Xovember, 1891.1 281 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES FROM PORT DARWIN, &c. 



(Continued). 

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



I have just returiicd from a little trip " up country," otherwise 

 I should not have a great deal to record. The weather here, though 

 still brilliant!}^ fine, is now getting A^ery hot, and the place is utterly 

 parched up, though curiously enough, a few species of Coleoptera are 

 putting in an appearance for the first time. Lepidopfera are nowhere 

 now, though yesterday I got a good addition to the local list of but- 

 terflies (Charaxes Sempronius) on board the ship ! 



We left Port Darwin for our survey work on July 3rd, arriving 

 at Baudin Island, our head quarters in those parts, on the evening of 

 the 5th, where we found our tide-watching party all well, and un- 

 molested by natives. On the 7th we moved to " Low Rocks," in 

 Admiralty Gulf, where we remained until the 16th, making magnetic 

 and other observations ; I landed only once for a few hours, and got 

 but one moth, singularly like Zeuzera cescuJi (of this species I have 

 since found the larvae feeding in the large wood}" roots of a species of 

 bean which grows on sandy shores). From the 16th to 19th sounding 

 and surveying between Baudin and Troughton Islands, anchoring off 

 the former Island until the 24th. I landed several times, and got a 

 few nice insects and land shells, taking advantage of a lot of big stones 

 being raised out of the ground on the summit to build a cairn ; here 

 I took two or three nice species of Jleteromera, allied to Helops 

 (mostly deep blue in colour), a curious flat, broad Elater of small 

 size (not rare), a IIa7yalus-i\img under dead leaves, &c. A fine shark, 

 9 feet long, was caught (and eaten) on the 19th ; his back bone, laid to 

 bleach on the sand above high-water mark, promptly attracted nume- 

 rous examples of a beautiful blue Saprinus, of a Dermestes, like our 

 D. tessellatus, and Corynetes violaceus, which latter beetle appears to 

 be all over the world. A very fine Bosfrichus, quite an inch long, was 

 brought me from the neighbouring Condillac Island. Of butterflies 

 there were but few, with the exception of a fine Pieris (I think a form 

 of P. Teutonia), which was common and in good condition ; I also 

 found the larva feeding on Gapparis, and bred a nice series. 



On the 25th we moved down to Bigge Island, and cruised about 

 there until the 29th, when we began to make our way back to Port 

 Darwin ; on that afternoon I was landed on one of the Montalivet 

 Islands, of similar character to Baudin, but more rugged and rocky, 

 where I got a few^ land shells but very little else, although there was 



DD 



