314 Transactions. — Zoology. 



-K 



Cruciferfe, cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, etc., about the same time, and was 

 not previously kuowu in the country. 



But blow-flies, mosquitos, and fleas w^ere 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 

 them 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, then' attacks w^ere 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. 331) : " 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 reai^pear 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 jaarts of the province, when observing im^Dortant 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 evar 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 novce-zealandice , still Hves 

 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 



