S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 28/2. (Budapest, 1975)

sity on the one hand, and by the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, on the other. Our proposal has been sent to higher authorities in both countries. The other aim of my trip was to collect as many invertebrate animals as possible both for the Zoological Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, and for the Kabul University. This country with dry, continental climate since long has been in the focus of interest of many a zoologist, especially because it lies on the borderland of the Palaearctic Region. The investigation of the vertebrate fauna of Afghanistan was started in the last century, and excepting the fish fauna, we may safely say that in broad lines the vertebrate fauna has been explored. (See PALUDAN 1959, KULLMANN 1965, NIETHAMMER 1965, NAUMANN and NOGGE 1973, and others.) On the other hand the investigation of the invertebrate fauna on a larger scale started only 40 years ago (Deutsche Hindukush Expedition der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft 1935, PALUDAN and HAARLOV 1948). Furthermore, J. KLAPPERICH on 1952-1953, Prof. Dr. K. LINDBERG between 1957 and 1962. in four occasions collected very numerous and rather valuable material. The richest data on insects from Afghanistan are based on the latter two collectors' extensive work there. Other significant collecting activity was exerted by a number of Czechoslovakian investigators (O. JAKES 1963-1964, D. POVOLNY 1965, D. POVOLNY and Fr. TENORA 1966, J. SIMEK 1965-1966). Besides the above collectors various students, especially from Germany, spared time and toil in the exploration of the Afghan insect fauna (AMSEL et al. 1956, 1966, W. BÖCKEREL 1973, C. M. NAUMANN 1969-1973, and others, too). In spite of the above list of collectors certain groups of insects, mainly Diptera and Hymenoptera, are rather inadequately known and quite a lot is yet to bè done in the investigation of the fauna of this zoogeographically so interesting a country. Within the scope of this study I do not wish to discuss the natural conditions of Afghanistan, though I feel bound to hint at some characteristic features which directly influenced my collectings. We may almost say that Afghanistan is an overpopulated country. Her climate is so dry that without irrigation not one square metre of land may be cultivated. Consequently, the extent of cultivated areas are the function of the available quantity of water for irrigation purposes. Over the non-irrigated stretches of lands several million nomads exist with their flocks of sheep, goat and herds of camel. Goats graze over neck-breaking steep rocky mountain slopes, sheep, goats and camels are ^encountered in almost entirely dry semi-deserts with open vegetation. I have to stress that the investigation of soil inhabiting animals was somewhat hampered by the circumstance that in most cases we do not know whether a nowadays uncultivated area had been cultivated 10, 100 or 1000 years ago, or not at all. Apparently, excepting the alpine, high mountain or desert regions, all other areas suffer human influence. At the same time agriculture scarcely started using chemicals (artificial fertilizer, pesticides), therefore, the fringes of weed and the adjacent areas of irrigation canals have a very rich fauna (mainly Diptera and Hymenoptera), especially viewing it with European standards. In spite of the fact that Afghanistanis poor in forests her vegetation is quite versatile, up to now over 8000 species of plants have been ascertained (AMSEL 1957). Since I am not a botanist and have not prepared a herbarium either, I am not able to give vegetation description of my collecting localities. I arrived in Kabul eight months after the declaration of the republic following the re-