FURTHER NOTES FROM PALESTINE. 185 
which we were quartered and the large clumsily built ant Doryllus 
juvencus @ came to light every now and again. 
Respecting the social Hymenoptera several large bumble-bees were 
seen at the River Auja on the 16th May. Lhave remarked above on Honey 
bees ; their place and that of wasps was taken by the common hornet 
of Egypt and Palestine (Vespa orientalis). A large kind, possibly 
queens, were quite common from the middle of March to mid June, 
when they gave place to smaller ones (? workers). I once came across 
a ground-nest in the open plain (as a rule they do not nest in the open 
ground but on roofs of sheds, etc.) it had rather a wide exit of some 
two inches in diameter. The hornets did not seem at all vicious and 
only two cases of stinging came under my notice; one of a man who 
unfortunately for himself disturbed a nest while bathing and got badly 
stung ; the other occurring on the trek up from Haifa to Beirut when 
one of the horses of the Battery Staff must have trodden on a nest. 
There was a considerable disturbance and a relaxation of march 
discipline for the time being on the part of the staff, and the guns and 
wagons following made a discreet detour, but the only sufferers were 
one or two of the staff horses. I did not see the common wasp (Vespa 
vulyaris) until we were at Beirut in November, 1918, when it took the 
place of the hornet, but probably owing to the lateness of the season 
was not common. A handsome thin-waisted wasp (Sceliphron spintfea) 
first noticed on the 16th April, wassubsequently very common in the dug- 
out telephone pit in the gun line at Mulebbis taking little or no 
notice of the operators and indefatigable in building its httle clusters 
of mud cells and storing them with small spiders. Sundry sawflies 
were noticed. 
Diptera were numerous but unevenly distributed as regards families. 
This order being my speciality I naturally devoted extra attention to 
it. I have already mentioned the anti-mosquito campaign in the 
earlier portion of the article; Culex was quite common and Anopheles 
also occurred, although I did not myself come across any whilst in 
in Palestine. A smallish Nemocera (a Chironomid ?) was also very 
common coming to light at dusk. I frequently had specimens brought 
to me as possible malarial mosquitoes. I have no notes of any 
Tipulidae, but a minute midge, I do not know of what genus, was a 
great torment. ‘These midges first appeared about the middle of June 
and lasted for a fortnight or more, they had an irritating bite but 
contrary to our English midges they were most troublesome in the 
daytime and in sunshine and disappeared at dusk. A species of Bibio 
(? maxci) was common for a few weeks from February 12th onwards. 
Dolichopodidae were not at all common, a species of Psilopus was 
seen on the eucalyptus leaves at Mulebbis, and another species (genus 
uncertain) in some numbers on the 14th May at the muddy margin of 
some small pools in the vicinity. These were all I noted. 
E’mpis tesselata first occurred on the 16th March.and was very 
common whilst it lasted, a Tachydromid was common in the orange 
groves towards the end of March and a few small Empids occurred in 
April, but this family as well as the Dolichopodidae seem to be poorly 
represented. 
The families mentioned in vol. v. of Verrall’s work on flies 
(Strationyidac, ete.) were the best represented of any. A small 
Bombylinus, first noted on 27th March (B. flavipes, Wied.), was very 
