366 MR. E. T. GtJNTHER ON THE 



all fish driven in their direction ; and in this way several hundred 

 "whales" may be caught amid the din of the exhortations of 

 the enthusiastic onlookers, who often cannot refrain from rushing 

 into the water and from joining their struggles with those of the 

 splashing fish. 



Invertebrata. — The most conspicuous member of the freshwater 

 invertebrate fauna is the freshwater crab, Telphusa fiiiviatiliSy 

 which may be found under stones in burrows, part in and part 

 out of the water. Always on the look-out for carrion, these 

 scavengers were frequently seen trying to drag poisoned fish 

 from the margin of the stream to some more retired nook in the 

 deeper water. 



In clear spring-beds Gamviarus pulex was often met with, 

 but Asellus seemed to be entirely absent ; and by its absence the 

 pond-life afforded a very striking contrast to that of Europe 

 within the range of Asellus. Leeches and planarians were 

 common. 



My small collections of terrestrial invertebrata have been 

 examined by Messrs. Edgar Smith, Butler, Pocock, Burr, and 

 Sir Gr. Hampson, and are described below. 



The traveller in Persia is always interrogated about " insect " 

 pests, and consequently a few words upon them may not be out 

 of place. Mosquitoes are painfully abundant in the Araxes 

 plains both in Sussian and in Persian territory. I was not 

 troubled by them at all in August and September, either at Urmi 

 or in any of the villages at some distance from the lake, although 

 I always slept on balconies or housetops without any protection 

 to the face. On the other hand, in the country near the lake, 

 as at Superghan and Ardisbai, they are said to be intolerable 

 during September. 



The much-dreaded Argas persicios is not rare, but its venomous 

 bite does not appear to be followed by the fatal or fabulous 

 consequences often attributed to the bug of Mianeh, where, 

 according to Maurice Kotzebue, a victim " eprouva bientot dans 

 tout son corps une chaleur violente, tomba dans une espece de 

 delire, et expira enfin an milieu d'epouvantables convulsions." 

 The native cure is the application of the still smoking skin of 

 a newly-flayed ox to the seat of the evil. 



Scorpions are common, but are rather local. Many Persians 

 are familiar with the old story of the scorpion which, when 



