432 
EGYPT 
missed, as was a White which, so far as I could see, was probably 
Synchloe glauconome. Hovering at the flowers of the Labiate, Stachys 
aegyptiaca , Pers., and by no means easy to net, were two Bees, 
Podalirius suworzevii, Moraw., and another larger species of the same 
genus; and yet another Podalirius coming very near to albigena . 
The only other bee was a female Megachile argentata. 
At the flowers of Zygophyllum coccineum , Linn. (Nat. Ord. Zygo- 
phyllaceae), and also on the wing, I took several of the Buprestid, 
Psiloptera argentata, Mann, while the Heteromeron, Micipsa grandis, 
was found under a stone. 
The Fly, Agria nuba, was not uncommon. On the flowers of 
Ochrademus baccatus, D.C. (Nat. Ord. Besedaceae ), I took a couple of 
what Mr. E. E. Austen says is probably a new species of Urellia —a 
tiny fly with green eyes, its wings beautifully netted with a sharp 
black pattern. At the same flower was an undetermined bee. 
Two Acridians, Poecilocerus bufonius , Klug (of the sub-family 
Pyrgomorphinae), complete my list. 
Somewhat similar to the Wadi Hof is the Wadi Abu Koash on 
the western side of the Nile, about six miles north of Mena, but its 
vegetation seemed less varied. My first visit was interfered with by 
a sandstorm, an interesting sight but a disagreeable one. When the 
wind is strong enough and blows in a suitable direction, the sand is 
swept up into the air, so that the sky is darkened, and may even 
become as opaque as in a London fog, putting a stop to all navigation 
on the Nile. 
At Abu Boash I saw but one butterfly, almost certainly a Painted 
Lady, neither did I capture a single moth; it is, however, only fair 
to the locality to mention that it was a windy day. Perhaps the 
insects that interested me most were the lovely little Chrysis fasciolata, 
of which I secured a dozen, some of the blue, but the majority of the 
green form. Then there was the black, grey-banded Mutilla 
(Dasylabris) arabica, Oliv., as well as the nearly allied Apterogyna 
olivieri, Klug. The only ant brought home was Myrmecocystus 
bombycinus, Kog. A male of the elegant slender Sphex nivertus, 
Dufour; a Celonites mongolicus, Moraw.; a female Miscophus cteno- 
pus , Kohl, and several Pompilids were among my captures; the 
Miscophus and the Pompilids frequently settled on the sand, but 
were often driven off for a yard or two by the strong wind. A male 
Eumenes nigra , Brulle, was a more powerful insect, as was also Vespa 
orientalis, of which two females appeared to be feeding on the hollow 
receptacle of the Composite Echinops spinosus , Linn. 
