorbiae', but it was not taken. 

 There were also many dragon-flies: I took Sympe- 

 trum flaveolum and Agrion puella, and here I got a 

 specimen of the beetle, Cicindela hybrida. 



Once the summit was reached, the scenery was 

 very fine. Behind me lay spread out a fertile 

 valley, with Ilidzhe at my feet, and Sarajevo nest- 

 ling at the foot of Trebovic, a solitary hill in the 

 distance. In front rolled valleys and thickly 

 wooded mountains as far as the eye could reach. 

 The average height of this Planina was 4,000 feet. 

 At the foot of the pass I took Leptophyes albovittata, 

 Poecilimon, and Xiphidium fuscum Fabr. ; and among 

 dragon-flies, Orthetrum brunneum Fonsc. and O. ram- 

 burii Lelys. ; but on a second visit to the same spot 

 a little later, I found nothing further. 



