1904.] 149 



ANTIPODEAN FIELD NOTES. 



II.— A YEAR'S INSECT IIUNTINa IN NEW ZEALAND. 



BY JAMES J. WALKER, R.X., F.L.S. 



(Concluded from page 12^). 



VI.— WEST PORT, &c. 



It was my good fortune to bo stMit on duty to Westport on two 

 occasions, in November, and December, 1901. Besides introducing 

 me to a new and highly productive localily these two trips enabled 

 me to see something of the celebrated mountain scenery of the South 

 Island, 'ihe first journey across country was performed in very 

 indifterent weather, and as I was then unable to do any collecting on 

 the way, I defer the description of the route to the narrative of my 

 second visit to Westport. 



On my arrival at this thriving little town, the headquarters of 

 the coal industry of New Zealand, on the evening of November 14th, 

 I found myself in a flat and well-timbered country, rather swampy in 

 places, and only partially cleared by the usual rough and ready 

 methods. The Buller River is here improved into a fine artificial 

 harbour, by far the best on the west coast of the Islands ; and on 

 either side of its mouth a beautiful white sandy beach, in parts 

 sufliciently auriferous to repay washing, extends north and south for 

 several miles. On my first visit to Westport this beach was my only 

 collecting-ground, as the " bush " was impracticable, from the almost 

 continuous downpour of rain which prevailed during the first five 

 days. 



On the few occasions between the showers when I was able to 

 get on to the beach, I met with some very interesting beetles, chiefly 

 under the innumerable logs and pieces of driftwood at and above 

 high-water mark. Cqfius, Lagriolda, Phycosecis, Pacliylopus lepidulus, 

 and a very pale form of Chctrodes (? unicolor, Sharp) were all abundant, 

 and under the larger logs were Mitophyllus parryanus, White, and a 

 smaller undescribed species of the genus {M. comognathus, Broun) 

 sparingly, with numbers of a species of the Heteromerous genus 

 Sessinia, so pallid in colour and soft in consistence that at first I 

 thought that they were all immature. Fhycochus graniceps, Br., was 

 abundant under the more deeply imbedded logs just above the usual 

 high-tide mark, apparently leading an entirely subterranean life ; 

 indeed, 1 doubt whether it ever comes to the surface at all. In the 

 same situation I frequently found the broken remains, and occasion- 

 ally a living specimen, of Brullcea antarctica, Cast., one of the finest 



