348 LEFEBVRE ON MANTIS. 



Their size, in comparison with the other Mantidw, is very 

 diminutive ; the length never exceeds 35 millimetres in the 

 largest, and 20 millimetres in the smallest species I know. 



It was between the 20th of February and the 15th of March 

 that I took, in that part of the Lybian desert which lies 

 between the Nile and the oasis of Bahryeh, the greater part of 

 these Orthoptera ; and had I not found Erem. Hralil in the 

 pupa state in December, I should have concluded it was in 

 May or June that they arrive at their full growth. I may just 

 observe that I never met with any Eremiaphila? in the desert 

 of Cosseir, although the rocky tracks, of which great part con- 

 sists, bear a strong resemblance to the mountainous districts of 

 Lebanon, where, however, these insects are found, — a fact 

 which proves that they are not inseparable from desert wastes. 



These Orthoptera, figured to the number of six in the work 

 on Egypt, are (with the exception of fig. 4,) only shown in the 

 larva and pupa state. I think I may add four species of them 

 to those I know, including the genus Heteronutarsus. 



The Eremiaphilcv which I here describe in the perfect state 

 have been kindly furnished me by M. Audouin, professor of 

 our Natural History Museum at Paris ; by M. Gene, super- 

 intendent of that of Turin, and by Messrs. Audinet-Serville 

 and Guerin. Unfortunately these liberal friends could give 

 me no particulars but the habitats of these insects, which seem 

 to be found alike in the sandy regions of Syria, in the Arabian 

 Desert, and probably even in Desert Arabia itself. M. Bove, 

 for some years chief gardener at Schoubra (the residence of the 

 Pacha, near Cairo), who lately brought home a great number 

 of Egyptian insects, was unable to inform me when he took 

 the three species of Eremiaphilw I found amongst them. 



I must here beg those learned entomologists, whose names 

 I have just mentioned, to accept my best thanks for their kind 

 assistance. It is to me a pleasure as well as a duty to make 

 known the worthy use they make of the precious materials they 

 have at their disposal, and which they have so generously given 

 up to me. In their hands, no doubt, they would have been far 

 more profitable to the science which their learned writings are 

 continually enriching. 



[Translated for the Entomological Magazine, by J. F. Christy. ,] 



