214 [September, 



ALGEEIAN MICEOLE FIDO PTEEA^ 



BY THE RIGHT HON. LORD WALSINGHAM, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., &c. 



It had been my intention to devote the spring of 1903 to in- 

 creasing my collection of Moorish Mlcrolepidoptera, and especially to 

 visit the interior of the country, instead of confining myself to the 

 coast near Tangier as in the preceding year ; but on arriving at 

 Gibraltar, a few days after Christmas, 1902, the news of further dis- 

 turbances due to the insurrection in the neighbourhood of Fez, and 

 the very general impression which prevailed that even Tangier itself 

 was by no means safe, diverted my thoughts towards Algeria. 



A strong inducement in this direction arose from the study of an 

 Algerian collection very kindly made foi* me by the Rev. A. E. Eaton, 

 which was found to contain several undescribed species. Of these 

 the more interesting came from Biskra, a locality where Mr. Meyrick 

 had also found several new genera and species. My anticipations 

 were however by no means equal to the wealth of interest and 

 novelty yielded by this northern projection of the Sahara. 



Although in January snow was visible on the high mountains to 

 the east from the windows of the Continental Hotel in Algiers, I was 

 not a little surprised to be refused a ticket at the station when pro- 

 posing to start for Biskra on the 3rd of February, and although 

 eventually the train did start, an official note was written on the ticket 

 that the company refused to guarantee conveyance to our destination. 

 The line was said to be blocked by snow in the neighbourhood of 

 Setif, but we got through, and notwithstanding that during daylight 

 we never lost sight of snow from Algiers to Biskra inclusive, there 

 were no obstructions on the line. 



During a stay of about three months on what is usually regarded 

 as a desert it was evident that Biskra at least was no desert to an 

 entomologist, and the somewhat higher ground of El-Kantara, where 

 I spent a month, began to be almost equally productive before leaving 

 it about the end of May. Except in the oases, almost exclusively 

 devoted to date-palms and mud dwellings, there is of course a marked 

 absence of trees, but the plains and low hills on the borders of the 

 Sahara produce low scattered herbage and stunted woody plants or 

 trailing shrubs in sufficient abundance, while along the river beds 

 (generally known as " Oueds ") there is a profusion of Tamarix. In 

 recording the larvse found on various forms of tamarisk I have not 

 attempted to distinguish species, their foliage being always extremely 

 similar when the plants are not in flower. Intermixed with these are 



