6 



Reprinted from " The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," Second Series, Vol. xxii. 



1911.1 110 



THREE WEEKS IN THE SUDAN. 



Februakt 1st — 22nd, 1909. 



BY G. B. LONGSTAFF, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P. 



When one looks out of the train in the morning after the stifling 



night on the Nubian desert — somewhere between Berber and the 



River Atbara — a change in the appearance of the country is observed. 



A thin thorn-scrub, varied by occasional groups of Dom Palms, throws 



a slight veil over the nakedness of the desert. Occasionally a few 



gazelles create a flutter of excitement among the passengers, and when 



the sun gets up the mirage slowly develops, as if the horizon were first 



softened and then evaporated by the heat. From time to time stray 



butterflies are seen ; these I took to be Catopsilia florella, F., though 



it is just possible that among them may have been Teracolus pro- 



tomedia, Klug. During a short halt at Wad Ben Naga Station I tried 



to solve this problem, but the sense of anxious hurry lest the train 



should start, the swift flight of the butterflies, the strong wind, the 



blinding glare, and the great heat combined to frustrate my efforts, 



and I only succeeded in netting a male of Tarticus theophrastus, Fab., 



a " Blue " that I met with from Luxor to my southernmost point at 



Gebel Ein — a range of nearly 16° of latitude. On my return journey 



I took at Abii Hamed Station (about 130 miles north of the Atbara 



River) the Sphegid PMlanthns variegatus, Spin., which was abundant 



at Khartum, but which I did not see in Egypt. Also at Atbara 



Junction, 200 miles north of Khartum, I took a male of Bhyrichium 



niloticum, Sauss., a red and black Eumenid wasp that I had met with 



at Khartum. 



Khartum. 



Lat. 15° 35' N. 1200 ft. above sea level. 



Khartum is unlike any place that I have seen. Situated on the 

 southern bank of the Blue Nile, just above its junction with the 

 White Nile, it is a new city ; it is, moreover, a European city, for the 

 native population lives almost exclusively in mud villages on the 

 outskirts. The palace in which Grordon lived and died is its oldest 

 edifice, though built by Ismail Pasha, on either side of this, stretched 

 along the river bank, is a long line of Government Ofiices and barracks 

 interspersed with the comfortable houses of officials set each in its 

 pleasant garden. Since every one, naturally enough, wished to have 

 a bit of river frontage the length of the town is considerable, but its 

 breadth approximates to Euclid's definition of a line, and its cross- 

 streets starting from the river run vaguely into the desert. 



