4 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 



species, all of which were carefully preserved for comparison with sub- 

 sequent gatherings. One species, Ceratophyllum demersum, L., found 

 drifting in the gulf, and probably derived from the canal, was not met 

 with again. A prostrate prickly grass in the sandy stony flat between 

 the wells (' Ayiin M6sa) of Moses and the gulf has been named for me by 

 Mons. Boissier, Sporobolus spicatus, Vahl. 



In these enclosures, and around their edges, were bushes of tamarisks 

 and * ghurkud,' Tamarix nilotica, Ehr., T. articulata, Vahl. (?), and 

 Nitraria tridentata, Desf. The latter is a prickly, fleshy-leaved shrub 

 with small orange berries, greedily eaten by camels. It belongs to 

 the ' bean-caper ' family (Zygophyllacese), well represented in the 

 desert. 



From one of the wells numerous univalves, all of one species, Melania 

 tuberculata, Mull.., were obtained. The net produced nothing else except 

 the larvae of a gnat. A chamseleon {Ckamcsleo vulgaris, Linn.) and a 

 small very nimble brown lizard {Eremias gutto-lineatd) were captured close 

 by. The former was pointed out to me by a Bedawin on a stunted palm- 

 tree, else I should assuredly have passed it by, so closely did it resemble 

 the branch along which it clung. 



The chief attraction at this oasis was in the birds, of which several 

 species were obtained. Amongst these were the white wagtail and the 

 willow-wren (Motacilla alba, Linn., and Phylloscopus rufus, Bechst.). A 

 buff-backed heron, Ardeola russata, Wagl, was seen but not shot : this is 

 the bird which does duty for the ' white ibis ' amongst visitors. A little 

 cock-tailed warbler with a song and habit of a wren, Drymoeca inquieta, 

 Rupp., as well as the blue-throated robin, Cyanecula ccsruleculus, Pall. 

 (the one with the entirely blue throat), was shot here. 



Across the sand to the shores of the gulf many kinds of sea shell 

 were gathered. A detailed account of these, as well as of those obtained 

 at 'Akabah, will be given later on. Few specimens worth preserving 

 were met with, but they were for the most part identifiable. At the 

 water's edge a stork gave me a long shot, and several dunlins were flying 

 about. 



At evening the air was filled with the attractive notes of species of 

 cicada, and the quaint call of an owl {Athene meridionalis, Risso.), the 

 ' boomey ' of the Arabs, was for the first time heard. 



