THK VICTOKIAN NATUKALIST. 



With the dawn of day, the bkie butterflies were on the wing. The 

 Lyrcpim phoebe and varieties of the Lyccena Boeticus were nnnierons. 

 Both species occur in Melbourne, and doubtless in Australia 

 generally. I also found them in Fiji. What appear to be varieties 

 of Boeticus are very many and distinct. Wild flowers were in 

 profusion. The Verhena Bonorienses. a cottage garden favourite, 

 was in full bloom. Lippia nodiflora edged damp places. Scoparia 

 (lulcis, Convolvulus pai'vi flora , (j i/athula geniculata and many others, 

 told that we were coming to the trop:cs. in the gardens were many 

 very gay flowers. In the cultivated groves many fragrant, aromatic 

 shrubs and palms. Varieties of Cotton plant s, beautiful Leguminosa^, 

 but most enchanting of all was a large Ipomcea . It was some four 

 inches in diameter, and of a most delicate sky-blue. It was a 

 beautiful flower. These flowers attracted several butterflies. Three 

 or four species of white (PierisJ were very active, Danais, large and 

 small, lazily played, until pursued, when they became fleet of wing 

 and instinctively cunning. Small sulphur yellow Terias flitted 

 jimong the scrubby grass. Gaxidy mazarine blues winged their way 

 among the high foliage. A beautiful hlxie Papilio was not in season. 

 It is peculiar to New Caledonia. Another species is peculiar to 

 Fiji, and another still to Samoa. I took a few specimens of the 

 Acnxa Andromache, a semi-transparent lace-like butterfly. The 

 species is found in Australia, as far south as Sydney. I also took 

 it in Fiji. The Deilephila pulchella, Crimson speckled Footman, a 

 moth found at Melbourne, throughout Australia, in Japan, Southern 

 Europe, and in England, was very conmion. I also found it in 

 Fiji. At light at night, I caught the Oleander Hawk Moth, also a 

 rare English type, but vrith the same wide range. I also secured 

 four specimens of a most delicate small emerald moth, the wings 

 bordered with dark red. In the woods, I found the Melaleuca 

 leucodendron . It has a white, paper-like bark, and is probably the 

 last type of Australian gums to the Eastward. They extend much 

 further North, many species being found in the South of New 

 Guinea. I also noticed many types of Australian shells, Cardiums, 

 Pectens, Pectunculus, &c., interspersed among Cones, Cowries and 

 others purely tropical. Thus the zone of Australian types would 

 appear to extend to New Caledonia on the East, and to South New 

 Guinea on the North. The species, as giving a distinctive type 

 feature, do not extend to Fiji. The Acacia Farnesiana has golden 

 tassels or heads of flowers, reminding one of a species so common 

 around Melbourne in the Spring. The sensitive plant, Mimosa 

 pudica , was very rank. It cannot be mistaken. As rapidly as you 

 touch its leaves, they curl up as if dried and ^it.hered, in a short 

 time they again unfold before the morning sun. In Fiji, where it 

 is said to have been introduced, it destroys the grass and herbage 

 with which it comes into contact. The Lantana i s committing even 

 worse ravages about Noumea. It is also said to' be an introduced 



