224 THE ENTOMOLOGIST'S RECORD. 



the constant grazing and passage of numbers of horses and camels 

 accelerated this process, so that the countryside soon presented the ap- 

 pearance of an English stubblefield after a very hot and dry summer. 

 Even so butterflies were more plentiful than in Egypt. I caught a 

 fleeting glimpse of a large black and yellow swallow-tail one day soon 

 after I arrived. In a small patch of swampy ground near the coastal 

 sandhills several Colias sp. ? could usually be seen ; and one or two 

 species of "blues " and Pierids were not uncommon. D. pulchella was 

 noted again. By the end of June, however, Lepidoptera had practi- 

 cally disappeared. ' Ants and grasshoppers were by far the commonest 

 insects : the latter were very abundant, especially a species with vivid 

 crimson underwings, which used to flash up as the insect was disturbed 

 and disappear like magic when it settled again. Two or three other 

 species of grasshopper were also to be seen. A brown mantis, smaller 

 than the large green kind seen in Egypt, was not uncommon. Ant- 

 lions were attracted by lights at night, and I saw one dead specimen 

 of a large species with variegated wings. It was being dragged along 

 by some ants, which were thus having their revenge for their relatives 

 who had doubtless fallen victims in the earlier stages of this ant-lion's 

 existence. Dragonflies were scarce, but occurred every now and agam. 

 Among the Hymenoptera ants were by far the most numerous, occur- 

 ring everywhere. Th^se insects vary so much in size and sex-forms 

 that I hesitate to estimate how many species occurred. The three 

 commonest were a long-legged, very active black species, about half as 

 large again as our forest ants at home, a smaller, but also long-legged, 

 yellow species, with a black tipped abdomen, and a minute yellow 

 species. There also seemed to be at least three or four other kinds, but 

 with shorter legs and not so active as the first two mentioned above. 

 I witnessed a slave raid (?) one day, the raiding party carrying away 

 grubs and pupte, and also imagines, but I had not time to investigate 

 closely and could not distinguish if the latter were killed or not. A 

 large specimen, paler than the others, seemed to be directing opera- 

 tions, as it did not take any part in the carrying off of the booty, but 

 remained by the entrance of the raided nest unmolested by either side. 

 Among the wasps a slender waisted Ammophila (?) was common, and 

 a Sphex (?), about the size of an English queen wasp, with yellow black- 

 tipped wings, was constantly to be seen fidgeting about the earthen 

 walls of the bivouacs dug put in the sides of the gullies that run along 

 the valley bottoms. This latter species preyed on grasshoppers, and I 

 was told that the Ammophila had also been seen attacking a grass- 

 hopper. I saw a species of solitary bee with a black and white striped 

 abdomen, resembling the Dipteron Catahomha pyrastri, for which I 

 n^istook it at first. One or more species of a smallish black winged 

 Hymenopteron were observed both on the downs and on the sandhills, 

 and a Hymenopteron unknown to me, with a large red body, apparently 

 too big in proportion to its wings, came to light at night once or twice 

 in the camp in the palm belt. I occasionally saw a species of Mutilla, 

 which I believe also belongs to the Order Hymenoptera. 



A good many species of beetles were observed ; a large dung-rolling 

 Scarahaeus was common, and the abundance of its special provender, 

 due to the large numbers of horses, mules, and camels, must have led 

 it to believe that the millenium had arrived. A number of these 

 beetles were infested with small red Acari and also with a minute 



