148 THE entomologist's record. 



Anthucharis helemia g.a. (/lance was well out by the middle of the 

 month and lasted to the second week of April. Three species of 

 Lampides — L. boi'ticiis, L. theophrastus, and L. tclicaniis occurred, the 

 first two commonly. All three have a jerky flight, going off wildly 

 when disturbed, and are very fond of the flowers of the cultivated 

 vetches, so common in Egypt. L. theophrastus is, unfortunately for 

 itself, fatally conspicuous when " roosting " on grass stems, and all 

 my best specimens were taken that way. Of the Hesperiids I took 

 Parnara iiiat/iias, which also occurs at the Cairo Barrage and the 

 Ghizeh Zoological Gardens, and which, when disturbed or missed by 

 the net, goes oft" more rapidly than any Hesperiid I know. Parnara 

 nostradannts occurred in the same localities, though less frequently in 

 the spring. Pj/ranieis atalanta was occasionally to be seen in gardens 

 at Cairo, and Danaia clni/sippns appeared at the end of April in large 

 numbers. This butterfly undoubtedly occurs with Pieris rapae, Pyraineis 

 cardni, and Lampides boeticns, throughout the year in Egypt, and, 

 indeed, it is difficult to say that there is much interval between the 

 broods of many Egyptian butterflies. I give a few examples — 

 Polyoinmatns bjsiinon, March-April (Cairo), April-September (Alex- 

 andria), August-December (Cairo). Hypoli/caena livia, April-July, and 

 in September, Alexandria district ; August (worn), September (fresh) 

 and on to November 9th, 190B, at Cairo. Parnara mathias, from 

 April-November, at Cairo, from May-August, if not later, at 

 Alexandria. 



I was able, in the spring of 1908, to get a few days' collecting in 

 the desert, east of the Nile, behind Helonan. The collecting ground 

 looked most unpromising. Imagine a winding rocky trout stream, with 

 steep banks, often rising to clift's, of grey limestone, absolutelj^ dry, and 

 fringed with scrub and thorny bushes, among which scattered flowers — 

 Kri(ieron,Q, crucifer or two, a species of balsam and other flowers which 

 I do not know — grow here and there. The heat in these gullies can 

 be terrific, the wind sometimes blows a gale, and the whole aspect of 

 this hunting-ground made me believe, at first, that I had come to a 

 region where butterflies could not exist, save perhaps in winter. Yet 

 I took Antliuchari.s belia g.a. ansonia here in some numbers, on 

 March 14th, with two Melitaea var. deserticola, and, on revisiting the 

 Wadi at the end of April, I took or saw, Pnntia (/lanconome, Melitaea 

 var. deserticola, Lampides boeticns, Pinsticns allardii (?), a pair of 

 Pubjommatns lysiinun, and, of course, Pyrameis cardni. I greatly 

 regret that I have been till now unable to visit these Wadi's in May, 

 when numerous "orange-tips" and "yellow butterflies " are said to 

 frequent them. If the information I have received be correct, it means 

 that species of Teracolus are to be taken there. The genus is well 

 represented in the Sudan, three species occur in Palestine, and there 

 is no reason why the Egyptian deserts should not be haunted by some 

 of these waste-loving butterflies. 



I spent some time, part of May, June and July, at Aboukir and 

 Alexandria. Both these places, and especially Aboukir, were very 

 poor in butterflies and moths. At Alexandria, Lajiipides telicanus was 

 very common in the Antoniades Gardens, where I also took Polyom- 

 matns lysimon and Parnara mathias and P. nostradamns. Danais 

 chrysippns and (Jolias edusa occurred everywhere, and I saw several 

 Pyrameis cardni in the streets. At Aboukir, I took Lampides theo- 



