THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 125 



have Portland and Hamilton. In the south region, from the 

 sources of watercourses in the south to the vicinity of Cape Otway 

 and to Port Phillip and the western boundary of Gippsland, Mel- 

 bourne district, Geelong, Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh, Myrniong. In 

 the north-east region, from the sources of the watercourses of the 

 north-east to the Hume River, including the whole of the Vic- 

 torian Alps, Marlow, Cunninghame, or Lakes Entrance, Bruthen, 

 Bairnsdale, Sale. With regard to this district, I may point out, 

 in passing, that the Lakes Entrance is worthy of note from its 

 value as a health resort, the climate being of a sub-tropical nature, 

 unlike any other coast town of Victoria. The eastern region 

 comprises Gippsland (exclusive of the Alps), Omeo, Bright, Beech- 

 worth. 



INSECT PESTS. 



A careful and systematic inquiry into the food-plants of the 

 larvae of different genera of butterflies and moths is desirable, and 

 it will probably be found that each genus, although able to sur- 

 vive on many different kinds of plants, is identified with certain 

 natural orders — i.e., Pieris with Cruciferas, Argynnis with Violacege, 

 Vanessa with Urticacese, or with orders which stand nearest to 

 them. The key of this line of investigation will probably be 

 found in the relation which the mature insects bear to the colour, 

 shape, and other characters of the flower, &c., of the plants and 

 trees on which their larvse feed, as they are generally found in 

 the neighbourhood of such plants. Probably some of our ento- 

 mologists could supply sufficient information to compile a list to 

 assist further observation. 



MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



The migration of birds is chiefly a question of food supply, and 

 it is, therefore, correlated to insect and vegetable life, and through 

 them meteorological conditions. It is not peculiar to either hemi- 

 sphere, and has no necessary relation to the physical disposition 

 of land and water. It is not confined to any family of birds, 

 nor are all the individuals of one species migratory or non- 

 migratory. Probably some of our ornithologists could draw out 

 a scheme schedule of our native birds for observation on the same 

 system as in Europe — say, the birds protected under the Game 

 Act — and separating the insectivorous from those destructive. 

 Much good has already been done in this way by the " Handbook" 

 issued by the Government Entomologist ; and I note with satis- 

 faction that our laws are more severe than those of England as 

 regards penalties, they being exactly double, but it is the want of 

 inspectors to carry out the Act that makes it inoperative. 



An interesting point to notice is, if our birds, in their migration, 

 follow the lines which Mr. Seebohm tells us are followed in Europe, 

 those who migrate in summer starting with a favourable wind 



