THROUGH WILD EUROPE 303 



see Rettig's collection of birds, and entertaining 

 them hospitably cost him two sheep, and wine in 

 proportion. This sort of thing does not suit him 

 nor me; so we fled into the Balta, while his wife 

 went off to the town to see some friends, leaving 

 the house shut up and empty. When we returned 

 after sunset we saw the last of the carriages and 

 wagons starting back and congratulated ourselves 

 on our escape. 



We had also expected to collect some larvae of 

 the moth Lcelia cosnosa, of which I had seen such 

 numbers in the previous year ; and in this we were 

 not disappointed. We found about a hundred of 

 them on reeds, and brought them back bottled up 

 in hollow reed-stems. They were still small, and are 

 fond of hanging on the extreme tip of a pendant 

 reed-leaf when at rest. Some were very pale, 

 almost whitish in colour ; others bright yellow. 

 These are possibly male and female. Later, as 

 they grew larger, they became more brilliant in 

 colour, and were really very beautiful objects. 



By this time my room had acquired the typical 

 characteristics of the abode of a naturalist. Every 

 available space was littered up with boxes of eggs, 

 and eggs waiting to be blown, birds waiting to be 

 skinned, and trays of skins drying on the bed, 

 There was a live Purple Heron tethered to the 

 leg of the table, a skin of a Black Vulture on 



