(6) [sii 
with them; and on their taking wing, the air appeared, 
as it were, in perfect motion. It is a new species; and 
is described by my friend, Mr. W. S. MacLeay, under 
the name of Euplea hamata.’” 
p. 269.) 
I have verified the quotation in King’s “Survey,” which 
was published in London in 1827. Cape Cleveland is in the 
present Colony of Queensland. In King’s time it was in 
New South Wales, as shown in his map. MacLeay’s deserip- 
tion is in King’s second volume, Appendix, p. 461. In the 
course of it he says, ‘‘ This insect comes so very near to the 
Euplea limniace of Godart and Cramer, which is common 
on the Coromandel Coast as well as in Java and Ceylon, that 
I can scarcely consider it as anything but a variety of that 
species.” 
(‘* Wanderings,” vol. i 
? 
From this it is clear that Captain King conjectures his 
Euplea (i.e. Tirumala) to be the same species as that observed 
by Captain Cook, which may or may not be correct. Mr. 
Bennett, however, merely adduces their accounts as illustra- 
tions of the gregarious habit among lepidoptera, and in no 
sense attempts to identify these butterflies with his Bugong. 
But in the year following the publication of the “ Wander- 
ings,’ Mr. Kirby brought out his Bridgewater Treatise. In 
it he took occasion to reproduce from Mr. Bennett’s book the 
account you have just heard, adding that “millions of these 
animals were observed also, on the coast of New Holland, 
both by Captains Cook and King.” (Kirby, Bridgewater 
Treatise, London, 1835, vol. ii, p. 351.) Referring also to 
the Bugong, he speaks of ‘‘these moths, or rather butterflies,” 
and appends a note giving their name as Luplea hamata, 
MacLeay. 
The original mistake was therefore the late Mr. Kirby’s. 
He had evidently read Mr. Bennett’s narrative, and the foot- 
note giving the experiences of Captains Cook and King. 
From this he jumped to the conclusion that all three observers 
were speaking of the same insect—a conclusion from which 
a slightly more extended study of Mr. Bennett’s work would 
have saved him. But having fallen into this error, he un- 
fortunately carried Prof. Westwood with him, and one or other 
