IIOKX KXI'EDITION NARUATI VK. 41 



Whilst tit Ciuwii I'uint .1- consitlcraljh.' HUiuuut of cullcL-tin^' \v;i.s iluuo. 

 Ainoiiyst the s;uidliill.s hc-hiiul tlic c.inij) were miinerous liz.-uds sueli as th(3 

 sti'ange Moloch horn'dns, the l)right yellow, orange, red ami Ijlaek of whieh render 

 it in life very tliH'erent in appearance frcjin the Ijh^ached specimens of nuiseuni 

 cases. The Jew lizai'd (^Ainpliibolunis. biuihititi) was often seen, some of tlieni 

 being of a curi(jus hrick red C(jlour similar to that of many of the sandhills 

 amongst which they lived There are perhaps no animals, amongst land forms, of 

 which museum specimens give so poor an idea, so far as colour and shape of the 

 body are concerned, as fr-ogs anil lizards. Both in brilliant, and often also in 

 delicate colouration, many of the Central Australian ones cannot be excelled. A 

 reference to the plates illustrating the article; on lizards in the zoological section 

 of the work, where the natural colours have been most carefully repre.sented Ijy 

 Mr. Wendel, will serve to show how inade(|uat(^ an idea the ordinary nuiseum 

 specimen conveys of the real appearance of the living animal. 



It was not the right time of the year to secure many butterflies and moths, 

 but two species wei'e very connnon everywhere. One was the Australian "painted 

 lady" {Pyra/iieis cardiii, var. kerihawii), which has been described l)y Sir Frederick 

 McCoy as specifically distinct from its clo.se ally, the European form {Pyra/iieis 

 cardiii). Other writers, however, such as Kirby,* regard the l^uropean and 

 Australasian forms as " hardly to be considered distinct." The chief distinction, 

 apart from size, between the two lies in the fact that the three black spots on the 

 hind wing have blue centres in the Australasian species. 



The otlier is an introduced form Danais petilia a pretty black and yellow 

 insect, feeding on a Labiate plant {Cyiiaiichnin Jloribuudnm). In other parts of 

 Australia such as Queensland, another species of the .same genus {^Danais errip/is), 

 also introduced, is met with feeding upon an introduced Labiate plant. 



The burrows of a scorpion were very connnon, and its track.s leading into a 

 hole in the sand just big enough for it to crawl into were very well marked ones 

 and easily recognisable when once the blacks had told you what animal they were 

 made by, for it was never seen during daytime in the open. The burrow goes 

 down to a depth of three or four feet. We very rarely found the animal under 

 stones or logs as, unlike those met with in the coastal districts such as Cippsland, 

 they seem to generally make burrows in the sandy ground. In the Ijed of the 

 Finke during summer time I found them crawling about at night on our cami)ing 

 ground. 



* Ilaiulliooli of tlif ordur Li'iiidoptuni, Part I., Butturllius, vol. i., Alluii's Natunilists' Liln-an, 1S!H, p. !)!). 



