194 [August, 



THEEE WEEKS IN THE SUDAN. 

 BY G. B. LONGSTAFP, M.A., M.D., P.E..C.P. 



(Continued from ■pa(]e 127). 



Quite the most obvious Khartum beetle was the dark browu and 

 gold Cetoniid, Pachnoda m,vi(j)iiji, G. aud P., which was very commonly 

 to be seen flying around, or settled upon, the flowers of Acacia or 

 Tecoma. When settled on a flower it was easily alarmed, and readily 

 took to its wings. Many specimens in the British Museum have the 

 brown replaced by yellow, but I saw none so coloured. At Burri I took 

 flying about Acacia flowers two of the large green Steraspis speciosa, 

 Khig, a species common in UjDper Egypt, also at the same flowers a 

 very finely coloured example of the magnificent /wiof^rs _/i;/i&ria/rt, Klug 

 — green, yellow, and orange-red. The electric lights of the hotel 

 attracted the small chafers, Adoretus clypeatus, Burm., and Schizony- 

 che sp., as well as two specimens of the small scarab, Catharsius 

 sesostris, Waterh. (= -pylades, Peiinguey), a species which ranges 

 from Egypt to Sierra Leone, in one direction, and to Soixth Africa in 

 the other. Amongst the odds and ends attracted by light was an 

 Ojjatrum, as usual dingy and nameless. Of Himatismus villosus, Haag, 

 I foiind one on the Cathedi'al site, while three others came to light. 

 Debris under bushes of Calotropis gave shelter to a Sceliodis castaneus, 

 Esch., and a number of the abundant Ocnera hisiyida', Forsk. ; of the 

 last named Mrs. Duckett took one in the hotel. Zopliosis plana, Y., 

 crawled upon the sand near the rifle ranges. Other beetles met with 

 were Corcinelhi ll-iJim-ctata, L., and five specimens of Bulsea licliat- 

 scJiovii, Hummel, var. pallida, Muls. 



Unfortunately, when we reached Khartum the dry season was so 

 far advanced that with the water at such a low level it was not 

 possible to make the usual excursion up the Blue Nile. However, 

 after a good deal of difficulty I managed on February 15th, to hire a 

 small oil-fed steam-launch, in which we got to Soba, fifteen miles up 

 stream, where mounds and brickbats are all that remains of the 

 evidently once considerable capital of the Christian kingdom of 

 Aloa. We landed on the north side of the river at aboiit noon, and 

 had to climb vip a steep bank sheltered from the north wind, but with 

 the sun's rays pouring down upon our backs with a power that I have 

 seldom experienced, so that I fully expected to be struck down. At 

 the top we found ourselves in a somewhat scanty thorn- scrub, but the 

 cruel prickles, the great heat, and the strong wind, contributed to 

 make collecting difficult. 



