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which it often settled, it was only after several attempts that I 
succeeded in catching it, when it proved to be Bembex chlorotica, 
Spin. A female Vespa orientalis was taken in the recently ex¬ 
cavated Temple of the Pyramid of Mykerinos. 
Xylocopa aestuans occurred on the desert near the Sphinx as well 
as on Gezira Island. A stylopized female of Andrena ephippmm 
was taken settled on the sand; Apis mellifica , for some reason 
best known to itself, haunted the Granite Temple of the Sphinx. 
The large and handsome Podalirius fulvitarsis, Brulle, was met 
with near Mena; while P. suworzevii was taken at flowers of 
Hyocyamus (?) muticus, Linn. (Nat. Ord. Solanaceae) ) a little to the 
south of the Sphinx. 
Prominent among the desert beetles was Ocnera hispida, though 
it generally concealed its hard body under a stone, whereas Pimelia 
spinulosa often ran boldly in the open. An allied beetle, Prionotheca 
coronata, Oliv., found under stones just above the hotel, is distin¬ 
guished not only by its coronet of curved spines—like bramble- 
thorns—round the sides of its abdomen, but by a copious brown 
pubescence. Other Heteromera were Tentyria glabra and Mesostena 
laevicollis, beetles that hide themselves, whereas Zophosis plana has 
the habits of its congener, Z. complanata. Some specimens of the 
Mesostena were found ten or twelve miles into the desert. 
The handsome Carabid, Anthia marginata , Dej., was not un¬ 
common under stones on the higher desert, above the Pyramids; 
this species occurred also at the foot of Gebel Dixon twelve miles to 
the west; but the pretty G-raphipterus variegatus , Pabr., a beetle with 
soft integuments, ran freely over the sand in the sunshine : it is 
swift in its movements, doubling smartly. It can make a creaking 
or rustling sound, which seemed to me to be produced by rubbing 
the femora against the edge of the elytra, or possibly the edge 
of the abdomen. 1 I also saw this species at Sakkara. 
The very hard Weevil, Pychnodactylus (Gleonus ) tomentosus, Pahr., 
was found near the Sphinx in a hole in a limestone rock covered by 
a stone. Scarabaeus sacer was to be found about dung, or under 
stones, among them was a specimen of S. compressicornis, Klug, an 
Arabian species of which the British Museum has one specimen 
from the Pay yum, but it would appear to be scarce in Egypt. I 
may now record, with not a little pride, that, about a mile south of 
the Great Pyramid (in such a case one should be precise) I found 
a dead donkey! It is disappointing to have to add that associated 
with it I found nothing more remarkable than an obscure Saprinus ; 
1 See It. I. Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist . (7), x., pp. 154-158 (1902), 
