the late Dr. Bromfield. 6399 



is by a slow motion like that of some gigantic serpent or fish ; they 

 then look very slippery, and as if all joints and suppleness. — p. 132. 



'Die Scorpion Spider or Galleode. — At the sugar-works at Ernout, 

 1 saw one living and several dead specimens of the terrific scorpion 

 spider or galleode of Egypt and the adjacent countries ; the latter 

 were found drowned in a large tank for supplying the engines ; the 

 former was captured in the house by Mr. Fox. The outstretched legs 

 of the largest specimen measured about eight inches in the span. 

 The general aspect of this hideous animal is that of a gigantic spider, 

 which it resembles in the great length of its hairy legs the oblong 

 livid body, jointed like that of the scorpion, is destitute of any sting, 

 instead of which the head is furnished with a formidable pair of sharp 

 and very prominent pincers, capable of inflicting an extremely painful 

 though, I believe, not very venomous bite. It is a nocturnal animal, 

 frequenting out-houses and deserted apartments, running with in- 

 credible speed, and fearlessly attacking any object that is opposed to 

 it. Mr. Fox's Arab servant, hearing a mouse squeaking in the room 

 one night as if in distress, was induced to ascertain the cause, when 

 he found one of these galleodes had fastened upon it, but whether with 

 the intention of making the mouse its prey, or from accidental offence 

 given by the latter, Mr. Fox could not say. The natives regard its 

 bite as not dangerous, but rather encourage it, as a noted destroyer of 

 its first cousins, the scorpions. I have several of the above specimens 

 (including the largest) in spirits, which I hope to send home with my 

 plants, &c. from Alexandria. — p. 155. 



Cattle of Nubia — The Water Buffalo. — In the upper countries the 

 cattle are of a peculiar, probably distinct species of ox, very much like 

 our own, but with a hump on the back, and the females are, as milch 

 cows, good for nothing, being always nearly dry ; so that we could 

 scarcely ever procure cows' milk, even when meeting with large herds of 

 them, much as we should have preferred it to that of goats. Our common 

 breed or species is also seen in Nubia, &c, but more rarely. In most 

 parts of Egypt, but especially in the lower provinces, the common 

 and hump-backed cattle are in a great degree supplanted by the 

 water buffalo (Bos Bubalus) a huge grotesque, ungainly, but apparently 

 harmless and stupid animal, to which we were indebted for some of 

 the milk obtained in Egypt, and all the abominable mass of indigestible 

 fibres sold for beef. The water buffalo has not made its way very 

 far beyond the second cataract, or into Nubia ; but it is well known, I 

 am told, in India. Its name is derived from its habit of laying a great 

 part of its time immersed in the water of pools and rivers, and it is an 



