122 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



4000 feet above sea-level, and about 700 feet above the valley, where a 

 clear and cool river flowed. In the river valley and above it, in places, 

 were copses of plane, sycamore, a species of poplar and prickly oak, 

 with an undergrowth, dense in parts, of bramble, St. John's wort, 

 hawthorn and rhododendron. Springs above the village and winter 

 rains had worn " wadis " on the hillside, which were full of vegetation. 

 The open hill slopes were dry and covered with boulders. Thistles, 

 and a host of aromatic plants, abounded, notably basil, a species of 

 thyme, mint and hyssop. Above the village was a precipitous height, 

 whose western face fell almost sheer, covered with boulders and rocky 

 outcrop, and abounding in broom. On the top of this hill was the 

 tent hotel, where I was bound, on dry ground in an open pine wood. 

 Above the whole valley, on its eastern side, was the stony mass of 

 Jebel Barouk (72S4ft.), crowned with cedars. The western side of the 

 valley, across the river, and many of the eastern slopes, were covered 

 with open pine wood, in which were numerous dry sandy clearings. 

 In many places there was a limestone outcrop, and the red soil — 

 decomposed sandstone, was never apparently very deep. Though late 

 in the summer, for Syria, flowers were by no means over. A. white 

 scabious attracted many butterflies, as did the broom and the clovers, 

 which grew in all well-watered places. 



The first insect that I took was a large $ Satynis hennione, from 

 a pine outside my tent, and a somewhat worn Papilio podalirinn fol- 

 lowed. Hpinep/iele lycaon was common in the woods, a rather large 

 form, the c? heavily furred with the discoidal streak well marked, 

 darker than the figures of E. var. Inpinus, and probably referable, to 

 var. intermedia. Chrysophanu.s phlaeas swarmed in all the pine woods 

 with Polyoimnatus icarus. P. astrarche was more common on the 

 lower slopes, especially in some sandy clearings a little way above the 

 river. It answered to the description of g.a. calida, the red spots being 

 large, the colour dark, and the ground tint of the underside a rich 

 brown, ('(lenonymp/io pajtip/nliai occurred commonly only on the hotel 

 hill. The specimens I have are inostly of the ab. (or var.) tliyrsides, 

 with from two to four spots on the upper side of hindwings, one or 

 two answer more nearly to var. inaryinata. A few Melanaryia var. 

 teneatea visited the scabious, but all, except three which I took, were 

 sadly worn. Otherwise the insect was common enough on the down- 

 like slopes above and opposite the village, and I took torn specimens 

 within a thousand feet of the summit of the Barouk range. 



My first expedition was to a watercourse at the foot of the steep 

 face of the hill, which I often visited subsequently. On the way down 

 S. telephassa occurred in great abundance. It retired to rest at mid- 

 day, in little caves in the clift', or under overhanging boulders, from 

 which multitudes emerged together. With it I took a few S. anthc 

 var. Iianifa $ s, which had the same habits as S. telephassa, and were 

 quite different in flight from the wild males. S. telephassa was, un- 

 luckily, not at its best, and appears to be horribly apt to " grease," but 

 I have seldom seen a butterfly more numerous. Paranje ineyaera, mostly 

 worn, occurred with these species, and was usually of a very pure ash- 

 grey colour on the underside of the hindwings (var. lyssa, I suppose), 

 while a fine form of Polyoiamatiis ieams was everywhere. The $ 

 icarus were all of the brown form. A solitary $ of (jhrysophanns 

 dorilis var. orientalis, much worn, and a $ Thecla spini var. inelantho, 



