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Show 1900.] INSECTS A N D A R A C H N I D S P R O M SOMALILAND. 5 and the Moths are very local. The latter were nearly all collected on the banks of river-beds where there were trees, long grass, and undergrowth. The Beetles, on the other hand, simply swarmed, and there was also no lack of Orthoptera, Chilopoda Diplopoda, Arachnida, &c. O n April 20th, 1S95, 1 started from Berbera, the coast town of Somaliland, wending m y way south-west along the maritime plain to Hargaisa. Insect-life was by no means plentiful in this hot parched-up desert country, but birds were numerous by the sides of the dried-up river-beds. Hargaisa is a permanent Somali village on a gentle slope, overlooking a river-bed. There was luxuriant undergrowth and a few trees. Insect-life was consequently more plentiful, and I collected m y first butterflies and moths here. Of the latter, the large species Cyllogramma latona Cr. and Sphingomorpha chlorea Cr. came to my lantern in great quantities at night. After leaving Hargaisa, I went south across the great waterless Haud District, through dense thorn-bush jungle. En route we suddenly emerged upon the B u n Saylah, a large open plain literally covered with game, notably Oryx, Hartebeest, Soemmerring's Gazelle, and Ostriches. It took us a day to cros3 this, and then we entered dense jungle again. All this time I did but little insect-collecting, as, owing to the scarcity of water, I was always on the quick march. At Sassabanah we encountered water in deep wells and under the surface of a river-bed, the Webbi Jerrar. Here I collected some of the ticks described. Thence I marched to the Boorgha Country, and passed the everlasting red sand, entering a stony, hilly district. In this latter, Orthoptera were very numerous. I went as far as Mount Kuldush, inarching along the Webbi Shebeyli, the great river of Somaliland. The banks of this river were lined with trees and dense jungle, and butterflies and other insects were very abundant. Being unable to find a path for the camels down to the river-edge, and as I was running short of food, and many of m y men had fever, I retraced m y steps at the end of June. I followed the Sule Biver for a long way and reached Bun Jijjiga, a gigantic plain at the foot of the Harah Hills. Here I fell in with Abyssinians, who, however, behaved most cordially. Game was extremely abundant on this plain; but insects were somewhat scarce except at Whardi Datal, where there was long grass, in which Orthoptera simply swarmed. After leaving the plain I traversed thick jungle until reaching Hargaisa, where I rested to take up water before recrossing the great maritime plain called Guban (the hot country). During this latter journey I came across a small herd of the Somali Wild Ass (Eqmis somalicus), and passed through a dense locust-cloud, which darkened the sun for hours and looked like a great fall of snow, the air being white with them. After a very exhausting march through this desert, where we encounted terrific dust-storms every day, we finally returned to Berbera aud the coast. |