182 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXI. 1914. 



the bridge we found two old ne.sts, probably of the year before. Near Lalla Marnia 

 the mountains get lower, and some kilometres beyond that i)lace begins a vast plain, 

 the beginning of the plain of Angad in Marocco, eovered with iuunmerable Zizyphus 

 bnshes and here and there gronps or. single old trees of Pistacia atlantica ; iu some 

 places the ground had been cultivated and the natives had built high platforms on 

 which boys were ])laced to frighten away with shouting and throwing of stones the 

 sparrows which alighted in tiocks on the ripening corn. 



On the Zizyphus bushes Grey Shrikes (Lanius excuhitor ilodsoni) were not rare, 

 the Crested Larks were paler and more rnfescent than the deeply coloured Galerida 

 theklae harterti of Northern Algeria. The Zizyphus bushes presented a curious 

 appearance, some being covered with many white snails, according to Bourgignat of 

 two forms, ArcheUx brericri (without tooth) and .4. doiihleti, while others with two 

 teeth, given to us by Monsieur Lepitre, and said to have come from another place 

 near Lalla Marnia, would be A. anoterodon. These snails were seen everywhere on 

 the ground; and M. Lepitre tells us that in the summer, when everything is dried 

 np, they all climb on to the bushes, which are then, in places, perfectly white, 

 covered with snails as thick as they can be, and leafless. Under stones the beautiful 

 lizard Eumeces algeriensis and Chalcides ocellatus ear. tiligugu were seen. 



On April 29 we motored to Oran, by Am Temouchent, finding Grey Shrike.? 

 and Athene noctua glaux common enough along the route — the former, however, only 

 between 25 and 30 kilometres N.E. of Tlemcen. 



On April 30 we left Uran for Ain Sefra. The train has comfortable sleeping- 

 cars, but runs very slowly and shakes not a little. On the next morning, about nine 

 o'clock, we arrived at our destination. 



Ain Sefra is a very interesting place. It is situated 1090 metres above the sea, 

 on the river Bridj, in the valley between the two high mountains Djebel Aissa and 

 Djebel Mekter, and at the foot of the latter is a huge, high dune of a beautiful 

 orange-yellow, in certain lights of quite a red colour. It is sand blown up from the 

 Sahara, which found a resting-place between the mountains and thus formed this 

 magnificent dune. The dune is, in our opinion, certainly not more than 8 to 10 

 kilometres long, though in guide-books it is said to be from 15 to 20 km. long. 

 We have not actually measured it, but have seen it from its highest point and from 

 the plain, and one of us from the summit of Djebel Mekter and the Djebel Aissa, so 

 that we can fairly well gauge it. Just behind Ain Sefra the belt of dunes is 

 apparently widest, and it takes there just about half an hour or little more to cross 

 it on foot. Much of the sand flora and a certain amount of its fauna has found its 

 way from the desert up to Ain Sefra, but many of the characteristic sand-forms of 

 lepidoptera, as well as most of the desert-birds, are not found. For example, neither 

 Sijlcm deserti nor Alaemon alaudipes, Galerida theklae deichleri or G. cristata 

 arenicola, Caprimulgus aeggptias sakarae, Ereinophiii hilopkn and other true 

 desert-birds have been noticed near Ain Sefra, while Rliamj/hocorgs clot-bey, Oenanthe 

 deserti homochroa and Aminomanes phoenicuras arenicolor occur and breed. 



As near Ain Sefra the high dunes, stony hammada and clayey stretches meet, 

 and the river traverses them, there is a rather varied flora. We picked up, during 

 our zoological excursions, the following plants : Senccio coroiwpifoliiis, Genista 

 saharae, Ketarna raetam, Ononis angustissima, Bromm tectonun, Cutandia memphi- 

 tica, Avena barbata, Aristida plumosa, Stipa tenacissima (Haifa), Orchis paliistris 

 (in the river-bed), Statice bonduelli, Limoniastram feei, Cleome arabica, Pica's 

 saharae, Artemisia herba-alha (" schih,'' the ])rincipal plant of the hammada), 



