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130 
“ Near this station [in the Murrumbidgee District] is a lofty table-mountain. It — 
is named Bugong Mountain, from the circumstance of multitudes of small moths, 
called Bugong by the aborigines, congregating at certain months of the year about 
masses of granite, on this and other parts of the range. The months of November, 
December and January are quite a season of festivity among the native blacks, who 
assemble from far and near to collect the Bugong: the bodies of these insects contain 
a quantity of oil, and they are sought after as luscious and fattening food. I felt very 
desirous of investigating the places where these insects were said to congregate in 
such incredible quantities, and availed myself of the earliest opportunity to do so. 
After riding over the lower ranges we arrived a short distance above the base of the 
Bugong Mountain. This was the place where, upon the smooth sides or crevices of 
the granite blocks, the Bugong moths congregated in such incredible multitudes ; but 
from the blacks having recently been here we found but few of the insects remaining. 
From the result of my observations it appears that the insects are only found in such 
multitudes on isolated and peculiar masses of granite: for what purpose they thus 
collect together is not a less curious than interesting subject of inquiry. Captain Cook 
mentions that at Thirsty Sound he found an incredible number of butterflies, so that 
for the space of three or four acres the air was crowded with them; that millions were’ 
to be seen in every direction. The Bugong is doubtless the same species as that 
observed by Captain Cook. The Bugong moths are found on the surfaces of the 
masses of granite, and to procure them with greater facility the natives make smothered 
fires underneath those rocks about which they are collected, and suffocate them with 
smoke, at the same time sweeping them off in bushels-full at a time. A circular 
space is cleared upon the ground, and on it a fire is lighted, and kept burning until 
the ground is considered to be sufficiently heated, when, the fire being removed and 
the ashes cleared away, the moths are placed thereon, and stirred about until the down 
and wings are removed from them; they are then placed on pieces of bark, and win- 
nowed to separate the dust and wings; they are then pounded into masses or cakes, 
resembling lumps of fat, and may be compared in colour and consistence to dough 
made from smutty wheat mixed with fat: the masses will not keep good above a week 
unless smoked, when they will keep a much longer period: the taste is that of a sweet 
nut.” 
The President referred to the account given by Dr. Livingstone, in his African 
travels, of midges being made into cakes. 
Mr. F. Smith said that a correspondent of his had recently inquired of him whether 
there was any truth in the statement that the soft-bodied little Atropos pulsatorium 
makes a tapping noise like that attributed to Anobium; and the same correspondent ‘ 
also expressed his doubt as to Anobium making a tapping noise. On the latter point, 
in spite of the oft-repeated and commonly received statement that the “ death-watch ” 
makes a distinct tapping against (say) an old wainscot and on the outside of it, as if 
for the purpose of notifying his presence to the female within, he (Mr. Smith) shared 
the doubt of his correspondent, and believed that the only noise made by the Anobium 
was caused by its gnawing the wood internally, and that there was no external tap- 
ping atall. He had himself met with instances in which the internal gnawing of 
wood by insects was distinctly audible, and, in particular, he mentioned the case of a 
rustic garden-seat from which proceeded a noise like many watches simultaneously | 
ticking, and which was solely caused by xylophagous insects. 
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