Boros István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 52. (Budapest 1960)

Gozmány, L.: The results of the zoological collecting trip to Egypt in 1957, of the Natural History Museum, Budapest. 8. Egyptian Microlepidoptera II.

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Tomus 52. PARS ZOÜLOGICA 1960. The Results of the Zoological Collecting Trip to Egypt in 1957, of the Natural History Museum, Budapest. 8. Egyptian Microlepidoptera II. By L. A. GOZMÁNY, Budapest As outlined in the joint preliminary paper of Ü e 1 y, Gozmány, et Horváth (The Results of the Zoological Collecting Trip to Egypt in 1957, of the Natural History Museum, Budapest, Ann. Hist-nat. Mus. Nat. Hung. s. n. IX, torn. 50, 1958, p. 131—133), the"zoological collecting trip of the ahove authors to Egypt had the main objective to gather as many animal specimens from Northern Africa as possible, to partially replace the almost wholly annihilated African collections in the fall of 1956 of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. They had therefore the rather formidable task to collect during their journey whatever they could, from birds to worms, — the limitations being set only by the available storage place and the time factor involved in the necessary partial preparation of the material. The collectings therefore had a strong flavor of the zoological huntings of old-time expeditions, a process (though the only possible one from the point of view of our project) now long since outmoded by the work of the specialist who pinpoints his activities to gather only the specimens of his group. Thus it came about that the present author (the entomologist of the staff) was responsible for the capturing of insects. Let us bear this fact therefore in mind, if we regard the amount of collected Microlepidoptera (as set out below) as lower than what might be expected. The micro-moths represent but a fraction of the insect quarry. As regards the history, the itinerary, the whole collected material, and the time at the disposal of the expedition, I refer the reader to our preliminary report (1. c). As a recapitulation, it will suffice to mention that the trip (in Egypt) lasted from 3 September till 29 November 1957, during which time we were able to collect in the field from 7 October till 7 November, on our zigzagging way across the region. During this one month period, we crossed the Fayum District (staying for about a week in the Oasis Kom Osim), then followed the Nile upstream to Assuan, and, turning on our tracks back to Idfu, we set out across the Arabian Desert to the Red Sea, and travelled northwards to Suez and Cairo. When in the Capital, we could do but occasional collectintis in its vicinity. From the point of view oflepidopterology, other considerations are more worthy of mention. For instance, the late autumnal period, though inferring a relative scarcity of insect life, yielded interesting informations, among others, on generation problems. Not a few of the micros collected were known up to now from springtime imagos only, captured at the season when the desert "blooms" and collectors venture afield. And what of the late fall and winter? Those who have not yet seen the autumnal barrenness of the desert, where an occasional desiccated stalk of a thorny plant or a solitary greyish-brown and dusty Tamarix shrub is a welcome sight, or the utterly vcgctationless, forbidding, almost lunar aspect of the black coastline hills along the Red Sea and the mountains of the Eastern Desert, they simply cannot imagine their lifelessness. There is always some light breeze, turning occasionally into sandy gusts of wind when the night sets in, in the oases and among the hills, — so that the collecting sheet of the light trap collapses. This is also the time in the desert, when the dry- nocturnal cold takes over. Accordingly, the flight of the insects lasts from sundown (about 7 p. m. in this season) till 9 p. m. only. And yet, the most interesting forms (rare and also new species) were caught in circumstances like this, in the late fall in oases and along the barren coast of the Red Sea !