AUSTRALIA. 269 



corning to a sandy pathway, " I was struck," he says, " by 

 seeing a number of little funnel-shaped holes, like those made 

 by the ant-lion for catching his prey ; but these are the traps 

 of an underground toad, who sits at the bottom of the hole, 

 about two feet below the surface, doubtless ready to gobble up 

 any insect that falls in. On the blown sands were also 

 abundantly seen sinuous ridges, precisely resembling those so 

 common on the flags in the streets of Limerick, and which in a 

 certain publication called ' The Seaside Book ' are referred to 

 the trails of the marine mollusca. Now the present tracks 

 mark the underground roads of the mole cricket of this place ; 

 and if they were consolidated into stone, might puzzle future 

 geologists who were only up to the marine cause, as the little 

 ridges left by the wind resemble those left by water ripple. 

 Going further, I noticed a Banksia tree with some huge woolly 

 nests of inextricable leafless branchlets. They were not unlike 

 Hottentot's heads, and are formed when a certain little fly fixes 

 on a young flower-bud as a nest for its eggs. It pierces the young 

 bud, and deposits its eggs, and this strange branching excres- 

 cence immediately commences, the plant constantly trying to 

 form its flowers, while the poison of the insect puncture as 

 constantly produces monstrous branches. Sap continues to 

 flow to the irritated spot, and so the growth there is most 

 vigorous, keeping up an abundance of juicy nourishing food 

 for the young maggot. Such is the history of all the galls, &c, 

 found on trees; they abound in this country, but none are 

 so monstrously developed as those of the Banksia cones." 



April 18th. I walked to Mongais Lake, a sheet of fresh water 

 about three miles from Perth, to look for freshwater shells ; but 

 I only found a Physa, very abundant, and very variable in 

 form, unless I confound several species together. Among the 

 trees which wooded the lake was Banhsia prionotes, a handsome 

 species, with rich orange heads of flowers as large as ostrich 

 eggs, and very showy. On the 19th Mr. Djummond, the 

 botanical explorer of this colony, arrived, having come upwards 

 of forty miles to have a chat with me, and to ask me to visit 

 him in the country. He had formerly been in charge of the 

 Botanical Gardens in Cork, and emigrated to this country 

 twenty-five years ago, since which time he has travelled over 

 most parts of it, and to him we owe our knowledge of at least 



