1904.] 77 



reared it from larvae collected there on Gahnin procern, a large and 

 stout " cutting-grass " allieil to Scirpus. Mr. Hudson having kindly 

 indicated the exact locality of Dodonidia hehnsi to me, I went to 

 Silverstream twice in February, when the butterfly is on the wing. 

 On both occasions I had the satisfaction (?) of seeing it, but to catch 

 it was quite another matter, for the place — a narrow, disused tram- 

 road on the side of a densely wooded and very steep gully— was very 

 impracticable, and as the butterfly kept high up among the tops of the 

 brushwood out of reach of an ordinary net, I failed to secure a single 

 specimen. Dodonidia is a very bright and attractive looking butterfly, 

 of decidedly strong flight for a Satyrid, and on the wing has somewhat 

 of the aspect of a small Vanessid. I got some very nice beetles here 

 that I had not met with at AVellington, including the fine and scarce 

 Longicorns, Leptachrous strigipennis, Westw., and the green Pseudo- 

 caUiprason marginatum, White ; a large and handsome weevil, Aga- 

 thinus sexfuherculatus, White, and many other interesting species. 



II.— AUCKLAND, &c. 



My first visit to Auckland was made in January, 1902, and lasted 

 about a fortnight; and this Port was the head-quarters of H.M.S. 

 " Ringarooraa " during the following April and May. A flying visit 

 of two days, not unproductive in an entomological sense, was made on 

 our way to Sydney in November, and we spent the first week of 

 March, li)03, there, in company with the Australian Squadron. 



Situated on the south shore of the noble Waitemata Harbour, 

 the entrance of which is guarded by the scarcely extinct volcanic 

 island of Eangitoto, Auckland presents a very beautiful aspect from 

 seaward, and occupies a site of highly diversified character, though 

 the surrounding country is of less elevation than is usual in New 

 Zealand. From the top of Mount Eden, a very perfect little extinct 

 volcano 623 feet in height, almost in the city, no fewer than sixty 

 eruptive cones, mostly of small size, may be counted in an area of a 

 few square miles, and the isthmus between W^aitemata Harbour on 

 the east, and Manukau Harbour on the west, is in large part occupied 

 by rugged lava-fields, which look as if they had cooled down only a 

 few years ago. Very little of the original " bush " is left near 

 Auckland, except a few groves of '• Karaka " {Corynocarpus Jcevigatus) 

 and "Puriri " {Vitex Jittoralis) both trees of no great size, but a few 

 noble Kauri pines still survive in some of the sequestered gullies on 

 the north shore of the harbour. 



{To be continued). 



