NOTE ON SOME ORTIIOPTERA FROM THE PERSIAN GULF. 187 



existed as such, I think no one who is both an entomologist and 

 geologist would admit. It is probable that there was at the 

 period of the land-connection between North Europe, Asia, and 

 America some ancestral and widely distributed form which was 

 subjected to vicissitudes of environment through the vast periods 

 of time represented by the glacial epoch, and which, being of a 

 plastic form, split up under the stress of environmental conditions 

 into what we know as the various species of Erchia. And if we 

 turn to facts as apart from mere speculation, i.e. to the facts 

 offered by the study of the animals themselves, one is driven 

 irresistibly to the conclusion that the genus Erehia as it at 

 present exists is one of the most modern of all those inhabiting 

 the PaL^arctic and Nearctic Areas. Its species even now are not 

 at all clearly defined. They are even now in some instances 

 evidently in a state of evolution. Our best students of the 

 butterflies of these regions own the fact, and my own studies oi 

 the alpine fauna are leading me irresistibly to the conclusion that 

 a very large percentage of the alpine species by no means exhibit 

 archaic types, but, on the other hand, exhibit the most recently 

 modified of the species belonging to persistent genera which are 

 spread over a vast area of land as measured by latitude and 

 longitude, and whose larva3 feed on plants of very general dis- 

 tribution, not only as to latitude and longitude, but also as 

 to altitude. 



I am quite aware that destructive criticism is easy, and that 

 it is more difficult to propound a satisfactory explanation. These 

 critical notes have already run to considerable length, but I am 

 quite open on the geological evidence to show that previous to 

 the glacial epoch the distribution of plants (and therefore probably 

 of insects) was a much simpler matter than at present. The 

 climatic conditions, as shown by the Cretaceous and later forests, 

 were comparatively uniform over the earth's surface, the plants 

 inhabiting them were similar, the species (both of plants and 

 insects) were few ; that these archaic forms were the ancestors 

 of our present fauna is very certain, but that they had de- 

 veloped any of the existing forms at any time preceding the 

 glacial epoch is very improbable. Perhaps, if it appears neces- 

 sary, our Editor will allow me to recur to the matter later. 



NOTE ON SOME ORTHOPTERA from the PERSIAN GULF. 



By Malcolm Bukr, F.E.S. 



Mr. Pi. W. Lloyd has very kindly placed at my disposal a few 

 Orthoptera, collected by Mr. J. H. Hiles at Bussorah. On the 

 whole the species are what one would expect to find in that part 

 of the world, though very little collecting, if any, has been done 



