Miscellaneous, 347 



of congregation is most extraordinary. I am fortunate enough to 

 have known two of these places of assembly — one on a small island 

 in Moreton Bay, covered with dense scrub or jungle ; another in the 

 scrub, close to my former residence, about forty miles inland from 

 the Bay. In the latter spot the scrub consists of the usual under- 

 growth of smaller trees, mixed with bush ropes, or lianes, and over- 

 topped by enormous Moreton Bay pine-trees {Araucaria Cunning- 

 hami). On the nearly horizontal branches of the pines, as well as 

 on the lower trees around, the flying foxes hang in vast numbers. I 

 can never forget my astonishment as I approached this spot for the 

 first time, being taken to it for the purpose of shooting some of the 

 animals for the natives. The space occupied by the flight was, as 

 near as I could judge, about 400 or 500 yards square, and in this, 

 every tree was more or less loaded with them, all hanging with their 

 heads downwards, and uttering a sound difficult to describe, but 

 not unlike that of young rooks when crying for food. All that were 

 not snarling and fighting for places, were steadily fanning themselves 

 with their wings half extended as they hung. On our approach, 

 most of those nearest to us took to flight, only to alight again on the 

 next tree, or to wheel round and round in the air above the spot. 

 On my firing a shot, the din increased, and continued to such an ex- 

 tent, that after I had shot what the blacks required, I was glad to 

 get away from it. Many had young ones clinging to them, and 

 suckling at the breast. This flight met in the same spot for several 

 days, and then disappeared. The flesh of the flying fox is like that 

 of a rabbit in appearance, but is strongly flavoured by the food on 

 which the animal feeds. 



On the coast of Moreton Bay the natives live principally on fish, 

 and the arrival of the flying foxes on the little island of St. Helena 

 is hailed by them as a change of diet. The flights only appear in 

 the warmer months of the year, even in lat. 26°, and most likely 

 migrate into the tropical latitudes during the colder months, like 

 many of our Australian birds. 



At Moreton Bay there is no difficulty in procuring any number of 

 young flying foxes, as the island on which they congregate is close 

 to the anchorage for ships. — Proc. Zool. Soc. July 22, 1856. 



On the Metamorphoses ©/"Trachys pygmsea. By M. Leprieur. 



Most of the known larvse of the Buprestidcsy the family of Beetles 

 to which Trachys pygmcea belongs, live in the interior of the trunks of 

 trees, feeding on the woody tissue. Those of the present species 

 were discovered between the two laminae of the epidermis of the 

 leaves of some INIalvaceous plants ; they devoured the parenchyma, 

 leaving the epidermis untouched, in the same way as the Lepidopte- 

 rous and Dipterous leaf-miners. In this way they form a sort of 

 dwelling resembling an inflated vesicle, in which they undergo their 

 transformations. 



Amongst the numerous researches made by Reaumur into the 

 history of many of the leaf-mining larvee, some refer to Coleopterous 



