Boros István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 50. (Budapest 1958)

Dely, O. Gy., Gozmány, L. ; Horváth, L.: The results of the zoological collecting trip to Egypt in 1957, of the Natural History Museum, Budapest 1. Preliminary report

The Results of the Zoological Collecting Trip to Egypt in 1957, of the Natural History Museum, Budapest 1. Preliminary Report By 0. GY. DELY, L. GOZMÁNY, and L. HORVÁTH, Budapest The partial destruction during the October events in 1956 of the Natural History Museum set the exacting task for all Hungarian zoologists to restore the Zoological Department of the Museum. One of this project is to furnish the several collections with fresh material, partly by the intensive collecting of the home fauna, partly be the acquiring of animals from abroad (mainly exchange), and, if there is any possibility to do so, by the supplementing with zoological material collected during trips to foreign or overseas countries. This latter method is the one that promises the best results. By the effective backing of the government of Hungary, we began the organizing of the first official collecting trip to a foreign country of the Natural History Museum in the spring of 1957, and that too in the spirit of the already traditional Hungarian Africa explorations, to the territory of Egypt, based on the cordial cultural and economical relations between the two states. Our project was to have the members of the collecting trip exclusively from the staff of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, with the target to study and collect the faunas of Egypt in the valley of the Nile, the adjoining desert areas, and the coastline of the Red Sea. With regard to the fact that of the collections of the Zoological Department, the Ornithological, the Ichthyological, the Herpetological, and some Entomological Collections suffered the most severe damages or were utterly destroyed, we planned our trip in the autumn, as this is the period when the great bird migrations occur along the Nile valley and, at the same time, the season is still suitable for the collecting of also the other animal groups. We succeeded to carry out our plans according to our ideas as set forth above. A large part of the trip — the journey on the high seas — was made on board of sea-faring Hungarian merchant ships from Budapest to Alexandria and back, the transportation of the members of the collecting trip, their cars and equipments having been furnished free of charge. Our trip lasted for four months in the whole; we started from Budapest on the 14th August, 1957, and returned on the 14th December, 1957. We have espcially to emphasize the understanding and vigorous assistance of the Egyptian Government. The Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture attached to the collecting party of the Hungarian Natural History Museum a special group of research and other workers with the task to secure the execution of the trip, to obviate local difficulties, to generally aid and abet the