82 THE VICTOKIAN NATURALIST. 



dry shelter, for, as a general rule, this family prefers moist spots. 

 Logs, of which we turned over a goodly number, yielded very 

 little, the ground being much too dry, and all we secured from 

 this source were a few specimens of Promecoderus, very similar to 

 the P. hrunnicornis, common around Melbourne, and two species 

 of Notonomus. Of butterflies we saw but one species, Pyrameis 

 kershaivi, and of Hymenoptera practically none. 



Arriving at Lake Albacutya we partook of our frugal lunch and 

 resumed collecting, but ill success still attended our labours, there 

 being really no insects under the bark of the large trees surrounding 

 the lake, nor on the leaves, which received a vigorous shaking 

 into our umbrellas. That portion of our statement, however, as 

 regards under the bark requires a little qualification, for we must 

 make an exception in favour of spiders, of which there were 

 thousands, principally Tarantulas. Some of these were the largest 

 we had ever seen, and we secured two or three, hoping they would 

 live until our return home, so that they might be exhibited at one 

 of our meetings and afterwards presented to our fellow-member, 

 Mr. Frost, but, unfortunately, they did not long survive their 

 confinement in a tin box. Plants were fairly abundant, amongst 

 those noted being Lavatera plebfja, one of the marsh mallows, 

 with pretty light-blue flowers ; Pittosporum phillyroides, having 

 cream-coloured drooping flowers — this latter was very plentiful 

 around the lake. We also collected some of the beautiful grass 

 Eragrostis falcata. About half-way to the lake there was quite a 

 small forest of one of the tobacco trees, Nicotiana glauca, with 

 its yellow flowers, and which, so we were told, had been originally 

 introduced and planted there in the expectation that the leaves 

 would prove useful for sheep-washing purposes, but we believe it 

 turned out a failure ; at all events we could not learn of its ever 

 being now used. The lake itself, though of large size, being 

 several miles in length and breadth, is far from cheerful-looking, 

 the water being something of a dirty-white colour and brackish in 

 taste, and consequently undrinkable. Moreover, it is shallow, 

 and, so we were informed, likely to be dried up before the end of 

 the summer ; but we think this is rather improbable, owing to the 

 fair quantity of rain that has fallen since our visit. What, how- 

 ever, made the lake seem to us so very cheerless and desolate was 

 the entire absence of water birds ; not one did we see, not even a 

 common cormorant. Later on, whilst in Stawell, we were told 

 by a former resident of Dimboola that a few years back he used 

 frequently to drive to the lake for wild ducks, ot which there were 

 then plenty, but, judging from our experience, we fancy he would 

 find it difficult to get any now. Of snakes we did not drop 

 across a single specimen during our stay in the mallee, but of the 

 Blue-tongued Lizard, Truchijdosnvrvs rngosus, we saw a large 

 number — at least thirty to forty — and doubtless could have seen 



