120 [May, 



Any desci iptioii of Ivliartum would be inadeqiiate if it did not 

 allude to the prevailing northerly wind, which is not only health giving, 

 but entomo]ogically speaking most important. Mr. H. L. Butler, the 

 Curator of the Zoological G-ardens, informed me that there is no 

 continuous rainy season, but that heavy tropical downfalls are freqvient 

 in June, July, and August. 



Khartum is not altogether a pleasant place for collecting in. To 

 the south is a specially barren* and wind-swept desert, ; the northern 

 bank of the river is abandoned to barracks, railway works and dock- 

 yard — for Khartum is a naval port with a fleet of gunboats — hence 

 one's operations were practically confined to the neighbourhood of the 

 river bank above and below the city. Of the two localities, the best, 

 though the most distant, was beyond the water- works, near the 

 terminus of the tramway in the village of Burri. Here, among 

 Calotropis procera, Willd., the wide-ranging Danaida chrysippus, L., 

 was common, and I was delighted to see alive for the first time the 

 form alcippus, Cram. The white hind- wings of these beautiful butter- 

 flies are conspicuous in flight, and at once reminded me of the yet more 

 beautiful Acraea alhoradiata, Auriv., which I had seen in such numbers 

 at the Victoria Falls fom* years before. From Cairo to Aswan I had 

 come across a fair number of chrysippus, but all of the typical form. 

 At Abu Simljel, in Nubia, I was surprised not to meet with it, since 

 the Calotropis was there in plenty ; it would be interesting to know 

 what form occiirs there. 



The twenty-eight specimens brought home from Khartum may be 

 classified as follows : — ■ 



Typical chrysippus, L., 3 ^ . 



chrysip2JUS,'L.,\n\t with the veins of the hmd-wing dusted 

 with white, 6 ^J , 2 ? . 



f . alcippoides, Moore, 4 (^ , 2 $ . 

 f . alcippus. Cram., 5 (^ » 2 ? . 

 f . dorippus, Klug, var. aJhinus, Lanzknecht, 1 J' . 

 Of the total specimens seen, I estimated at the time that at least 

 three-fourths were either alcippus or alcippoides. 



The " musk-rat " odour was evident enovigh in many examples, 

 about equally strong in both sexes, hnt in one (^ the scent was com- 

 pared to that of tobacco. 



The next most conspicuous butterfly was Papilio demodocus, Esp., 

 I believe the only one of the sub-family that occurs there. During 



* Actually barren : potentially it is said to be fertile, a thin coating of sand covering a deep 

 deposit of silt. 



