'^'Y-'l Kershaw, A Naturalist in Northern Queensland. 163 



many species of moths, dragon-flies, cicadas, diptera, and other 

 insects along the margin of the scrnbs. On the tree-trunks 

 were captured several species of Cicindelids — remarkably quick- 

 running beetles, which darted round and round the tree-trunks 

 so quickly as to puzzle one. The largest of these was Tricondyla 

 aptera, Oliv., a species not uncommon in New Guinea. 



The great Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa bryorum, widely dis- 

 tributed throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory, 

 was commonly met with. It is about one inch in length, the 

 thorax clothed with golden-yellow hairs. It breeds both in 

 the trunks of the larger trees in the forest and in small saplings 

 in the scrub. A circular hole is bored into the wood and con- 

 tinued downwards ioc aboiit four inches. This round chamber 

 is divided off into a row of cells, in each of which is deposited 

 a small ball of sweet-tasting bee-bread, together with an egg. 

 The larva, on hatching, feeds on the bee-bread, and finally 

 changes into the pupa and then the perfect insect within the 

 cell. Several which were opened contained not only the 

 perfect insects, but the pupae and larvae. Another bee, 

 a very small species, belonging to the genus Trigona, makes 

 its home in small cavities in the bases of the trunks of large 

 eucalypts or in logs, and the combs are known to the blacks as 

 " honey-bags." The irregular, dark brown combs contain, 

 usually, about a pint of dark-coloured honey, which is greatly 

 relished by the blacks. A hive discovered in a log was opened 

 up, and found to contain a good quantity of honey, which our 

 l)lackboys scooped out in handfuls, filling their mouths with 

 a dirty, sticky mass of comb, honey, and bees. Some of this 

 honey was carefully extracted and taken to our camp. It has 

 a peculiar, rather acid flavour, which, in the absence of nothing 

 better, might be appreciated. 



The scrub was simply alive with birds, one of the most 

 numerous being the Nutmeg-Pigeon, their continuous, 

 monotonous cooing while feeding high up in the topmost boughs 

 of the great fig-trees being a common feature of the scrub. 

 Other pigeons met with include the Purple-crowned Fruit- 

 Pigeon. Lamprotreron siiperba, the Rose-crowned Fruit-Pigeon, 

 Ptilinopus civingi, the Allied Fruit-Pigeon, Megaloprepia 

 assimilis, the Little Green Pigeon, Chalcophaps chrysochlora, 

 the Barred-shouldered Dove, Geopelia humeralis, the Little 

 Ground-Dove, Geopelia tranquilla, and the Pheasant-tailed 

 Pigeon, Macropygia phasianella. Throughout our stay in this 

 country our meals were, to some extent, composed of these 

 birds, varied with Scrub-fowl, Scrub-Turkey, Cassowary, Pied 

 Goose, &c., all of which proved good eating, and, with our 

 damper, were always relished after our long rambles. Rifle- 

 birds, Ptilorhis alherti, were fairly numerous, but difficult to 



