FLORA. The date-palm and sycamore are the chief trees of Egypt, but all the tropical fruits which flourish in a dry climate are found. Among these are lemons, oranges, and figs. Tamarisks and thorny acacias occur in the less dry deserts. Many species of trees have been introduced, and where they can obtain sutlieient moisture they thrive well. Clover, grains, and cotton are extensively grown in the watered region, and in the Delta -region rice and sugar cane. Tobacco might be a large crop, hut its cultivation has been prohibited since 1590. Durra, the almost extinct papyrus, and the lotus are characteristic Egyptian plants.
FAux.k. Considered with respect to its animals, Egypt is essentially a part of Europe, and not at all Ethiopian. It is, in fact, like the whole south shore of the Mediterranean, classed as a part of the Pa learetic Province. (See DISTRIBUTION OF XxixtAt.s.) Perhaps no equally extensive part of the world has witnessed so great a change in its fauna as has occurred in the lower valley of the Nile during the 0000 years that it has been the seat of historical human occupation. Origi nally, no doubt, a large area, if not the whole breadth of the eountry on both sides of the Nile, was clothed with forests. which. sustained a great variety of animals that disappeared with the destruction of the trees; and, on the other hand. some of the most eharaete•istic of the animals of modern Egypt have become so only through man's Anciently, many of the animals of the tropieal Nile followed the river down to its Delta, including the elephant and hippopotamus. Crocodiles abounded within
historic times, hut have long been absent below the cataracts of the Nile. The river still fur nishes a great variety of fish, few of which. how ever, are desirable for the table. Among, them is the strange ganoid biciiir (q.v.). Many varieties of water-fowl and wading birds, mainly the saute as. or closely related to, European forms, move with The seasons up and down the river. Birds of prey are especially frequent in Egypt, where kites abound in the towns and do an important service toward keeping them clean. In winter, hosts of familiar European birds are present. Several species of antelope, now becoming rare, such as the addax and o•yx. approach the Nile from the Sahara. The wild as is still to be seen in the remoter southern parts. Snakes are common, among them the deadly asp. The desert supports jackals and foxes (fennecs), and packs of striped hyenas haunt the caravan trails and neighborhood of rural villages. Lions are no longer to be seen except on the borders of the Sudan or in the rough mountains along the Bed Sea near Abyssinia. Leopards are somewhat more numerous. Among the domesticated ani mals is the ichneumon.