ORIENTAL ENTOMOLOGY. 7 



the East, no species that may fairly claim to be termed Oriental 

 proved so abundant as Thais apollina and Danais chrysippus, the 

 former occurring in Palestine and Syria, during the months of 

 March and April, 1882, and the latter in Egy]3t, during November 

 and December, 1883; or I might state with correctness that these 

 two kinds were the commonest of all, Vanessa cardui alone ex- 

 cepted. Both Thais apollina and Danais chrysippus are easy of 

 capture, the former affecting the Plain of Sharon and slopes of 

 the Mount of Olives, as well as the meadows in the vicinity of 

 Baalbec and Shtora, and the latter frequenting the gardens 

 at Heliopolis, the Island of Pioda, and the grounds of the palaces 

 and villas in the neighbourhood of Cairo. It is probably owing 

 to the scarcity, comparatively speaking, of wild flowers in 

 Egypt, that the Danais was generally found fluttering round the 

 scarlet poinsettias, or settled on the gay blossoms of a large bed 

 of zinnias, but rarely outside the region of cultivation, whereas 

 the Thais, which I never saw till after reaching Palestine, 

 disported itself on and among the variously-coloured vetches, 

 the scarlet anemone, no less brilliantly tinted tulips {Ranunculus 

 asiaticus and Tulipa ocuUsolis), Star of Bethlehem, and sundry 

 other blossoms of the flowery plain or hill-side. Both Thais 

 and Danais were, generally speaking, in good condition. Early 

 spring is evidently the season for the former, late autumn and 

 the beginning of winter the time for the latter species ; but 

 by the middle of January, on my return to Cairo, after three 

 weeks' absence up the hills, colder weather had set in, and all 

 butterfly-life, for the time at least, disappeared. A perfectly fresh 

 specimen of T. apollina has a dark gauze-like appearance over the 

 whole of the upper wings, and a primrose tint (with the exception 

 of the red and dark blue of the ocelli that form the border) over 

 the lower. In the case of a more worn individual the gauze-like 

 appearance is the first to go, in one still more faded the primrose 

 tint also, until the upper wings are nearly transparent, except 

 for the three black spots which mark its affinity with the 

 ApoUinidse. Whether or no the sexes are distinguished by the 

 respective faintness or vividness of the markings is more than I 

 have knowledge in this instance to say. 



I was also fortunate enough to see six or seven specimens of 

 Thais cerisyi in Syria and to capture three, two at Shtora and 

 one at Baalbec. I attributed its scarcity to the fact that I was 



