LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii 



FIG. 



trami) ; among mammals, the Coney or Hyrax 

 {Procavia). (P. A. Buxton, photo) , facing p. 50 



19. Sandy Bed of a " Wadi " near Gaza, Palestine. For a 



few days at a time this bed will flow rapidly : 

 though subsoil water is available at no great depth 

 no bushes grow in the bed of the wadi because of 

 the winter floods. (P. A. Buxton, photo) facing p. 50 



20. Wide Bed of a Flood Channel near Jericho, dry except 



for a few days or even hours in the year, but bearing 

 a rich flora of perennials because of the presence of 

 subsoil water. (P. A. Buxton, photo) . facing p. 52 



21. Bed of a Wadi at Biskra in the Algerian Sahara, 



showing Bushes of Oleander (Nerium) and Tamarisk 

 (Tamarix). (V. H. W. Dowson, photo) facing p. 52 



22. Wilderness of Judaea, between Jerusalem and Jericho. 



These chalky hills are covered with annual vegetation 

 in March and April and for the rest of the year are 

 bare, except for very inconspicuous perennials 



facing p, 54 



23. Wadi Kelt, Wilderness of Judaea, Palestine. On the 



left of the picture are various trees and bushes, wild 

 and cultivated, owing their existence to the perennial 

 water of the wadi ; they are in no sense in the desert. 

 On the right, a couple of yards from the sharp edge 

 of the oasis, is the barren wilderness, at this season 

 (July) showing nothing but withered annuals and 

 a few small bushes of perennials. For a general 

 view of this country, see Fig. 22. (P. A. Buxton, 

 photo) ...... facing p. 54 



24 & 25. Photographs taken within a few hundred yards 

 of one another in February (Fig. 24) and June (Fig. 

 25). The spaniel dog gives an idea of the depth of 

 the annuals in spring and of their closeness to each 

 other : in summer the earth is bare and the perennial 

 Zizyphus bush is the only conspicuous plant. (P. A. 

 Buxton, photo) .... facing p, 58 



26. Stony Hill-side on the Mount of Temptation, near 



Jericho, Palestine, showing spring vegetation (Feb- 

 ruary) and in particular the broad tufted leaves 

 of the Mediterranean Squill (Urginea). (P. A. 

 Buxton, photo) .... facing p. 60 



27. Cahtropis procera (Asclepiadaceae), in the Plain of 



