259 



striped and marked. It is a singular fact tliat tlie lij 

 has never been seen to eat. M. Yalisnieri repeatedly 

 offered these insects sugar and syrup but they could 

 not be induced to touch it, although he kept one of 

 them more than two months. The flies, both male and 

 female, seem to be inert and sleepy things, and are generally 

 to be seen on the rails and walls in the neighbourhood of 

 some flock of sheep. Both French and English writers give 

 a fearful account of the mischief which the larva effects in 

 its dark abode. Gasparian (Manuel d'Art Veterinarie, 

 p. 468) speaks of frequent convulsions, giddiness, and half 

 unconsciousness, distinguished from turn sick by the violent 

 sneezing with which it is accompanied. I have been unable 

 to find out in any of the works on the disease of sheep 

 whether the insect causes death. 



TENTATIVE LIST OF THE NAVIGATORS WHO 

 VISITED VAN DIEMEN'S LAND PEIOE TO 

 SEPTEMBEE 1803. 



By James Eoxbuegh McClymont, M.A. 

 [^Read October 13, 1884.] 



My object in reading this list of early navigators is mainly 

 to call attention to the paucity of information within our 

 reach regarding geographical discovery in Tasmania — a defect 

 which it is increasingly difficult to remedy, seeing that the 

 works which contain such information are being eagerly 

 bought up for the libraries of Europe, America, and the 

 other colonies. For this reason the list I now submit is 

 purely tentative. I trust that steps may be taken to supply 

 the deficiency and that, meanwhile, those who possess works 

 in this department of research in their private collections will 

 make the fact known. 



I choose September 1803 as a limit, partly because it is 

 the date of arrival of the first colonization party* and is 

 therefore a convenient historical landmark, partly because it 

 approximates the period at which finality in the delineation 

 of the Tasmanian coast-line was attained by the determina- 

 tion of the peninsular character of the He d'Ahel-Tasman of 

 Dentrecasteaux, and by the discovery of Geographe 



* Eusden's History/ of Australia, i. p. 336. 



