in which to

without any difficulty that they can be taken in broad daylight; they do not successfully elude the collector, like a startled and swift-flying Rhopalocerous insect, so that in the case of beetles, perhaps more so than in that of any order of insects, the number of those captured corresponds with the number seen. There are three places where eastern Coleop- Three places tera may ordinarily be collected,-in flowers, under stones, and look for on refuse; in other words, (1) when adhering tightly by their eopteraforelegs to the middle of flowers, frequently that of the in flowers, variegated thistle or opium poppy, as noticed at Philadelphia, stones, and Sardis, and the neighbourhood of Athens; (2) under stones, as on the slopes of Aceldama; (3) on refuse in the road, as at the villages of Junin and Kaukab in the vicinity of the Pharpar, and near the scene of St. Paul's conversion, and elsewhere.

The remainder of this paper is chiefly a reproduction, with a few additional details, of the account I forwarded on this subject to the Entomologist of February and of April, 1885.

Eastern Col

under

on refuse.

country of

visited in the

ductive of

During my first visit to the East I captured 38 species of Which Coleoptera in Greece, 34 in Asia Minor, 21 in Syria, 18 in those I Palestine, 15 in Turkey, 7 in Egypt. On my second expe- East the dition I only captured 8 species of Coleoptera, 5 in Egypt and most pro3 in Nubia, but should have brought home a greater variety Coleoptera. from Egypt if it had not been for the above-recorded depredations of a rat. The difference in the number of species respectively noticed in the different countries may possibly be attributable, to some extent, to the time of year when the various localities were visited; and there are additional grounds for entertaining this hypothesis in the fact that the later the period the larger the number of species found. For example, 7 in Egypt (in the month of March), 18 in Palestine (MarchApril), 21 in Syria (April), 34 in Asia Minor (May), and 38 in Greece (May-June). Only 13, it is true, were noticed in Turkey in the month of May, for the simple reason that a great part. of my time was spent in visiting the public buildings, instead of in the open country. The genus Wide range Oxythyrea had a wide range, occurring alike in Palestine, Oxythyrea. Syria, Asia Minor, Turkey, and Greece. Two species of this tribe were found in great abundance in cinctella and hirtella, and for the most part, as was also the case with many of the Cetonias, when tightly ensconced in the middle of a flower. I never saw any kind of beetle anywhere in such countless profusion as the showy orange and black-spotted Mylabris quadrimaculata, on the ears of ripe corn during my return drive from Deceleia, on the 1st of June, at the close of a bright and hot day. Some few good sorts were found beneath stones; seven specimens, for example, of the rare

of Genus

of various

species of

caught in

the East.

Nebria hemprichii at Aceldama, on April 3, and Chlænius spoliatus, C. vestitus, Anchomenus austriacus, and such-like metallic Coleoptera, on the wet ground in the vicinity of the Description great Bend, or reservoir, of Sultan Selim, that had recently overflowed its boundary, on the 25th of May, at Belgrade. Coleoptera Anthia sex-maculata (variegated black and white) is the handsomest, decidedly so, of the very few species I saw in all Egypt, and was taken running about the sandheaps that are silted up by the action of the desert winds around the clumps of tamarisk, at El Ferdane and elsewhere in the neighbourhood of the Suez Canal. Ateuchus sacer was found also in the desert, and at the Pyramids of Geezeh, but far more plentifully on the road to Laurium and Marathon, two months and a half later. Of the eight species of Coleoptera that I came across on my second visit to Cairo, and in my voyage up the Nile, one kind only was plentiful (Steraspis squamosa, one of the green metallic Buprestide), and of this bright-coloured beetle there were any amount, as it swarms on the tamarisks (January-March) at Erment, the ancient Hermopolis, a short distance up the river south of Luxor, and at that latter place a large number had been stored since the preceding season, in a terra-cotta gourd, for sale to tourists in December.

Identity of Orthoptera noticed in the East

Respecting Orthoptera, there is comparatively little to relate; the identity of the species I came across in the East with those in with those in other parts of the Mediterranean littoral will be other parts best ascertained by reference to the following table :—

of the Mediterranean littoral.

germanica

tataricum.

religiosa.

Or, to go more into particulars, I discovered the red variety Edipoda of Edipoda germanica (or fasciata, as it is more correctly fr named) to be as widely distributed in the East as previous variety). experience had made me acquainted with its occurrence in Switzerland, Italy, and Corsica, for I found it on the banks of the Pharpar on the 19th of April, where it took its short flights amid the corn; and again in the neighbourhood of Alexandretta, in the direction of Issus, on the 28th of the same month, as we toiled up among the myrtles, pomegranates, Portugal laurels, and styrax trees, beneath a very hot sun, to the ruins of the old castle of Merkes, two hundred yards from the shore; and, lastly, I noticed it on the road leading to Marathon, on the 5th of June, as also previously at Belgrade, on the 28th of May. Acridium Acridium tataricum, a locust with smoky-brown wings, likewise a common species in Italy and Corsica, was also found near Alexandretta, on the road to Marathon, and at Beyrout as well. Of Mantis religiosa I obtained a specimen off the Mantis orange-trees in the island of Roda, in March, and another, clinging to a bough of Ficus elasticus, was brought me at Beyrout, in April. There are also several grasshoppers that I collected in Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Turkey, and Greece, and chiefly in the last-named country, but which, if differing in kind, do not differ in their light-brown or dustcoloured hue, as well as general appearance, from our common field grasshopper at home. Specimens of a stoutly-built species were found in the classic regions of the Acropolis, Pnyx, Stadium, Lycabettus, and Pass of Daphne. I have two small specimens of the larva of a Mantis, belonging, possibly, to the genus Eremiaphila, and bearing out its title in its natural habitat, as it was scarcely distinguishable in hue from the desert sand of Gebel Hashab, where I discovered it on the 22nd of March. Lastly, the mention of a remarkable-looking insect, Callimenus oniscus, must not be Callimenus omitted. It is a wingless locust, that keeps up an incessant and shrill chirp in the underwood of myrtle and cistus, &c., on each side of the roads to Laurium and Marathon. As it hushes its strain when approached, it is not always easy to detect its presence, more particularly as its ground-colour is a bright apple-green, traversed by numerous horizontal bars of black across the body. This beautiful colouring, however, is turned to brown after its inevitable consignment to a widemouthed phial of spirits. It, no doubt, derives its specific name of ὄνισκος, "the little ass," in consequence of its similarity, from a dorsal point of view, to that beast of burden. There is great accuracy and scientific truth, be it

