314 Transactions.—Z oology. 
Cruciferse, cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, ete., about the same time, and was 
not previously known in the country. 
But blow-flies, mosquitos, and fleas were not the only insect nuisances 
which the early settlers had to endure. For pertinacity and genuine 
sanguinary annoyance I think I will back the New Zealand sand-fly against 
em all. Near the beach, especially a sandy beach, or on the edge of a 
bush, these insects swarmed in millions; and in warm close weather, just 
before rain, their attacks were most ferocious and venomous. They were 
considered very good indicators of the weather, for settlers used to say, “ It 
will be rain to-day, for the sand-flies are biting!" So numerous and 
ferocious were they, that even Captain Cook specially refers to them as 
being peculiarly harassing during his visit to Dusky Bay in this province. 
He says (p. 881): ** The most mischievous animals here are the small black 
sand-flies, which are very numerous and so troublesome that they exceed 
everything of the kind I ever met with. Wherever they bite they cause a 
swelling, and such an intolerable itching that it is not possible to refrain 
from scratching, which at last brings on ulcers like the small-pox." And 
in a book of such dry official details as the ** New Zealand Pilot," p. 261, it 
is stated :—'* The sand-flies noticed by Cook are of a most virulent kind, and 
it was with great difficulty that the necessary astronomical observations on 
shore could be made by the officers of H.M.S. “Acheron,” who were 
frequently compelled to take refuge from their torments among the thick 
foliage a short distance from the beach, where, strange to say, they do 
not penetrate; these plagues invariably left the vessel at dusk, and did 
not reappear until the following daylight.” This refers to some of the 
West Coast Sounds, where no doubt they are still numerous; but many 
times in other parts of the province, when observing important trigono- 
metrical stations with a theodolite, and consequently unable to defend 
myself, I have seen my hands and face one mass of blood from the 
inveterate attacks of these insects. Now, you will scarcely ever hear of the 
sand-fly, and no doubt many new colonists don’t know what it is. My belief 
is that the climate of this province (at least the eastern portion of it) is now 
very much drier than it was, and that this accounts in a large measure for 
the almost total disappearance of the sand-fly—a result certainly not to be 
regretted. 
Passing on to birds: the parrakeet, Platycercus nove-zealandia, still lives 
amongst us and enlivens the bush with its “ twitter-twitter’’ and with its 
beautiful green plumage and rounded head, but as compared with the 
numbers which swarmed in every bush in the early days, it may be said to 
be almost extinct. To say that they were continually to be seen in flocks 
of hundreds gives you a very faint idea of the extreme prevalence of this 
