Mr. B. P. Uvarov is working out the Orthoptera, and writes that our Stick-Insect (Phasmid) is of great interest because the family is essentially a sub-tropical group and has never been recorded from any such high altitude before. We were lucky, also, in getting three more specimens of Wollaston’s curious new Grasshopper (Hypernephia everesti, Uvarov). At the same time, my old specimens from Purang have been elevated into the type of a new species of a new genus (Hyphinomos fasciata). Future visitors are earnestly requested to collect every grasshopper-like insect they meet here, for the orthopterous fauna of High Asia is wholly unexplored.
It must be remembered that we constantly passed through localities in which it was inadvisable to show even a butterfly-net. When recrossing the Pang La (17,000 feet), I lagged behind and spent a laborious hour collecting disconcertingly quick-flying, woolly-bodied flies; these and others are being worked out by Major E. E. Austen, D.S.O.
There is also a Burrowing Bee (Ammophia sp.), the most interesting insect I met. It is of a repellent ant-like aspect, of an evil black and red pattern. It flies astonishingly fast, and can only be netted by careful stalking when it lands to burrow in the sand. It is preparing a tomb for a paralysed grub in which it will lay its own egg; on hatching, the bee grub will feed on the living corpse of its entertainer. I first observed it by noticing, as I rode along the banks of the Phung Chu, tiny jets of sand being shot violently upwards from the ground, the insect itself being quite invisible. My pony, a true Tibetan, loathed the sight of a butterfly-net; I had no companion to hold him, and the pursuit of science was attended by more than the usual trials.
A series of small Moths was obtained at the Base Camp, and Norton collected more in Kharta. These are being worked out by Mr. W. H. T. Tams, but in the case of Moths, identification is a particularly lengthy and laborious business.
The Butterflies are naturally few in such an environment; nor does the constant wind make their breathless capture any easier. Captain N. D. Riley is working them out, and tells me that in general they resemble our English butterflies, with other Alpine families. On a recent visit to the Museum, I was excusing the scantiness of our collection, explaining that, as a rule, I had only been able to collect while crossing high passes. Indicating a series of small dark brown “Ringlets,” rather the worse for wear, I said that that was all I saw above 16,000 feet. “Why that,” said Riley, “is a new species of a new genus!” So may our successors seize every opportunity that offers of collecting even the least and most inconspicuous-looking insects in the endeavour to assist our research workers in adding some particle to the sum of our knowledge of nature.
Sketch-map of Mount Everest and the Rongbuk Glaciers.
From surveys by Major Wheeler, with Route and Camps of the 1922 Expedition added by Colonel Strutt.
London: Edward Arnold & Co.
The Route of the
MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION 1922
CHUMBI to MT. EVEREST
Published by Edward Arnold & Co. for the Mount Everest Committee from maps prepared by the Royal Geographical Society.
(Click on map for larger version.)