254 THE entomologist's record. 



and merely a few larvae of Pi/n/oinorpha biac/njptcra, BoL, which are 

 so characteristic of the steppe in autumn. The ubiquitous Caloptenits 

 italiciis, L., only became obvious at the end of the week. No signs of 

 Thiaoicetnia adspersns, Redt., but Stauron<>tiis iiia)-occantis, Thunb., and 

 St. anatdlicus, Kr., were already evident. But the most striking 

 difference was the abundance of Tiiu'this bilobus, Stal., and Oedipoda 

 scluichii, Sauss.; of these two ponderous fellows, the former I had not 

 seen alive, and always regarded as a rarity ; now it was common on 

 the desert, and in spite of his clumsy build, the male is fairly active, 

 and takes short flights ; its smoky wings do not make it very obvious 

 on the wing. 0. schochii is a typical desert species ; I only found 

 three specimens in September, bat in July there were plenty of it, 

 though only on the desert. An interesting addition to the local list 

 was Celes variabilis ; the crimson-winged form was tolerably common 

 on the steppe ; the males were all deep black, and conspicuous : at 

 first, indeed, I took them for I'wplius utiididnn. A single female 

 Arci/jitera truchiiiana, F. de W., was an addition to the local list. An 

 interesting capture was Bericonja i/ibbosus, F. de W., of which 1 took 

 three or four specimens in different parts of the desert. This species has 

 sea-green and smoky wings, quite different from the pink wings of its 

 near relative ]f. iu>ieipeniiis; the former is fairly active and took long 

 flights ; but the latter I never saw on the wing, and was, in fact, struck 

 by its sluggish habits, though the difference of season may account for 

 this discrepancy ; the former I only took in Tuly, the latter only in 

 September ; I). ijibbosuH flew freely about the steppe ; D. rofieijicunis 

 sat sluggishly chewing the juicy stems of Sohola : when disturbed, it 

 did not fly, bat fell to the ground, and pretended to be dead. Other 

 common objects of the desert were Paljuires libelhdoides, which often 

 flapped across ; once or twice I noticed what I took to be a big 

 Dipteron hovering over a plant, like a BoinbijUus : I took one out of 

 curiosity, and found io was a hyaline- winged Ascalaphas, with dilated 

 abdomen and apical tufts ; my specimen, which incidentally gave me 

 quite a severe bite on the finger, was handed over to my host, who 

 provided it with a comfortable home. 



But the most numerous, prominent, insistent, and self-advertising 

 inhabitant of the steppe is the Cicada ; on the desert a fairly big 

 brown species occurred in swarms in July ; in September I saw none ; 

 it filled the air with its stridulation ; they are versatile musicians, with 

 a considerable range of note ; they strike up on one note, and then 

 tune up, before settling down to their regular buzz ; often enough I 

 mistook them for Orthoptera for a moment, as frequently they stridu- 

 late like a big Locustid. They sit on the sprigs of Arteiniaia maritima 

 and keep up a vigorous chorus. I afterwards noticed in the train 

 along the shores of the Caspian, on the baking plains between Baku 

 and Derbend, that the noise of these creatures penetrates through the 

 rumbling of the train, and is quite audible inside the carriage where 

 passengers are sitting talking. Often a Cicada, in flying from one 

 sprig to another, would get his wings entangled in the grass and fall 

 to the ground ; there he would lie for nearly a minute, using terrible 

 language, which at once attracted attention to his plight, when he 

 could be easily caught ; if allowed to recover himself he would fly ofl' 

 with a contented hum. 



There are several problems of identity which remain to be cleared 



