loos.] 279 



noon we discovered a baking precipice which was the chosen playground 

 of Nouna, and by patiently haunting the ledges we succeeded in taking 

 ten excellent specimens. They were all in the same spot, and invari- 

 ably returned to it within about five minutes after being disturbed ; 

 we only saw one anywhere else, though we walked several miles along 

 the ridge. Our next halting place was at the Fontaine des Gazelles, 

 a beautiful oasis on the railway north of Biskra, where we hoped to 

 find butterflies ; but the oasis and the plain around it were singularly 

 unproductive, nothing but Edusa, Daplidice, and other very common 

 insects were to be seen, so we made for a rocky ridge about two miles 

 to the south, and tried one of its little glens quite in vain, there was 

 scarcely a butterfly about ; but on climbing to the top of the ridge, 

 which was long, sharp and narrow, with a nice hot precipice on the 

 south side and a steep and scrubby northern slope, we found crowds 

 of butterflies playing along the summit. E. Bella, E. Belemia, and 

 E. Fallout were plentiful, and there was a nice sprinkling of Nouna, 

 mostly in wretched order. E. Charlonia swarmed, and there were 

 several P. Machaon about, so we returned to camp with a tolerable 

 catch. 



We next went to Beni-Ferah, most picturesque of Aures villages, 

 and in its rocky gorges E. Eupheno abounded, but we only found a single 

 specimen of Nouna, probably it is too high and cold a place for the 

 belle of the desert so early in the year. We then returned across 

 the mountains to El Kantara, where we had two very successful days 

 on the top of the long sharp edged mountain which may be considered 

 as the dividing line between the Aures and the desert. Here we 

 again found E. Pechi, nearly a month after we had first taken it, and 

 still in tolerable order ; plenty of females were now to be had. E. 

 Pechi is, I think, a very local insect, more so than T. Nouna, which is 

 present in small numbers on all the rocky ridges adjacent to the 

 desert ; whilst we found Pechi only about El Kantara and Batna 

 (early in April), I had fully expected to meet with it in the Aures 

 and searched every likely place where the halfa grass grew, but quite 

 in vain. Nor, I believe, has it ever been taken in Northern Algeria, 

 though the halfa grass covers most of the hill sides. Flying with 

 Pechi round the highest rocks were quantities of E. Bella, E. Belemia, 

 a few E. Falloul, E. Eupheno, P. Machaon, &c. ; also a Melanargia 

 (Lies?) just out, of which we took five, all fresh specimens. On the 

 thorn bushes G. rubi, var. fervida, was common, and L. nielanops, L. 

 bcetlca, and L. Abencerragus haunted the steep slopes ; but we had 



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