oniscus.

in

Statement noted, in Amos vii. 1: "Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning in reference of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.

to grasshoppers considered.

Only a few

species of

noticed in

the East.

of them.

Libellula depressa. Calepteryx virgo.

Several of the Orthoptera are not formed-in other words, do not receive their full development of wings-till late on in the autumn; nor, as far as my own observation and that of a relative go, are the grasshoppers any earlier in Corsica and the South of Europe in this respect than our English ones, although they continue on the shores of the Mediterranean much later, where I have noticed them through November, and even up to Christmas; whereas they disappear from our fields at home in or about the middle of September.

The difference between the English Orthoptera on the one hand, and those from the South of Europe and the East on the other, is that the latter are more numerous in species, and in individual number, and also in many instances larger in size. Single specimens of locusts are very rare and occasional visitors here, thus furnishing, even when they do occur, a marked distinction to the hordes which commit such widespread and utter devastation in South Russia, Cyprus, and elsewhere in the East.

Neuroptera, understanding by this term all species belonging Neuroptera to the tribe, according to the Linnæan application, are only scantily represented, as a rule, so far as my own observation goes, in the regions of the East. For example, in my tour of Description 1882, I only came across four species of dragon-flies, and three of these were common English ones, two of them, viz., Libellula depressa and Calepteryx virgo, skimming around the luxuriant vegetation on the banks of the River Meles (a short distance above the grotto of its Nymph, and where she is reported, according to popular tradition, to have nursed the poet Homer), on May 8. The same two species were also noticed at a later date, namely, May 25, about the wooded and stream-fed lawns adjoining the great bend or reservoir of Sultan Selim, in the vicinity of the village and forest. of Belgrade; while the third and commonest kind was Libel Sympetrum striolatum, likewise seen at Belgrade, and so striolata plentiful at home, more especially on heath or common in the 1. Sympe- autumn. The fourth one, also occurring at Belgrade, was

lula

trum

strioLlatum.

2. Croco

themis

erythræa.

Crocothemis erythræa, of the same shape and size as L. striolata (otherwise called Sympetrum striolatum), but clearly to be distinguished by its bright red body from the tawny colour of the latter. During my second expedition, I have also only the occurrence of four species to report in the months of November and December, 1883, as follows:

Libellula striolata, Trithemis rubrinervis, and Crocothemis 3. Trithemis erythræa, and all at Villa Ciccolani, public gardens, and rubrinervis, Island of Roda, Cairo and Matareeyeh gardens, Heliopolis. Trithemis rubrinervis is not so common as the other two species, and, though nearly of the same size and form, has its body, if anything, more tapering in shape, is a singularly handsome kind, crimson or magenta coloured, with a bluepurple stripe down each side. I first saw it on the Island of Roda, and afterwards in the gardens of the Villa Ciccolani, as good localities as any I know of in Egypt for the capture of Neuroptera. The fourth, I regret to say, I was unable to obtain, and am, therefore, ignorant of its name. It usually flew very rapidly and high overhead, backwards and forwards, while I was forcing my way through the tall flags and thick underwood which fringes a portion of the Island of Roda, for the chance of a cast of the net. The colour of the body was lavender-blue, like that of the male of L. depressa, but in size it exceeded Eschna grandis or Anax imperator, and was the largest species of any Neuroptera that I have ever seen alive. My visit to Athens and its neighbourhood in the latter end of May and beginning of June, 1882, must also be mentioned, as I then captured two species of Neuroptera, differing from Dragon-flies, being either the perfect insects of the Ant lion, or else allied to these last. The smaller, and by far the commoner of the two, had brown spotted and gauzy forewings, and the hinder wings much elongated, and very slender, in the shape of tails. It abounded everywhere, in the Pass of Daphne, the Stadium, Mount Lycabettus, &c., and was especially plentiful on the hill of the Acropolis, in the immediate vicinity of the Parthenon. Its name is Nemoptera Nemoptera coa. Palpares libelluloides is a rarer and much larger insect. I captured it in the Pass of Daphne, and on the hillside near the Throne of Xerxes. Its name, Libelluloides, is, of course, Palpares to be attributed to the fact that in the wide spread of its wings and brown spots upon them, it resembles some of the Libellulida-Libellula quadrimaculata in particular. I obtained a single specimen of a third kind-viz., Myrmeleon Myrmeleon sævus-in the vicinity of Belgrade. This last bears a superficial resemblance to the genus Agrion. All these perfect insects of the Ant lion, or those species akin to them, have a slow, feeble, and wavering flight. The rare occurrence of brooks and streams, and likewise the fact that so few of the winter torrents are perennial in their flow, may possibly serve to account, to some extent, for the paucity of species of Neuroptera so noticeable in the East.

coa.

libelluloides.

sævus.