138 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



cockroach hunt suggested and improvised. This, we can assure our 

 friends, was no ordinary cockroach hunt, for these bulky and some- 

 what repulsive looking fellows, burrow to a depth of nearly 2ft. into 

 the sand, and forcibly reminded us of a wombat hunt on a small scale. 

 We were fortunate enough, after digging for our bare lives, to find 

 several of these Titanic cockroaches, which were speedily bottled up 

 for our collections. White ants seem here very plentiful and 

 doubtless greatly assist in the demolition of the native timber. As 

 we had some ten or twelve miles to return to the station, wp face 

 homeward, collecting on our way thither, some very pretty plants, 

 the most showy being a species of Cassia, C. eremophila a plant 

 which seems to thrive on dry hard soil, a species of Hakea, nearly 

 bored through by the larvte of ^some insect, and several other small 

 but interesting plants, which will be further mentioned as we proceed. 

 This, and the two following evenings, were spent very pleasantly 

 with the Messrs. Hloane, their family and visitoi s, all of whom seemed 

 to take much interest in the results of each days sport. 



The next morning we again made an early start, on this occasion 

 being accompanied by the two Messrs. Sloane, our destination being 

 Savanake, the name given to the out station, distant ab^ut 20 miles. 

 Proceeding along we came across our first Quandong tree, Santalum 

 acuminatum, which to our great delight liad a few ripe fruit on the 

 top branches, and these we were not slow in securing. We afterwards 

 saw several of the trees, but only one was in anything like good 

 bearing, but the fruit was, unfortunately for us, quite green. Tlie 

 Quandong here seems to be fast dying out, the cause being generally 

 attributed to the clearing off for the improvement of the runs for 

 sheep. The latter part of our journey lay on roads cut through the 

 tliick pine scrubs, and here were seen a number of kangaroo, some being 

 of a large size, but not having a rifle, we weie unable to secure a 

 specimen. These, to our minds at all events, graceful and pretty 

 animals, are being ruthlessly destroyed everywhere, and the time is 

 probably not far distant when it will be a rarity, more especially 

 in Victoria, to see them in their native haunts. Here we also 

 saw several nests of the Eagle-hawk, Aqiiilla audax, but, of 

 course, these were far too high up, and in altogether too 

 inaccessible places for us to attempt taking them. Small 

 plants seemed to be scarce, only a few annuals and composites 

 being seen. Arriving at Savanake, where on a pretty and 

 commanding eminence a substantial and commodious residence is in 

 course of erection, we stayed a short while for lunch, and afterwards 

 did a little botanising in the surrounding pine scrubs, collecting a 

 few orchids, amongst them being Pterostylis rufa, var. Mitchelli, 

 this being considered somewhat of a rarity here. We think it 

 worth mentioning that nearly the whole of the timber employed in 

 the construction of the house is of Murray pine, which emits a 



