SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



241 



A NATURALIST IN SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE. 



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



(Continued from page 210.) 



/"^VN July 27th we left Sarajevo, and arrived at 

 ^^^ the little village of Konjica about midday, 

 after passing through the fine scenery of the Ivan 



Near Konjica. 



Planina. In the afternoon we were invited to 

 play lawn tennis with the Austrian officials. We 

 accepted, and very incongruous it seemed, in a 

 valley surrounded on all sides by impressive moun- 

 tains. Konjica is on the borderland between 

 Bosnia and Herzegovina, situated in a fertile valley 

 between the Ivan Planina and the 

 great Prenj group. We started on 

 the following morning for a collect- 

 ing excursion in the neighbouring 

 mountains, to a place named Tisa- 

 vica. We walked for two or three 

 hours through the fertile zone, 

 where kukuruz, or maize, and plums 

 are grown in large quantities, then 

 coming to the commencement of 

 the barren region. We came out 

 through a stony valley to a ridge of 

 hills with snow on the tops. Up 

 here we climbed, to find we had yet 

 to cross a long and dreary valley 

 composed of nothing but boulders 

 of limestone, white and shining like 

 snow. The only signs of vegetation 

 were some tufts of grass struggling 

 up between the rocks. 



In this uninviting place we took Satyrus sp., 

 Erebia melas, Stenobothrus miniatus Charp. in some 

 numbers, and Gomphocerus sibiricus L. 



Erebia melas is a very handsome butterfly on the 



wing, the rich black velvet colouring showing up 

 well against the white stony background. Gom- 

 phocerus sibiricus L. is a quiet species, hopping 

 about among the rocks, not very 

 noticeable, and the stridulation is 

 low and short. They were only 

 numerous at one corner of the 

 wilderness where the elevation was 

 about 1,500 metres. According to 

 Brunner it never occurs below 1,200 

 metres. 



Over this ridge at the end of the 

 plateau was a little sheltered dell 

 in which grew nettles and weeds. 

 Here I took in some numbers a 

 new species of Platycleis, in appear- 

 ance very like P. brachypterus, which 

 is common on our heaths and moor- 

 lands. This novelty seems to be 

 very restricted in distribution, for 

 though I searched carefully I took 

 it nowhere else except in this little 

 spot among the nettles. About a 

 mile away in a similar hollow, I captured what 

 may be either another new species or a local form 

 or variety of the last. In this place, too, were 

 numbers of Podisma pedestre L. 



The scenery from this point was very fine. 

 Beneath us lay a deep and rocky valley, the side 



Near Tisavica. 



near us clothed with pines, the rest barren. On 

 the far side was the rounded head of Crnoglav, 

 or Blackhead, visible from many miles around, 

 and away on the left the rugged peak of Ortish, 



