( X ) 



and may be compared in colour and consistence to dough 

 made from smutty wheat mixed with fat. The bodies of the 

 moths are large, and filled with a yellowish oil, resembling 

 in taste a sweet nut. These masses . . . will not keep above 

 a week, and seldom even for that time ; but by smoking they 

 are able to preserve them for a much longer period. The 

 first time this diet is used by the native tribes, violent vomit- 

 ing and other debilitating effects are produced ; but after a 

 few days they become accustomed to its use, and then thrive 

 and fatten exceedingly upon it." (" Wanderings in New 

 South Wales," by George Bennett. London, 1834. Vol. i, 

 p. 270.) Mr. Bennett adds that "it is not only the native 

 blacks that resort to the ' Bugong,' but crows also congregate 

 for the same purpose." {Ibid., p. 272.) 



The foregoing extract contains several points of interest. 

 In the first place the statement that the flavour of the insects 

 resembles that of a sweet nut recalls the experience of Plateau 

 with Abraxas grossulariata, and that of Wheeler and Marshall 

 with various insects believed on good grounds to be objection- 

 able to insect-eating animals. (See Prof. Poulton in Trans. 

 Entom. Soc. Lond., 1902, pp. 405-414.) Again, the assertion 

 as to the deleterious effects of the Bugong diet is of interest 

 in relation to Prof. Poulton's suggestion regarding the rejection 

 of Acrseas by the Mantidee, as being ultimately due to their 

 unwholesome character. {Ibid., pp. 318, 319.) 



It will be observed that Mr. Bennett persistently speaks 

 of the Bugong as a moth, whereas Prof. Westwood states 

 categorically that it is a butterfly belonging to the genus 

 Eujiloea. The description of the insects " collecting in the 

 crevices of the masses of granite in incredible quantities " 

 seemed to me so unlike what was to be expected of a true 

 Euplcea, that I could not help suspecting a mistake of some 

 kind. Searching in Mr. Bennett's book for further inform- 

 ation about the insect in question, I found the following 

 description: "The largest specimen I obtained measured 

 seven-eighths of an inch with the wings closed, the length 

 of the oily body being five-eighths of an inch, and of pro- 

 portionate circumference ; the expanded wings measured one 

 inch and three-quarters across ; the colour of the wings dark 



