The Wilderness 



procession to feed on the thick fleshy leaves of the mistletoe which 



grows so lavishly throughout the wilderness. Later they wander down 



from the mistletoe clumps and enter the nests of the stodgy brown 



sugar-ants to pupate. It is strange to think that these gay, blue 



creatures rise from among such 



queer bed-fellows to flutter round 



my garden flowers. For in time 



all the full-fledged butterflies leave 



the denseness of the wilderness to 



hover over my beds of zinnias and 



larkspurs, outshining the brightest 



blossoms. Most gorgeous, I think, 



are the vivid turquoise blue and 



black ones called Papilio, which 



attract me by their name as much 



as by their beauty. Very lovely, 



also, are the big brown butterflies 



with the eyes on their wings, while 



there is a distinct fascination about the little " skippers " which vary 



in shade from cream to brown, and which are known by their different 



flight. 



The man who made the wilderness garden must have had a true 

 Australian love, for even in the cultivated beds he planted native 

 things. Along the upper fence he put a row of silver wattles ; most 

 of them are long since dead, and their bare branches serve as supports 

 for the wandering tecoma and the red-berried solanum. But their 

 children are scattered throughout the wilderness, making a silver-grey 

 mist, which in spring gives way to a golden blaze. They are in every 



The vivid turquoise 

 blue and black Papilio 



