85 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
The point where the Turks attacked was marked 
for future ages by the erection of a mosque on 
the breach. There it stands to this day, being 
called the “Standard-bearer’s Msoque.” It marks 
the spot where the leader of the Turkish stor- 
ming party planted the flag of the Crescent on 
the very summit of the breach, and there he 
fell. The Moslems, however, pressed ..forward and 
drove the Venetians backwards into the town. 
The defence of the latter must have been most 
gallant as they fell bek on the Governor’s pala- 
ce. The track of the conquerors may be traced 
to this day by the tombs of their leaders who 
fell during their advance, and, according to Tur- 
kish custom, were subsequently buried where they 
fell. The Standard-bearer was buried on the sum - 
mit of the breach where the mosque now stands. 
At intervals along the streets leading to the old 
palace, now the “Ivonak” or Government Office, 
are the tombs of others of the Turkish leaders, 
and when we get to the Kodak they are nume- 
rous. In the gateway itself is one, just outside 
is another, others in the courtyard and in the 
garden, and some upstairs in the rooms. You 
open a door of one of the offices, and in the 
corner is a tomb covered with a green flag. AH 
the tombs are similarly cared for, and it strikes 
me as a fine soldierly trait of the Turkish cha- 
racter thus to hand down in perpetual remem 
brance the fame of the soldiers who achieved the 
Ottoman conquests, by the silent witness of their 
tombs on the spots where they fell. At the time 
of the British occupation, everything seemed to 
to have been left untouched since the arrival of 
the Turks. On the ramparts there were the Vene- 
tian guns — large bronze pieces, each profusely 
ornamented and engiaved with the name of the 
founder and the badges of the Republic; the car- 
riages quite unserviceable from the effect of time; 
the shot, round and barshot, neatly piled up by 
the side of each gun; the magazines filled with 
powder, and over the door of the principal one, 
the armoured headpiece of a horse, such as you 
may see in the Tower of London — the last relic 
in Cyi >rus of the Venetian Knights. 
Notes on the Lepidoptera of Malta. 
Entomological studies, and I may venture to say 
all researches regarding the entomofauna of these 
islands, have been so completely neglected that 
even the favourite study of the Lepidoptera has 
been everlooked to such an extent that a complete 
and exact catalogue of the few species that are to 
be found in the islands, has not yet been published. 
This might be attributed to the small number 
of local species, and to their little importance, 
which, with few exceptions, have neither led col- 
lectors to care for them, nor naturalists to apply 
themselves to this particular study. 
But though the species are neither rare nor pe- 
culiar to these islands, it does not therefore follow 
that they are undeserving of attention. 
They should be known and recorded if it be but 
for the purpose of rendering the knowledge of our 
entomological fauna more complete. 
In the course of my botanical rambles in various 
localities of the island at different seasons of the 
year I made a point of collecting the butterflies 
that I. met with, putting them carefully away for 
after study. I must gratefully acknowledge the 
very valuable assistance that was accorded me in 
my work by my esteemed friend Mr. R. Brif- 
fa P.A.A., who not only assisted me in collecting 
the specimens, but who also lent me his aid by 
comparing my notes as to locality and time with 
those of his own. To Mr. Bagusa and Dr. Riggio 
I am also indebted for the great courtesy shown to 
me, and for the determination and explanation of 
some of the species, many of which they compared 
with others both in the Museum of Palermo, and 
in their own collections. 
To the celebrated lepidopterists Dr. Staudinger 
and to Dr. Failia Tedaldi I am also indebted 
for like services, and I now beg to offer them my 
sincere thanks. To ascertain what had previously 
been done, in order that I might know what to 
add to our present knowledge and what to modify, 
I had to make a bibliographical research. I *ef erred 
to the collections thatJiad already been made by 
those who bad interested themselves in the study 
but so few were they, that with the exception of 
the collections of Mr. Brifla which contain nu- 
merous selected a ud well kept examples, that u 
(To be continued.) 
