ENTOMOLOGICAL VISIT TO NORTH QUEENSLAND AND NATAL. 29 



few hours I was there were very disappointing. Several species 

 of Catopsilia were very abundant, but most difficult to catch. 

 Eurycus cressida was fairly numerous, as also was Hypolimnas 

 missippus, the males far exceeding the females. The females 

 seemed much slower in their flight, and had a habit of settling 

 in the long grass, which made them easier to catch when found, 

 but more difficult to discover unless trodden up. Acraa andro- 

 macha and Danais petilia were fairly common, whilst I noticed 

 single examples of Hypolimnas holina and Junonia albicincta. 



At Townsville I transhipped into the little coastal steamer 

 ' Lass o' Gowie ' for Cairns. She was very small and slow, and 

 had very little shelter from the sun and rain, whilst she carried 

 far more passengers than she had cabin accommodation for. As 

 a result most of us had to sleep on deck. It was a night I shall 

 not easily forget — men, women and children. Chinamen and 

 whites, all huddled up together, whilst forward were crowds of 

 cane-cutters, black, white, and yellow ; and when towards mid- 

 night a tropical deluge descended our misery was complete. 

 Cairns was reached on Sunday the 6th, and in the afternoon I 

 went out after insects. The heat was intense, it being just 

 before the rains ; but everything was new. On a dead tree on 

 the sea-front I found many pretty little red and white striped 

 Brenthids. At a spot where a marsh ran through the_ bush 

 butterflies were fairly numerous. Here I took many specimens 

 of that lovely Lycaenid, Arhopala amytis. 



The next four days were spent in the dense scrub lying be- 

 tween Cairns and the Barron River. Mosquitoes were very trouble- 

 some wherever there was any stagnant water, but at Freshwater, 

 where there is a pretty little running stream, they gave no 

 trouble. Here the magnificent Papilio idysses was quite com- 

 mon, and on one day I took fourteen perfect examples. It is a 

 grand sight to see this insect, a mass of black as it descends to 

 the decoy from the tops of the highest trees, then suddenly 

 turning and flashing all its dazzling blue in the sun, and after 

 hovering for a moment returning whence it came. That grand 

 butterfly Ornithoptera cassandra was to be seen constantly, lazily 

 flopping in and out of the shady scrub. This butterfly has a 

 habit of flying in the rain, and is generally to be seen at dusk, 

 looking almost like a bird, and long after all other butterflies 

 have retired for the night. Another beautiful insect in these 

 low-lying scrubs was Cethosia cydippe, which is one of the most 

 conspicuous butterflies I know, but this was far less common 

 than the former insects. Doleschallia australis was very com- 

 mon, but difficult to get in good condition. The resemblance of 

 the under side of this insect to a dead leaf is almost equal to the 

 well-known Kallima inachis. D. australis has a habit of fre- 

 quently settling amongst the dead leaves and twigs which cover 

 the ground, but it also very often settles on leaves high up on the 



