IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 213 



dible numbers ; but from the blacks having recently been here, we 



found but few of the insects remaining At last, we 



arrived at another peculiar group of granite rocks, in enormous 

 masses, and of various forms ; this place, similar to the last, formed 

 the locality where the Bugong moths congregate, and is called 

 Warragong by the natives. The remains of recent fires apprised 

 us that the aborigines had only recently left this place for another of 



similar character a few miles further distant From the 



result of my observations, it appears that the insects are only found in 

 such multitudes on these insulated and peculiar masses of granite ; for 

 about the other solitary granite rocks, so profusely scattered over the 

 range, I did not observe a single moth, or even the remains of one. 

 Why they should be confined only to these particular places, or for 

 what purpose they thus collect together, is not a less curious than 

 interesting subject of inquiry. Whether it be for the purpose of 

 emigrating, or for any other particular cause, our present knowledge 

 cannot satisfactorily answer. — Vol. I. p. 269. 



This scarcely seems to us a subject for deep speculation : 

 the eggs of Lepidopterous insects are deposited by thousands in 

 one spot ; the larvae of many are gregarious ; the pupae change, 

 and the moths appear in company. They probably select the 

 granite, as affording a commodious footing, an exposure to 

 the sun, a refuge from the sun, or a shelter from the wind or 

 rain. Perhaps resembling the granite in colour, the similarity 

 hides them from insectivorous birds ; perhaps the smooth and 

 perpendicular sides of the granite present an obstacle to insec- 

 tivorous quadrupeds, which would otherwise devour them. 

 We have no occasion to suppose that emigration, or any other 

 unusual economy, is the object of their immense congregations; 

 let us rather refer it to the simple operation of that heaven-born 

 instinct which tends to the preservation of the unwitting object 

 of its care, in every, even the most simple, propensity which it 

 displays. 



To procure them with greater facility, the natives make smothered 

 fires underneath those rocks about which they are collected, and 

 suflfocate them with smoke, at the same time sweeping them off 

 frequently in bushelfulls at a time. After they have collected 

 a large quantity, they proceed to prepare them, which is done in the 

 following manner : — A circular space is cleared upon the ground, of 

 a size proportioned to the number of insects to be prepared ; on it a 

 fire is lighted, and kept burning, until the ground is considered to 



