12 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 



convolvulus, a handsome, erect, shrubby, felted species, with good-sized 

 reddish-purple petals, I obtained a couple of flowers. 



Desert partridges were first heard here, but not yet obtained. Chats 

 and larks appeared to be pairing. A shrike, Lanius fallax, Finsch., was 

 first seen and shot. Afterwards this became a familiar species. The 

 ' desert blackstart,' Cercomela melanura, Temn., another very character- 

 istic and prevalent bird of Sinai, was also first met with and obtained here. 

 The chats were Saxicola leucopygia, Brehm., and Menetries' wheatear 

 already mentioned. The trumpeter bullfinch, Erythrospiza githaginea, 

 Licht., was shot here for me by Dr. Hull, who, as well as Mr. Reginald 

 Laurence, brought me specimens from time to time. 



In Widy Nasb there is a well, and quite a goodly show of acacias, 

 chiefly of the species A. tortilis, Hayne., which was in flower sometimes, 

 and usually in leaf. The leaf segments of this species are larger and fewer 

 in number than in A. Seyal, Z., the pods are twisted, and the tree attains 

 a greater size. When old it is less and less spiny, while the reverse seems 

 to be the case in A. Seyal. 



In this widy I gathered Malva rotundifolia, Linn., and Amarantus 

 sylvestris, Desf., by the well, both probably of human origin. The former 

 is cooked and eaten by the Bedawin. Lycium europceum has flowers 

 either white or pinkish-purple. Other species met here first were : 

 Dcemia cordata, Br. ; Echiockilon fruticosum, Desf. ; Lavandula coronopi- 

 folia, Pair. ; Crozophora obliqua, Vahl. (a perennial form of C. verbasci- 

 folia, Juss. ?) ; and Zizyphus spina-christi, W- The latter was not 

 native, and occurred in a miserable little enclosure by a Bedawin hut at 

 the well. It was less thorny than the native species afterwards gathered, 

 and the fruit somewhat larger, but Mr. Oliver refers it to the same 

 plant, no doubt slightly altered and improved by a rough system of culti- 

 vation. 



As we are gradually increasing our elevation amongst the widies 

 derived from the precipitous escarpment of the Tih plateau (4,000 to 

 5,000 feet), so there are more remains of last summer's vegetation — 

 later in flowering, perhaps, and less scorched than the same species 

 below. 



Soon after leaving Widy Nasb we entered on plutonic formations, a red 

 porphyritic granite, which was thenceforth to accompany us upwards over 



