FURTHER NOTES FROM PALESTINE. 133 
district, although a certain number of cases occurred. Incidentally it 
may be remarked that the Turkish armies were reported to have 
suffered far more severely from this insect-borne disease than the 
British and Indian forces opposed to them. I did not myself see an 
Anopheles mosquito during my stay at Mulebbis, although Culev was 
not uncommon. 
From March to the end of May there was a great wealth of wild 
flowers in the groves. These gradually withered away in June and 
July until in the latter month the plains became a waste of dried up 
thistles and Unmbelliterae. I noticed that these latter flowers when 
fresh did not attract insects to anything like the extent they do in 
England, and another feature that struck me as curious was the fact 
that the wild flowers around and under the trees might be alive with 
beetles, flies, and occasional butterflies, but they one and all neglected 
the orange blossom, and I did not understand how fertilisation was 
carried out. I asked one of the proprietors and he told me that bees 
were the agents, but they were very seldom seen at the blossoms, and 
I only remember noticing one row of hives. It may be that nocturnal 
Lepidoptera have something to do with the fertilization, but I have no 
notes of seeing any moths at the flowers and any systematic night 
work was out of the question. 
All the undergrowth of flowers and weeds in the groves was cut 
down and the ground dug over during the month of April prior to 
irrigation. While they lasted these flowers attracted many insects but 
not a very large number of species. My observations were confined to 
the orange groves and lanes near by, and I had no opportunity except 
on one occasion of going out on the plains or to the hills. In this 
cultivated area butterflies were but poorly represented and I saw 
nothing in the nature of the large flights referred to in my previous 
article as occurring in the spring of 1917 near Belah. It is possible 
that the latter district lies in a migration track or there may have been 
some exceptional weather conditions. Colias edusw and one or two 
species of Pierids (Huchloé belemia and Pieris brassicae) were generally 
common. A small blue (Zizeeria karsandra) was also very common ; a 
larger blue was once or twice seen, but not closely enough to identify 
it with any certainty. Rwmicia phlaeas was not at all uncommon and 
a small skipper (Carcharodus altheae) fairly frequent. I saw one 
brimstone and every now and again caught a glimpse of a swallow-tail. 
The only occasion on which | saw a variety of butterflies on one day 
was on May 16th, when J had a holiday and followed the course of a 
wady, down to the River Auja. Here, especially towards the river end 
where the vegetation was almost tropical in its density, | saw more 
insects at once than at any other time during my stay in Palestine 
including most of the butterflies mentioned above and in addition 
several Satyrids closely resembling Meadow-browns, and two or three 
Danaida chrysippus. 
With regard to moths, Macroglossa stellatarwn was common at 
Mulebbis, and three or four specimens of the fine Atlas moth Saturnia 
pyri were brought to me for identification. Geometers of several 
species came to light or were disturbed from the undergrowth during 
the daytime ; amongst others a small emerald (Nemoria faustinata) on 
the 16th April and on several subsequent occasions, also a Hubolia (?) 
resembling /, plumbaria and two or three species of Hupithecia. The 
