122 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



an extensive sea-view, and behind a vast extent of 

 undulating scenery such as Natal can so lavishly 

 exhibit. It is such a subtropical spot as a naturalist 

 might choose in which to happily live and cheerfully 

 die. 



Col. Bowker is now endeavouring, by cultivating the 

 old Natal plants and flowers, to prevent many of them 

 being practically relegated to oblivion, and I was par- 

 ticularly pleased to see, entangling a bushy tree, an 

 old friend of my greenhouse at home, the Jamaica 

 Passion-flower (Passiflora quadrangularis). 



Durban holds high holiday at the advent of the new 

 year, for here Scottish blood flows thick, and the old 

 days of Scotland are ne'er forgot. I could thus for some 

 days pursue none of the business for which I had visited 

 the port, and was able to pay some attention to its 

 entomological attractions. As soon as I arrived I saw 

 I was in a rich spot of insect-life, and one possessing a 

 different facies to that of the Transvaal. Around the 

 trees in the town flew a handsome moth (Egybolia 

 vaillantina\ whilst at evening, in the smoking-room at 

 the hotel facing the sea, the fine Saturniid moth Urota 

 sinope paid occasional visits attracted by the light, 

 accompanied by lamellicorn beetles of the genus 

 Adoretus, and other insects. A stroll in front of the 

 hotel before breakfast resulted in the capture of the 

 pretty longicorn beetle Rhaphidopsis zonaria, the morning 

 after my arrival, whilst butterflies swarmed over the 

 scrub that covers the back beach. 



There are three good spots for the collector in 

 Durban, and each easily approached. The first and 

 probably the best is the " Bluff," the headland at the 

 harbour mouth, and on which the lighthouse stands. 

 It is backed by an extensively wooded district, and a 

 somewhat representative collection of Natal insects 

 might be made during a season's work at the spot. The 

 second best ground is about the Berea, the high land 

 overlooking the town, where the principal residences are 

 also found ; here the entomologist should seek the site 

 of the old windmill, approached from the Toll Bar on 



