258 [October. 



seom to get worn very quickly, so that it is most difBcult to secure really fine speci- 

 mens, and, judging from the semi-transparent state of the very few I have seen in 

 my friends' cabinets, I suppose that others have suffered even more than I in this 

 respect. 



I have also to record the occurrence in July, in the same locality, of Mixodia 

 rufimitrana, H.-S., amongst silver fir, on the terminal shoots of which its larvaj had 

 apparently been feeding. These little moths flew at dusk round the tops of the 

 trees, so that I wished that I had a long-handled net, as there was much difficulty 

 in inducing them to descend. 



I may remark that these woods are strictly preserved by the owner, who has 

 very kindly allowed me to collect in them occasionally. 



A coloured figure of <S. subsequana, from a drawing by Mrs. Richardson, will be 

 given on the moth plate in Proc. Dorset Nat. Hist, and Antiq. Field Club, vol. xi. — 

 Id. 



NOTES FEOM THE EED SEA. 

 BT J. J. WALKER, R N., F.L S. 



On March 14th we were in the Suez Canal: on the morning of 

 the 15th I landed at " Port Tewfik " (2^ miles from Suez) at 6.15 a.m., 

 and walked up to that very dirty guide- and donkey-infested town. 

 Not finding much to interest me here, I made for the hills of Jebel 

 Atakah, to the west of the town, which looked quite near, but it cost 

 mo nearly three hours of hard walking over a plain absolutely destitute 

 of life, animal and vegetable, it being nothing more than an old soa 

 beach upraised, strewn with shells and broken fragments of coral, the 

 whole saturated with salt. As I got near the base of the hills I began 

 to meet with a scanty but very interesting flora, composed chiefly of 

 thorny plants, even the Crucifercc being armed with spines. Here I 

 was very much pleased to make the acquaintance of the genus Adesmia, 

 which seems quite to replace Fimelia in these parts ; I met with four 

 species at least, two or three being common ; they are very queer un- 

 gainly spidery-looking fellows, but they run with great speed, and 

 have a provoking habit of getting under a thorny bush, whence it is 

 not easy to get them out. Besides these, however, I could get but 

 very little, though I took a good sized Buprestid (? a Foeliconota), a 

 fine yellow-spotted black locust, not rare, and a pair of a very pretty 

 Melitwa, allied to Jf. didyma, but I think quite distinct. I got back 

 to Port Tewfik (which is connected with Suez by a loug causeway) at 

 3 p.m., very tired, having walked at least 24 miles. Close to Suez I 

 got heaps of Ocnera, and a few small heteromerous forms strange 

 to me. 



