ENTOMOLOGY OF GRANADA AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 16l 



observed, as a rule, every day, but would not appear to be 

 plentiful. Probably the two commonest kinds were (1) the shght 

 and elegant Polistes gallicus ; the length of the legs of this 

 species is remarkable, and very observable when flying) ; and (2), 

 Dielis aurea, about the size and shape of our commonest wasp, 

 but with the yellow replaced by a rust-coloured tint. The 

 flower on which I captured most of the last-named species was a 

 chrysanthemum or marguerite in the large and picturesque 

 garden of the Villa Calderon, whose owner, the Marquis Palla- 

 vicini, is an absentee residing in Genoa. Ants (of three or four 

 species) were most abundant, and it was a very common sight to 

 see dead leaves and fallen blossoms of the white acacia toppling 

 about as if bewitched, or moving erect, like the sail of a boat, 

 owing to an ant pertinaciously grasping one end, and so dragging 

 them along. In respect of Neuroptera, the commonest species 

 was Libellula depressa, of which more specimens of the female 

 were observed than of the male. The chief locality for this 

 insect was a ditch of swiftly-flowing water, overhung in places 

 by dog-roses, brambles, and honeysuckles, by the side of a road 

 that diverged to the left of the road mentioned above, at a point 

 about half-way between the Alhambra and the cemetery ; in fact, 

 L. depressa was practically the only dragon-fly, as the genus 

 Lestes was only represented among my insects by two specimens, 

 one that I captured, and the other given to me, and I do not 

 remember seeing any more. Three or four specimens only of a 

 species of Mschna were observed, one flying backwards and 

 forwards along the bed of the dry water-course, a second above 

 the reeds and mud of an old Moorish reservoir in the side of the 

 hill. These two, as far as I could judge, were of a uniform dun- 

 colour, with a tinge of blue about the thorax. Two more had a 

 body of a uniform lavender-blue, of very much the same colour 

 as the male of depressa, and, I believe, with a little green and 

 yellow about the thorax. These two last were flying around the 

 trenches and remaining relics of the Moorish waterworks or forts 

 at the top of the hill, not far from the Sella del Moro, or Seat of 

 the Moor, the brick- walled platform where Boabdil is traditionally 

 reported to have mourned as he took a last bird's-eye view of the 

 glories of his departing kingdom, one of the fairest prospects on 

 earth ; Granada and its Vega outspread beneath. Whether the 

 above-named specimens of yEschna were two different kinds, or 

 the two sexes of the same kind, is more than I can say ; they 

 were far too restless, as well as swift on the wing, to admit of 

 being caught, and were, I should judge, rather smaller in size 

 than our common yEsclma cyanea, probably mauricianus. Other 

 tribes of Neuroptera were likewise to all appearance scantily 

 represented. I took one specimen of Sialis lutaria, and one of 

 Chryso2)a. 



Among the Coleoptera may be mentioned Clythra vicina (which 



