FAUNA AND FLORA OF SINAI, PETRA, AND WADY 'ARABAH. g 



more upright than A. Seyal, L. I met only these two acacias in the 

 peninsula, but I found a third and much finer one {A. Iceta, R. Br.) at the 

 south end of the Dead Sea. A. nilotica, Del., also occurs in Sinai. 

 A. torlilis is commoner in the 'Arabah than elsewhere. 



Other species were : Cucumis prophet ariim, Linn. ; Polycarp(2a 

 fragilis, Del. ; P. prostrata, Dene. ; Zygophyllum album, Linn. ; Fagonia 

 cretica, Linn., var. arabica ; Lithospermum callosum, Linn. ; Cressa cretica, 

 Ltnn. ; Euphorbia cornuta, Pers. ; Juncus maritimus, Linn., j3 arabicus ; 

 Typha angustata, B. et C. ; Cynodon dactylon, Pers. ; Phragmites com- 

 munis, Linn., \-&x. gigantea. This latter species, which reaches a height 

 of lo or 12 feet with its erect plume of florescence, is a truly handsome 

 grass. It appears to have frequently done duty for Arundo Donax, L., 

 in Sinai. 



Many withered Chenopods occurred here, the identifiable species being 

 Suceda vermiculata, Forsk. ; A triplex leucoclada, Boiss., A. halimus, 

 I^inn ; Anabasis setifera, Moq. ; and A. (Salsold) articulata, Forsk. At 

 Wady Useit occurred a little grove of date palms, some of them at least 

 40 feet high. There is only one other species, the doum palm (Hyphcene 

 thebaica, Del), in Sinai. It occurs near 'Akabah and at Tor. 



From about Wady Sa'al small burrows, from the size of a small rabbit- 

 hole to the little perforation of a species of ant, Camponotus compressa, 

 Fab., become numerous. These belong chiefly to species of Acomys, 

 Gerbillus, and Psammomys, but it was some time before I succeeded in 

 capturing any of these animals. On several occasions I saw individuals 

 of the Gerbille genus of sand-rats. These animals usually burrowed in 

 the sand-hills accumulated about the stumps of anabasis and tamarisk ; 

 their abundance here was as nothing compared with their numbers in the 

 Wady 'Arabah later on. Jerboas were not seen in Sinai. 



At night in the dinner tent our lights usually attracted a few nocturnal 

 insects, which I captured from time to time. 



A hornet, Vespa orientalis, Linn., was the only insect frequently to be 

 seen in the day-time. Nature rests herself in the desert almost as 

 thoroughly as in an Arctic winter ; in the latter case she sleeps during an 

 excessive cold, in the former she exhausts her strength during an extreme 

 heat. Nevertheless many late flowering plants still occasionally held 

 their petals, and it was not many days ere we gathered the first harbingers 



2 



