120 
Psyche 
[December 
students, particularly Mr. Raja Asfour and Mr. Muhammed 
Salaymeh. I particularly wish to thank Dr. H. Gisin for 
his helpful comments. 
Description of Localities 
Lebanon and Western Syria comprise an area of ex- 
tremely variable topography and ecology. The most prom- 
inent physical feature of the area under consideration 
is the Lebanon Mountain Range. This range reaches its 
highest peak (10,131 ft.) in North Central Lebanon and 
gradually decreases in height northward. Between these 
mountains and the sea is a narrow coastal plain which 
widens from south to north. In Lebanon a second parallel 
mountain range, the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, marks the 
Western border of this country. Between these two ranges 
lies the central valley of the Bekaa, which continues in 
the North as the North Syrian Plain. The single common 
ecological factor is that most of the area is greatly im- 
poverished by almost every conceivable type of land over- 
use. Many of the mountainous areas are largely denuded 
of soil due to excessive grazing by goats and the resultant 
erosion. Most of the valley or plains regions suffer from 
chronic nitrogen and mineral lack, while most of the 
desert flora is kept in a condition of abnormal dwarf 
growth by the excessive grazing of the Bedouin flocks. 
The few nearly natural regions left are largely limited to 
the rare forests of the larger mountain peaks of Lebanon, 
the pine forest of Northern Latakia, and the deeper 
reaches of the desert. Except for the mountain areas, 
rainfall is completely seasonal, being limited to the winter 
months. The rainfall varies from 34 inches in Beirut to 
less than 3 inches in some regions of the Syrian Desert. 
In both cases most of the rain falls between November 
1st and May 1st, and rain in July or August is unheard of. 
The effect of this is that the Collembola vary in both 
abundance and occurrence according to areas and seasons. 
In the more humid areas Collembola are abundant where- 
ever food material occurs in the rainy season. In drier 
regions they are very rare in most areas. In all parts of 
the country numerous refugia exist with year-round mois- 
