THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 105 



appointing as none of our party knew much of the district, but 

 members of the Field Naturalists' Club are not easily discouraged, 

 and having ascertained in which direction lay the River Werribee, 

 nine of us, including the aforesaid boy, who by the way proved 

 himself one of the most active, at once made tracks in that 

 direction. Bacchus Marsh is well known as a favourite habitat 

 of the rabbit, and those of our number who were provided with 

 guns obtained a fair amount of sport. The country is very hilly, 

 and, having been long settled, is mostly cleared of timber and 

 scrub, and hence proved very unfavourable for both bird and 

 insect collectors. Insects especially were exceedingly scarce, if 

 we except a species of the Carabus family of beetles, Promeco- 

 derus, of which from three to nine specimens were obtainable 

 under almost every piece of bark lying on the ground. Finding 

 the hills so bare of life we descended to the riverside, but here 

 no better luck awaited us. There was little or no scrub except 

 Hymenanthera banksii, and from this repeated shakings into the 

 umbrella had no effect in dislodging specimens, if any there 

 existed. Usually this bush, especially on the Yarra, yields good 

 results to the collector, but here, for some reason unknown to us, 

 there was scarcely a living thing on it. The only insects worth 

 recording were a rare greyish-coloured longicorn beetle, known 

 to entomologists as Omotes eroscicollis, which was happily 

 secured from off some dry leaves, and a fine specimen of the 

 beautiful butterfly, Papilio sthenelus. This latter was captured 

 by Mr. M'Kibbon, who, having fallen behind at an early period 

 of the day, kept his own company for the remainder, and having 

 confined himself to a limited area, was rewarded by the find of 

 the day, for unquestionably his was the best and rarest specimen 

 taken, only some three or four having hitherto been recorded in 

 the colony, although it is of course more common in its first 

 known habitat, Queensland. 



The birds most numerous were Rosella Parrots, the Black and 

 White Fly Catcher, and the Fairy Martin, and there were also a 

 few Honey-eaters, Graucalus, &c, as per appended list. The Fairy 

 Martins were very plentiful, and as their nests were also in 

 numbers in the steep river banks, many of their eggs were secured, 

 as was also one very fine nest, which, but for its exceeding brittle- 

 ness rendering its removal dangerous, would no doubt be exhibited 

 here this evening. 



As other evidence of the poverty of Bacchus Marsh as a 

 collecting ground, we may mention that not a single snake was 

 seen, and even of lizards only a very few small ones were seen. 

 Botanical specimens were also very scarce, scarcely any flowers 

 being seen, and the only ones we are able to mention are Solanum 

 aviculare and Myoporum (sp.) We must not omit to record 

 that a fox was started by two of our party, one of whom wounded 



