178 NATURAL HISTOEY SKETCHES. 



dead trees : the note resembled the setting of a saw,, 

 and we called it the carpenter-frog. I never recollect 

 seeing a toad out here ; nor did I ever notice a water- 

 newt in any of our swamps or water-holes. Leeches 

 abound in the streams and swamps : we used to catch 

 them by throwing a sheep-skin into the water, and 

 upon taking it up it was covered. We could sell them 

 for a shilling a dozen. 



I am nothing of an entomologist ; but I was surprised 

 that we saw so very few pretty butterflies out here. I 

 only knew three or four species, and these were nothing 

 extraordinary. The prettiest variety was one white, red, 

 and yellow, which flew about the gum-trees. At times, 

 a great cloud of moths, as large as small birds, would 

 invade our tent in the evening, attracted by the light ; 

 they were remarkable, however, for nothing but their 

 size. In the early summer, swarms of locusts, resem- 

 bling a handsome beetle more than the locust of Egypt, 

 settled on the gum-trees; and the whole forest w : ould 

 ring with their loud monotonous drone. Grasshoppers 

 of different species cover the ground in the dry summer 

 weather ; and thousands of mole-crickets live in holes oil 

 the plains. The most curious insect here is the praying 

 mantis, a species of grasshopper, with wings like leaves, 

 about six inches long. There is a very handsome species 

 of wasp, which used to come into our forests in the early 

 spring, and burrow into the sand. I do not believe there 

 is any native honey-bee in Australia ; but swarms of the 

 common domestic bees yearly leave their hives and fly 



