1904.] 153 



pieces from the ravages of our familiar Anohium domesticum, Foure., 

 assisted by two or three of the native Cossonids, and any number of 

 these beetles could be picked off the wooden walls. 



Kesuraing my journey by coach on the morning of the 30th, the 

 first twenty miles lay through a wide and hideous belt of burnt and 

 ruined forest on either side of the road. Under the dead trees the 

 common bramble {Bubus fruticosus) formed a continuous tangled 

 brake often ten feet high, and far more difficult to eradicate than the 

 original undergrowth. Then for twenty miles more the road passed 

 through the magnificent gorge of the Bullcr Hiver, which is I think 

 even grander than the Otira Gorge, though the mountains here do 

 not exceed -iSOO feet in height, and are covered with forest to their 

 summits. At this time the crimson Rata {Metrosideros robusta) was 

 in full blossom, and I have seen few if any finer sights than that of a 

 forest tree as large as a well-grown English oak, with its foliage 

 almost hidden by the profusion of its many-stamened deep crimson 

 flowers. In many ways the general character of the scenery at the 

 Buller Gorge, as well as the aspect of the forest-growth, which largely 

 consists of two or three species of Fagus, recalled to my mind the 

 half- forgotten memories of the wild shores of the Western Patagonian 

 channels. 



My stay at Westport from December 3 1st to January 4th did 

 not produce as many insects as my former visit; the weather w^as 

 now^ fine and dry, and the beach being in but poor condition for 

 working, I confined my attention to the " bush " close to the town. 

 Here I found a few nice Longicorus, including Didymacantha robusta, 

 Br., previously taken only singly at Bealey ; a fine Elater, Geranus 

 fulvus, .^harp, rai'ely, and a handsome grey weevil, Aldonus hylobioides, 

 White, in some numbers under loose bark. Two specimens of the 

 fine Mecodema ducale. Sharp, were taken under logs, and the robust 

 Prionid, Prionoplus reticularis, White, was common in the town at 

 light, and any number of smashed specimens could be seen on the 

 pavements in the morning ; and its fat white larva, which, under the 

 name of " lluhu," is esteemed a great delicacy by the Maoris, was 

 abundant, here as elsewhere, in decayed logs, preferring those of 

 Coniferous wood. 



From Westport I proceeded by sea to Wellington, and thence 

 partly overland to rejoin my ship at Auckland ; this journey gave me 

 the only view I enjoyed of the noble isolated volcanic cone of Mount 

 Egmont (8270 feet) one of the most perfectly beautiful mountains 

 I have ever seen. 



