57 



range of hills facing towards the Murray and the Murray scrub. The 

 hills mentioned, formed of metamorphic rocks and granite, were tim- 

 bered by various species of Eucalypts — whitegum, mallee (_E. dumosa), 

 peppermint, casuarina, myrtacese, and proteaceze in a number of species, 

 besides other trees and shrubs of minor importance, of which the so- 

 called box-tree and melaleuca were the principal. 



Towards the river, and within a mile and a half from my cottage, a 

 black sea of mallee met the view, interspersed with groves of pines 

 (Frenela) and patches of porcupine grass ; here and there varied again by 

 hakeas, banksias, &c, in smaller patches. A low granite range divided 

 this region (about 12 or 15 miles from east to west) into two unequal 

 parts, which I frequently secured in all directions during the most 

 favourable part of the year, viz , from September to April, for the pur- 

 pose of collecting insects. In a period of some eighteen months, com- 

 prising a season and a-half, I obtained between 400 and 500 species of 

 coleoptera, distinct from some 500 species I had previously collected. 



Some parts of this locality were densely wooded, some open ; large 

 clearings had been made in others for farming and other purposes — hill- 

 sides alternating with plains, sand patches with rock ; thus presenting a 

 very favourable field for insect development. Yet one could pass for 

 miles through these sceneries and hardly meet any but solitary insects 

 belonging to the commonest species, and examine dozens of mallee, 

 myrtle, or melaleuca bushes,, steeped in a cloud of bloom, with the same 

 result. Suddenly, one would come across a patch, limited in extent, teeming 

 with life in great numbers of individuals and species. Yet not one quality 

 could be specified notpossessed by others, almost deficient of life, to account 

 for the difference and the predilections of the insects. Another circum- 

 stance worthy of remark is this, that these favoured spots are not per- 

 manent, but seem to be subject to change in an arbitrary manner, which 

 I often heard mentioned by other collectors. 



What is the cause of all this ? 



My observations, limited as they are, point to this answer, viz., 

 that the desertion of one place and the acceptation of another is mainly 

 due to the disturbances the insects suffer while depositing their ova, 

 amounting often to total prevention. These disturbances are caused by 

 the browsing of cattle and sheep, not to mention, for the present, the 

 radical agencies of axe and plough. Even if the ova be successfully 

 hatched, an invasion of the feeding-ground of the young larvae by the 

 same intruders prevents many of them from attaining" to maturity, either by 



