1883.] Butterfly Hunting in the Desert. 369 
and smooth as plank, and the ringing tramp of the horse’s hoofs 
make merry music after so long a toiling over sandy waste, while 
those few miles are so quickly sped that it is discussed whether it 
will not be best to retrace them, and so get another ten miles of 
good road, but the motion is lost by a majority of one. To con- 
sole the minority for its defeat, a pretty Terias is seen speeding its 
rapid, erratic flight over the bushes and defying capture, as it 
never alights, The day passes as do all days of desert travel, in 
tiresome dragging through sandy wastes and over dusty hills, and 
with tedious straining of the eyes to catch the first possible glimpse, 
though miles away, of the green tree tops of the oasis, where is 
to be the night's camping-place. And when in due time our weary 
feet step upon the soft, green grass of the river side, the feeling of 
relief from a straining anxiety and of comfort as if at home, is in- 
expressible, and we set about the work of camp-making with light 
hearts and with joyous songs. The grove rings with our badin- 
age and we imagine that the cottonwoods clap their leaves in ap- 
plause at our jokes. Here, with this day’s journey, our expedi- 
tion reaches its objective point, and the journal thereof finds its 
legitimate conclusion. And here on an oasis, in the middle of 
the dreaded desert, we raise our hat and take leave of its sandy 
majesty with great respect, for forbidding and perilous as it is, it 
has compensating charms. If our noses have been skinned by its 
burning heats, two-edged appetites repay us for the loss of epi- 
dermis, and the fear ofits terrors is counterbalanced by the satis- 
action of having overcome them. We leave it, thankful for our 
lives, yet with regret, for we feel its attractions, and we begin to un- 
derstand the delight of the Arab in his desert, and the attachment 
that leads captive any man for a pursuit in itself perilous; while 
to fitly crown the whole, we find that our travels have not been in 
Ten, for examination shows that we have accumulated several nice 
things; one of which, a new Copæodes, is published contempo- 
raneously herewith ; aiso a supply of another prize, Ancyloxypha 
ya Scud., and other treasures that to the butterfly hunter are 
treasures indeed. — 
a 
