196 THE “ LABIA BARBATA.”

on the Black Sea. I have noticed nearly 800 plants
about Byzantium. . . . I often go upon the
Bosphorus, while the dolphins play around me.
Gulls here are so tame that they sit upon the roofs
of houses like pigeons. The Procellaria puffinus
is constantly flying up and down the canal; they
call them here by the emphatic name of ‘ souls of
the damned.’ While I was reading in the palace
garden the other day, a vulture, Percnopterus,
perched in the tree hanging over my head, and I
could not resist, not having the fear of the Egyp-
tians before my eyes, shooting it. The summer
has been very hot and dry; there are few insects
at present, except scorpions, mosquitoes, bugs, and
others, happy accompaniments of this happy cli-
mate. ‘he chase of the entomologist was almost
over about a month since. Ihad finesport. I write
in good health and spirits, for yesterday my friend
arrived, and to-day my baggage, having run ‘ per
varios casus, et tot discrimina rerum. Hawkins is
in high preservation ; his appearance differs only
from having the labia barbata—huge moustaches,
which he is nursing for a Syrian and Egyptian tour.
We are going together into Thessaly, Attica, and
the Peleponnesus, and shall winter at Zante.”

In pursuance of this plan, they visited various
parts of Asia Minor, and on the 15th October
arrived at Athens, from whence Dr Sibthorp wrote