138 2 THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 
plain of Jericho and the Jordan valley generally in the summer months 
takes a good deal of beating for unpleasantness, and anyone who has 
experienced its oppressive, dust-laden atmosphere will not be inclined 
to condemn anyone to “go to Jericho” without grave provocation. As 
stated it lies some 1000 feet below sea level, sinking to 1300 feet below 
at the Dead Sea, and is inches deep in loose dust which rises in clouds 
at the passage of animals or motor lorries, The heat was most 
oppressive both by day and night. A fringe of dust-covered bushes 
that bordered a little perennial stream running down from the Judean 
Hills and.a number of dead-looking thorn bushes were the sole 
specimens of vegetation, except in the gardens of Jericho itself, which 
consisted for the most part of squalid mud-built houses with a few 
modern stone edifices and a solitary mosque with a tall minaret. The 
district has a bad name for malaria and house-flies abounded. There 
was a story current that the Turks had sent a message in June to the 
effect “‘ this month flies die, next month men die, we will come and 
bury you in the autumn.” like other Turkish prophecies it proved 
false in all particulars. 
We lay one night at Jericho and the next night started on the final 
stage of our destination. As seen from Jericho the plain appears to be 
practically level to the opposing wall of the hills of Moab, but after 
proceeding for a couple of miles or so along a gentle decline the road 
suddenly dips without any preliminary warning into a chaotic series of 
gullies and valleys carved out of the white crumbling limestone below 
the general level of the plain. We wound our way through these for 
another mile and finally reached the narrow belt of vegetation that 
borders the river Jordan on both sides. There were numerous trees on 
the. river banks (willows, acacias, tamarisks, oleander and poplars are 
mentioned in a Guide book) and plants that on the plains only grow 
to a couple of feet or so were present here as quite large shrubs. 
There was an undergrowth of coarse grass and reeds and we lived in 
reed-wattled shelters. It was very hot and dusty despite the vegetation 
and we all suffered more or less trom prickly heat at night. The 
Jordan here was a mud-coloured turgid stream some 50 or 60 yards in 
breadth flowing with a very strong current between high banks. 
When bathing, even at daybreak, its temperature was tepid and not at 
all refreshing. As to insect life, butterflies represented by Teracolus 
fausta, whites, a small blue, and the small copper were very common 
and there were usually one or two D. chrysippus sailing leisurely about 
on the river banks at the bathing place. Dragon-flies were also a good 
deal in evidence. I did not notice many flies or mosquitoes but a 
small inidge, nocturnal this time, added to the worries of the hot 
nights. I several times saw a very large Anthrax almost the size of a 
humble-bee. After a few days stay in this jungle the guns were moved 
out, to our great relief, and sent back into one of the valleys of the 
maze of broken hills, through which we passed on our way. Life 
was more endurable here though the heat was still great. Where the 
gullies opened out there was usually a scanty undergrowth of stunted 
brushwood, and the floors of these valleys in the early morning would 
be damp and sticky with the moisture that oozed out of the surrounding 
hills. ‘The damp line could be traced on the chalky slopes as plainly 
as on the walls of a newly built house. As soon as the sun gained 
strength all was dried up into crumbling dust. A little stream ran 
