I 



NOTES ON TUNISIAN AND ALGERIAN INSECTS. 87 



anriciilaria. Theegg-cases of the Mantid, Sphodoumntris (/uttata, Thunb. 

 were extremely common in oueds near Fontaine des Gazelles. They 

 were placed on sticks, stones, tamarisk bushes, etc., quite indiscrim- 

 inately. Mr. C. B. Williams and myself have bred insects from these 

 cases, which appeared to be completely free from Chalcid parasites. 

 I happened to capture the Dipteron yeniaatrintis aeijuptiacns, a curious 

 long-beaked insect belonging to a family which does not occur in 

 Britain, also Cln-ijsoto.nini itcdicioii and Anthrax panisciis. 



Beetles of the family Tent'brionidae were abundant among the stones 

 of the desert. Large black Tenebrionids are characteristic of most, if 

 not all, of the deserts of the Old World. At El Kantara the most 

 abundant species is Adesmia biskrensis, Luc. { = A. acervata, Klug.*) 

 These long black-legged insects were even more abundant than the 

 grasshoppers l-aiiiphai/Ks and Ereiiiobia. They run rapidly about in the 

 daytime. I fancy that they are too large and hard to be eaten by the 

 Chats and Larks. I found one specimen apparently enjoying life on 

 two legs and a few stumps. Its elytra showed no dints, though, I 

 presume, some bird had attacked it. I never discovered the food of 

 these insects ; they always seemed to be too busy running to take any 

 thought for other matters ! I was interested to take a nearly black 

 Cantharid beetle (sp. inc.) The only markings on this insect are two 

 coral spots on each elytron, representing, I suppose, the red or orange 

 band so characteristic in many blister beetles. The rest of the insect 

 is entirely black. I should like to call your attention to the fact that 

 many creatures of the stony desert are either black or sand-coloured. 

 The latter is a sufficiently well-known phenomenon, characteristic of 

 deserts all the world over, a special form of protective colouration, in 

 fact. I am not sure that much attention has been given to black desert 

 animals. You will call to mind that Eiif/aater among the Lociistidae 

 is black, further, it is the only non-saltatorial grasshopper, or locust. 

 As I have suggested, the genus Adesuiia (Tenebrioiiidae) is probably 

 safeguarded by hard integuments ; both these insects are extremely 

 conspicuous. These black desert forms are not found, I think, among 

 the Lepidoptera. With regard to the birds 1 would call your attention 

 to the fact that somef Chats are black or black and white. With this 

 exception true desert birds are coloured like the soil on which they live. 

 At present we must be content simply to remember that certain species 

 of desert animals, which, perhaps, we may regard as in some way 

 " protected," are coloured black. The meaning of this is not apparent, 

 the facts are indisputable. 



Among the "Bugs" I took two Coreids, Stenucephaliis a/iilis, Scop., 

 noted as " quick runner, flies readily," and the curious Fhi/lloi)iorpha 

 ahjirica, Villiers (? = P. Zrtr/ni«?rt, Lucas, from S. Europe). As the 

 British Museum collection shows, there is a good deal of variation in 

 the shape of the spiny thoracic and abdominal processes. The male is 

 said to carry the eggs under the mass of interlocking spines which 

 cross over his dorsal surface. The insect, which is of a lovely rose- 

 pink colour in life, was taken running over the stones in the desert. 



One of my most interesting captures was two insects noted at the 



* Fide von Heyden, Novit. Zoolog., Vol. xx., p. 98. 



t E.g., Sa.vicola higens and S. leucurus, both of them wary birds, so wary 

 that frequently you cannot approach within sixty yards of them. 



