THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 51 



common enough, but the animals themselves are seldom seen, even 

 by those who have lived for years in the district. In the vicmity 

 of the creeks snakes were numerous, chiefly of three deadly species 

 — viz., the Tiger Snake, Black Snake, and the Copperhead, 

 lloi^loceplialus superbics. During harvest they are a constant 

 source of danger to the men working in the paddocks, as they have 

 a favourite trick of hiding in the stooks. It is a wonder that more 

 people are not bitten by them. I heard of one man who pitched his 

 tent in a paddock full of fallen timber and overgrown with bracken. 

 In less than a fortnight he killed nine snakes in his tent. He 

 then decided to shift. 



Early one morning, whilst walking along the banks of a creek, 

 I came on a specimen of the Giant Earthworm, Megascolides 

 australis, lying dead on the grass ; it had evidently been 

 crawling about during the night, and been trodden on by the 

 stock grazing near by. It was about 2 feet in length, and as 

 thick as a man's forefinger, but probably when alive and extended 

 it would have measured nearer 3 feet. An excellent account of 

 this worm was given by Prof. Baldwin Spencer m the " Transactions 

 of the Royal Society of Victoria " some years ago. 



Wherever a bit of swampy land occurs hundreds of the erect 

 cone-shaped entrances to the burrows of the Land Crab, Enycaus 

 fossor, may be seen ; to dig one of these small crustaceans out is 

 no mean task, the burrows appearing to be almost endless. The 

 Land Planarians were numerous and of several species, some of 

 them being very prettily striped. A student of this group should 

 do well in Gippsland. Humid gullies, where the soil is deep and 

 black, and with plenty of decaying logs about, are the places to 

 look for them. 



Entomology. — In this branch my attention was chiefly 

 directed to the Coleoptera, which were both numerous and 

 interesting. In point of individual numbers, five out of our 

 sixty-eight Australian families were pre-eminent. These were, in 

 order, Scarabseidae, Elateridse, Chrysomelidse, Curculionidse, and 

 Tenebrionidae. These five groups seemed to me to constitute 

 tlie main feature of the order, though several other families were 

 abundantly represented. The most profitable localities for the 

 entomologist are to be found in that class of country which grows 

 the Stringybark and Messmate, such as that along the railway 

 skirting the northern edge of the great Koo-wee-rup Swamp. 

 Here are large areas covered with a dense growth of Leptosper- 

 mum and other shrubs, a pretty sight when in flower (in 

 November), and a perfect insects' paradise. A few remarks on 

 some of the insects noted will not, perhaps, be out of place. 



Of the Carabidae, less than a dozen species were met with, 

 which surprised me, as I had expected to find this family in 

 strong force. Very few of them were to be found under logs, 



