136 DoDD, A Collecting Trip to Herberton District^ N.Q. [ 



Vict. Nat. 

 Nov. 



cyclones is that the trees are generally torn up by the roots. 

 Fortunately, Atherton was not in the track of these storms, 

 or it would have been swept off the face of the earth. Curiously 

 enough, the othcially recorded rainfall for Atherton for October, 

 November, and December, 1908, is 141 points on 10 wet days, 81 

 points on 7 wet days, and 81 points on 3 wet days respectively, 

 or a total of 3 inches for 20 days' rain spread over three months. 

 Even if the whole three inches had fallen in one day, unless 

 preceded by much heavier rain to saturate the ground and 

 fill up all low'-lying places, it would not have affected the 

 Barron to the extent of si.x inches. Further comment on such 

 reports is needless. 



Butterflies. — Lepidoptera being the principal objects of our 

 search, I will deal with that group first. Butterflies were very 

 disappointing. Within the scrub Ornithoptera cassandra, Papilio 

 joesa, Euschemon rafflesia, Ccthosia cydippe, and other handsome 

 and well-known species occurred. I was greatly surprised at 

 finding the last-named species at the altitude of 3,500 to 3,600 

 feet. The pretty and active Pyramcis ilea, which I had not seen 

 further north than Brisbane, was taken occasionally, both 

 within and without the scrub. The new skipper, named by 

 Lower Hcspcrilla malindcva, which my son took last year, proved 

 to be both rare and local, and a dozen examples were all we 

 could secure. The blues (Lycsenidae) were all of common 

 species, and not numerous. The taking of a male of HypolyccBua 

 phorbas probably indicates that the Green Tree-Ant is in the 

 scrubs here, though we did not notice it anywhere. 



jMoths. — Hawk-moths (Sphingida?) generally were scarce ; 

 however, a freshly-emerged specimen of Cequosa aiistralasice 

 was picked off a twig. Several species of Zeuzerida?, some of 

 them found near Brisbane, were bred out. One of them proved 

 to be new, and has been named Xyleiiies methychroa by Dr. 

 Turner. Several Hepialidae were taken. Hcpialus daphrandrcs 

 was as fine as those found near Brisbane. Along the northern 

 coast it is generally small. The males of H. cyanochloi'a. 

 which wc had bred at Port Darwin and frequently in North 

 Queensland, were the handsomest 1 had yet seen. The smaller 

 species. H. Leiciiiii, which I had not previously met with in 

 the north, was larger than usual. Several tine species of Darala 

 and Teara were bred or captured, one fine Darala being rather 

 handsome, and new to me ; another, Eupterode doddi. Turner, 

 varied in a remarkable degree, much more so than the widely 

 distributed D. acuta. Some common " procession caterpillars," 

 including Teara contraria, were in hundreds just before our 

 departure. The pretty T. variegata was often taken at I'est 

 on the trunks of Casuarinas (its food plant), and young larva 

 were noticed in numbers at the end of Februarv- A handsome 



