THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



busy making its nest in the verandah, I walked on until we were 

 some six or seven miles out of Gayndah but there was not a trace 

 of weed in the river. Close in to Gayndah there was a small 

 quantity but where we expected to find a good supply there was 

 none at all, owing apparently to heavy floods which in the last 

 wet season had swept down the river. Accordingly we turned 

 back and pitched our camp not far from Gayndah. It was 

 evening by the time we were settled down, and too dark to see 

 the eggs, so we lit a fire and fished. It was a lovely moonlight 

 night and the coolness was delightful after the heat of the day. 

 The river is full of fish, and we caught sand eels and mud eels,, 

 jew-fish, perch, and bream, but not a single Ceratodus — or, as they 

 call it locally, salmon. Turtles kept rising to the surface and 

 showing their black heads above the water, and every now and 

 then when we sat still we could recognize a Platypus. In the 

 morning I set to work to search over the weed. One of my boys 

 stripped and went into the river for it, whilst I sat half in and half 

 out of the water looking carefully over each piece. In the hot 

 blazing sun this was not enjoyable and after some hours' work 

 and not the slightest sign of an egg and when the small patch of 

 weed was pretty well exhausted, I sat down to think and 

 questioned my boys closely as to where there was more weed. 

 A little way on the other side of Gayndah they told me there was 

 a backwater usually full of weed. Why they had not told me of 

 this before I could not imagine, and the remarks made probably 

 conveyed this idea to them. However, we were close to the end 

 of this weed and as we had to get to some more, I sent one boy 

 into Gayndah to procure help in removing our camp, for which, 

 fortunately, I had made previous arrangements. In the afternoon 

 I finally exhausted the weed and myself with no result and for a 

 change set to work to turn over a few logs. Amongst planarians, 

 Geoplana ccerulea and variegata ; amongst earthworms, Crypto- 

 drilus purpureus ; amongst frogs, Limnodynastes tasmaniensis 

 and Hyperolia marmorata ; and amongst lizards, species of 

 Pygopus, Hinulia, and Egernia, and a small mammal, a species 

 of Antechinus, rewarded my efforts, but everything was too dry, 

 though the season was early, for anything very much in the 

 nature of worms. Along the river banks endless numbers of the 

 beautiful butterfly Danais erippus attracted my attention. It 

 was feeding on the plant (Lanthana) along with which it has been 

 introduced. In the river itself was to be seen the curious water 

 lizard Physignathus lesueurii, of which we caught a small specimen, 

 and also the frog Hyla lesueurii, whilst the Callistemon trees 

 contained plenty of a little green species of Hyla which the boys 

 used as bait for fishing and which appears to be new to science. 

 I also caught this same frog on window panes at night in Gayndah, 

 where, like a moth, it goes to the light. As the evening came 



