THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 207 



the necessary chemicals being very difficult to obtain so far 

 out in the country. 



With my live birds I was also unfortunate, having lost over 

 a hundred fine parrots, and some wild cats, &c., since I left 

 the bush. On the whole, therefore, my visit to Australia has 

 been a failure, as far as Natural History is concerned. My 

 principal object in going there was on account of health, 

 which, in some respects has improved, though the exhausting 

 heat has debilitated it in many others. 



At the Cape of Good Hope we found a few dingy butter- 

 flies, including our constant friend V. Cardui ; also one female 

 C. Edusa of very small size, and shot with a fine rich purple 

 tinge. 



The spiders in Australia are very large and savage: they 

 are called by everyone Tarantulas, — at least they mean 

 Tarantulas. " Triantelopes" is the general pronunciation, 

 which everybody, from a ploughboy to a "J. P.," will persist 

 in giving the word ! 



My entomological operations were considerably interfered 

 with, by an accident sustained through my horse swerving 

 and pitching me against a gum-tree while galloping through 

 some bush ; consequently, the fact of having one's arm in a 

 sling for six weeks with a broken finger did not facilitate 

 collecting. This, fortunately, occurred during the wet season ; 

 but it has been a great inconvenience to me ever since. 



Most of our readers have, doubtless, read the accounts of 

 the swarms of small locusts which swept over a large part of 

 South Australia, devastating the country and crops to a 

 frightful extent: in fact, devouring all vegetables wherever 

 they went; orange groves, vines, fruit-trees, &c., all falling a 

 prey to their voracious appetite. For the information of those 

 who have not read the details of this pestilence, I may just 

 say it is, fortunately, only the second time the colony has 

 been similarly visited. The sun was frequently totally hidden 

 by the denseness of the swarm, which was considered to be 

 half a mile in depth. A clever calculator estimated that 

 upwards of eight tons passed hourly. 



I cannot close this rambling affair without publicly thank- 

 ing several gentlemen for their willing and valuable assistance 

 to me in collecting. First of all I must mention F. G. Water- 

 house, Esq., C.M.Z.S., Curator of the Adelaide Museum and 



