44 



HOUX KXI'KDITION XAIiKATIVIC. 



Tlic country was soinctiiiiL'S bliylitly uiidulaling willi ruldisli samly soil 

 fovfiud with scrub, at otlicis it rose to bar(^ stony plains on which gfew pcrliaps a 

 few stunted Mulga.s and low liluc-whitc salt-bushes. 



All along the creeks were the usual red gums in thi^ sand l»ed, and on the 

 banks and then beyontl these was a friiigt', varying in width, of swamp gums or 





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mK:p:?- 



3- "— 



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box trees {Euciilyplus inicio/licca). Everywhe)-e along our rcjute from ()odna-(_latta 

 in tlie s(jutli to Alices Springs in the north, these swainj) gums especially wer'c 

 infested by a particular kind of caterpill/ir. Tlu^y live socially in l^ig, bag-like 

 cases attached to the branches, one; of which is represented in the accompanying 

 illustration. A single case will sometimes measure as much as two feet in length, 

 and will contain jjerha.ps a, hundred or more caterpillars whose excrement mixed 

 with hair from tlieir bodies (ills the case and is of tlie most irritating nature if 

 it falls on the skin. They are most frequent on the swamp gums — they hardly 

 touch the red gums at all — but are also found on Acacias and Cassias. On one 

 Acacia'(,-/. sa/iiiiui) I counted no fewer than tifty-seven of various sizes. From the 

 case a track of weli-like material can sometimes be seen running down the trunk 

 to the ground. This calls to mind the ladder-like track made by tlie caterpillar of 

 such a case-moth as iMelura e/oiignici. When the caterj^illar of the latter climbs a 

 wall or tree trunk it lays down a series of lines of welj which are arranged one 

 above the other just like the rungs of a hukler, and to which while climbing it 



