206 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



venomous one the spirit will scarcely affect you. 1 have heard 

 of numerous instances of life being saved by this means. The 

 symptoms of a dangerous bite are sensation of suffocation, 

 swelling of the throat, and dark, lurid and purple colour of 

 the face : if these symptoms come on with any degree of 

 severity, then apply the syringe with all possible speed. 

 Many cases of death in fifteen minutes have occurred from 

 the "death or deaf adder," and from the "red-bellied or 

 black snake" (Pseudechis porphyriacus), these being the two 

 most fatal snakes in South Australia; the former 1 have not 

 met with, but have been sprung at by Porphyriacus, in a 

 manner by no means pleasant. I also captured two other 

 species. The whole of the above can be conveniently 

 fastened on to the saddle, something in the way of refresh- 

 ment also being added. Occasionally 1 take my pole-net and 

 air-rifle. 



Lastly. By no means omit some " weed." I know of no 

 occasion when a mild smoke is so enjoyable as after six or 

 seven hours frying in the sunshine, especially if one is 

 fortunate enough to meet with a tree that casts any shade. 

 The woods consist entirely of blue and red gum trees, whose 

 foliage is miserably scanty ; the honeysuckle and blackwood 

 have good foliage, but were rare in the parts I visited. 



I made my head-quarters at Nairne, a little village thirty 

 miles from Adelaide, collecting sometimes on the ranges 

 towards Adelaide, and sometimes going forty miles in the 

 other direction towards Goolwa and the lake Alexandrina, 

 and so on along the River Onkaparinga and Murray 

 scrub. There is splendid sport for duck shooters in these 

 parts. When I first went there, being quite a " new chum," 

 my surprise can be imagined at being offered by the blacks 

 half a dozen wild-fowl in exchange for a loaf! It is a 

 splendid field for the sportsman, the whole country abounding 

 in birds, including many most gorgeous parrots. The " grass 

 parrot," and "Adelaide paroquet" or common " Rosella," 

 are, moreover, very nice eating, especially when stewed with 

 mushrooms. 



Finding the entomological features of the country did not 

 improve, I spent the last season in shooting: the skins, how- 

 ever, are perfectly useless, nearly all of them having been 

 skinned by inexperienced hands and not properly preserved, 



