FRhopalocera from the Australian region. . 165 
this was a comparatively cool spot, I thought it would 
be a good place to rest. T. was not heard shooting, nor 
did he reply to my “‘cooeys’’; indeed, I doubt if we 
could have heard each other for any distance on account 
of my being so far below the level of the surrounding 
country. 
While I was at lunch a large and almost perfectly 
white Huplea (EH. Browni, Saly. Godm.) floated high 
over head, to and fro across the ravine, in an airy, 
graceful manner. Altogether this was a most romantic 
and beautiful spot; the lofty cliff behind, fringed at its 
summit by a variety of strange tropical trees; the 
almost perpendicular walls on each side, clothed to their 
base with thick shrubs and a multitude of creepers ; 
the ravine stretching in front of us for some hundred 
yards, where a sharp turning suddenly shuts it in; its 
centre strewn with large blocks of stone brought down 
by the mountain torrents; with tiny green patches here 
and there, their margins bright with sedgy grass, lovely 
ferns, and unknown and beautiful-leaved plants. A few 
yards from where I sat, upon a dead tree, six naked 
savages reclined on the sandy shingle in the bed of the 
stream eating the ship’s biscuit I had given them, 
smoking their pipes, and rapidly chattermg their un- 
couth language. 
After lunch and half an hour’s rest I thought it was 
time to be off again, and, as there was no possibility of 
climbing up the cliff, we had to retrace our steps down 
the ravine. When we reached the spot where we entered 
it in the morning we passed on and continued our way 
towards the sea. A few Huplea Treitschkei, Boisd., 
E. pumila, Butl., Cyrestis fratercula, Salv. Godm., and 
some Lycenide and Hesperide went to swell the contents 
of the collecting-box, but so far no Ornithoptera had 
been seen. In a short time we came to the end of the 
ravine, into some open grassy land, which ran down to 
the water’s edge, the forest trending gently away to the 
right and left. We had barely entered this likely- 
looking locality when there was a sudden shout from the 
natives behind me, one or two who could speak a little 
broken English exclaiming ‘“‘ Here big one,‘ ‘‘ Here big 
fellow.” JI turned round at once and looked up into the 
trees, but could see nothing: the natives redoubled their 
shouts, and I kept turning round and round and looking 
