THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 167 



they are attended by ants — a large black and tan species — and 

 the presence of these ants at the spot mentioned is the best 

 indication of the whereabouts of the larvae and pupae. 



As showing the care with which the ants attend them, the 

 following notes by Mr. Frichot will be of interest : — Placing a 

 larva on the ground, a couple of feet from the trunk, the ants 

 quickly found it, and dragged it back to its cover at a much 

 faster rate than it could have travelled by itself. In prising off a 

 hard bit of bark a larvse was damaged and thrown aside, but 

 next day it was found in its original crevice, having been carried 

 back to the tree by the ants during the night. Note. — This 

 damaged larva, though dead when found the second day, had not 

 been devoured by the ants. Two pupae, overlooked the first 

 day, but evidently raked out with the rubbish from the foot of 

 the tree, were also found, carried back, and placed under cover. 



Data. — Pupae taken near Dimboola on 7th and 9th November, 

 1904, emerged in Gisborne on 12th November (male), 30th 

 November (female), 3rd December (male), and 4th December 

 (female). 



I hope our success in adding a new butterfly to our Victorian 

 list will lead to more interest in the butterflies of the Mallee 

 districts. Mr. D. Goudie tells me he once captured at Birchip a 

 damaged butterfly of this species, but did not record it. — 

 Geo. Lyell. Gisborne, 13th February, 1905. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE NEST AND EGGS OF THE 

 VARIED HONEY-EATER, PTILOTIS VERSICOLOR, 



Gould. 

 By Alfred J. North, C.M.Z.S., Ornithologist, Australian 



Museum, Sydney. 

 Mr. Albert F. Smith has forwarded me for examination and 

 description, a nest and set of two eggs of the Varied Honey- 

 eater taken by him on " Franklin " * Island, off the coast of 

 North-eastern Queensland, on the i6th October, 1904; also the 

 two parent birds, shot at the nest. 



The nest is an open cup-shaped structure, rather scantily formed 

 of fibrous rootlets, held together with plant-down intermingled 

 with spiders' webs and egg-bags of spiders, the inside being 

 sparingly lined with pale brown fibre, and at the bottom with 

 a small quantity of silky-white plant-down. Externally it 

 measures three inches and three-quarters in diameter by two 

 inches and a quarter in depth, the inner cup measuring three 

 inches in diameter by one inch and a half in depth. It was 

 built in a shrub, and is firmly attached by the rim on one side to 

 a thin leafy branch, two leaves also being worked on to the outer 

 portion of the opposite side, where Mr. Smith informs me it was 



* Fiankland Island in the Admiralty chart. 



