102 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



of interest. They are mostly taken with hooks. Macgregor 

 mentions small fish jumping into his canoe at Menzaleh. 

 This occasionally happened to us in our punt. 



Reptiles. 



A " woiran " or Monitor Lizard was shot at Gebel-Abou- 

 Foeder, fifty-six inches long. It was clinging to the base of 

 the cliff. This was the largest of the tribe we saw, but 

 Egypt is full of Lizards and Snakes. I believe no Croco- 

 diles are found below Abou-Foeder. We saw a small one 

 there, and several larger ones higher up. 



Insects. 



No sooner had we arrived on board our Diabeyha than 

 we became aware of fleas in large numbers, which marked 

 us out as their legitimate quarry. Whenever in Upper 

 Egypt, owing to a head wind or for the sake of sport, we 

 stopped, we became a prey to a malignant host of devasta- 

 ting flies, who were not to be banished by the infusion of 

 quassia, or by a nightly slaughter among their serried ranks. 



At the Faioum an alarming incursion of insects took 

 place into our tents almost every evening, generally about 

 eight o'clock, chiefly flying beetles of strange contour and 

 vast proportions : while at Shepphard's Hotel, night was 

 rendered hideous by pertinaceous mosquitoes, which no 

 amount of smoking would keep off. 



Palm Trees. 



The common tree of Egypt is the Date Palm. Every 

 Palm pays a tax to the Viceroy — not much inducement to 

 the fellaheen to plant more. There is frequently so little 

 soil on their roots, that it seems as if the first puff of wind 



