202 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



at Rossctta, but only during the warm season ; k 

 is nut visible in the winter months. 



The handsome sort of wasps which I have de- 

 scribed at Rossetta *, is very common in Upper 

 Egv p( : it is met with in the fields, in gardens, and 

 even in houses. It likes to be in the neighbour- 

 hood of water, and builds its nest in the ground. 



Those frightful reptileSj scorpions, here grow to 

 a very large size. 1 have been assured that their 

 sting occasioned acute pain, swoonings, convul- 

 sions, and sometimes death. 



The Nile furnishes, yet very seldom, a species of 

 crab-f-, the flesh of which is good. The shell 

 which covers the upper part of the body is of a 

 leaden colour ; the antennae are partly black and 

 partly yellow speckled with black ; the head, in 

 front, is of a variegated yellowish and blackish 

 green ; the claws and nippers are of a green hue 

 above, and of a livid yellow below ; the extremity 

 of the claws and the tarsus yellow ; the tail is yel- 

 low in the middle, and greenish on each side. 



To these details of the immutable history of Na- 

 ture, I am about to add some observations on the 



* See chap. xix. of the first volume. 

 -|- Cancer Jluviatilis. 



fluctuating 



