1900.] 165 



bottle from time to time aa required, and this should always be done 

 as a coup-de-grace to finish off any possible survivors in the bottle 

 when one returns from an expedition. Then if the bottle be kept 

 well corked and unopened for an hour or so the result is almost sure 

 to be satisfactory. 



Our party comprised almost as many nationalities as persons. 

 France was represented by M. Maurice Pic, the well-known 

 Coleopterist. Other Coleopterists were Dr. Lysholm from Norway, 

 and Herr Wegener from Hamburg — the latter, to our great regret, 

 was unable to remain with us after we left Egypt. Eittmeister v. 

 Hartlieb, of Munich, collected specimens of all Orders, but professed 

 himself to be a tourist rather than a naturalist. He was our oracle 

 on all local curiosities and sights, and carried at all times quite a 

 library of guide books, whose contents he assimilated with extra- 

 ordinary diligence and success. Dr. Schmiedeknecht, our chief, vras 

 at home in almost every branch of Zoology and Botany, but devoted 

 himself chiefly to the Hymenoptera. This brought him into frequent 

 companionship with myself, as I was an Hymenopterist pure and simple. 

 Similarly, M. Pic and Dr. Lysholm generally worked together. But 

 as a rule we started together on all expeditions, and gradually broke 

 up into little groups or units as our work proceeded. 



I am sorry that I am not qualified to speak of the results achieved 

 by our Coleopterists, but I believe they were considerable. I may 

 mention that M. Pic has published in the "Revue Scientifique du 

 Bourbonnais " (July, 1899) a list of over sixty Xylophilides and 

 Anthicides taken during our trip, with description of six new^ species. 

 He gives also, in a tentative manner, asking for criticism, certain 

 impressions he has formed as to the general entomological merits of 

 the districts visited. Egypt he considers poor — especially so, as 

 compared with Algeria. He notes that Egyptian forms tend to 

 re-appear near Jericho, and that the insect fauna of Beirut strongly 

 resembles that of Cyprus. And of Broussa (south of Constantinople 

 in Anatolia) he remarks that it is like a corner of Old Europe 

 transplanted and acclimatised in Asia 



These impressions correspond a good deal to my own experiences. 

 But I think he is rather hard on Egypt. We left it too soon to judge 

 it fairly, and we were curiously unlucky there in the point of weather. 

 No doubt much of Egypt is disappointing to an entomologist familiar 

 with such a paradise of insects as Algeria. Upper Egypt, especially, 

 or such parts of it as we were able to visit, with a muddy soil 

 producing little vegetation except barley and palm trees, has probably 



