COLLECTING IN VARIOUS PLACES IN 1916-1918. O 



The only myrmecophiles found were OtJdiis my rmecophiliis and several 

 Oxypoda vittata, in the runs of the ants. A specimen of Ilomalota 

 litnrata was taken walking with the ants on the bridge. A muvtas ^• 

 was observed carrying a very small Aphid in its jaws. 



{To he continued.) 



Collecting in various places in 1916-1918. 



By Capt. p. p. graves, F.E.S. 

 Egypt. 



In 1916 and 1917 Rhopalocera were commoner than usual in 

 Egypt. This was owing, I believe, to the combination of two high 

 tides, which supplied more summer water to the usually thin vegeta- 

 tion of the edges of the cultivated area, with two comparatively rainy 

 winters, which brought out more vegetation than usual in the Desert 

 Wadis. Further, I think that the restriction of cotton cultivation for 

 maize and various pulse, in 1915 and 1916, contributed to the abund- 

 ance of the three common Lycsenids, which are never rare in Egypt, 

 viz., Lanipideti hoeticus, Tariicus telicanus var. egyptiaca, and Zizera 

 karsandra. 



The ordinary " skippers " — Gegenes 7iostrodamus, Parnara mathias, 

 and Baoris [Parnara) zelleri, were also abundant during the summer 

 and autumn. B. zelleri was to be found in numbers in most of the 

 public gardens near Cairo, in September, 1916, and was found in some 

 numbers in the larval stage on rice [Oryza sativa), at Teh-el-Barod, 

 Behera province, early in the same month. The vernal brood was not 

 taken by me either in 1916 or in 1917 at Cairo, and I have few speci- 

 mens of the spring brood of G..nostrodamus. The abundance of goats, 

 which crop the rather scanty grass in the winter months, and the 

 ploughing up and clearing of agricultural land during the same period, 

 no doubt accounts for this. But from July onwards, till November, 

 G. nontrodamus and P. mathias, which latter species is commoner in 

 spring than its relatives, seem to be continuously brooded. The second 

 brood of Baoris zelleri first appears in the autumn, about the second 

 week of September, and worn specimens may be taken in early 

 November. 



Hesperia (Powellia) amenopkis, Eev., was to be found, though 

 sparingly, in the desert, near Kassassin, Sharkia Province, in October, 

 1915, and Ootober, 1916. In late April, 1918, I took several speci- 

 mens, mostly worn, on the plateau behind the Mokattam Hills, near 

 Cairo. It is at least a double-brooded species and may have a summer 

 brood. It always occurs to my knowledge in association with Convol- 

 vulus lanatus, on which Mr. Andres, of Cairo, has found and bred the 

 larva. It has been taken at more than one point on or near the 

 military railway from the Suez Canal to El Arish, and to judge from 

 the quantity of Convolvulus lafiatus which I saw in bloom on April 8th, 

 near Mazar, Mehemdia (Mohamedia), and other stations on the rail- 

 way, should be common in the sandy areas in N. Sinai. 



I searched for Erynnis rhamses at Dekehla, near Alexandria, in 

 early May, 1918, but failed to take it, though I found its food-plant, 

 Phlomis fioccosa. 



To turn to the Lyc£enids, some of my most interesting finds, 



