THE ZOOLOGIST. 
bo 
or 
_ 
‘*Rymer’s Creek ”’ is a happy hunting-ground for an entomo- 
logist. It is a mountain path running at the back of the town, 
and which gradually narrows as it is ascended, for richer vegeta- 
tion waits on its higher altitude. Delightful rivulets of cold 
spring water afford relief to the tired and too-perspiring naturalist, 
while for butterflies it proved the richest rendezvous I met in 
the Transvaal. Here one meets with the Natal Lepidopteral 
fauna, such species as Amauris dominicanus, Protogoniomorpha 
anacardii, Charaxes varanes, and Papilio ophidicephalus never 
being procured on the high veld of the Transvaal. 
I left Barberton on Jan. 28th, when heavy rain began to set 
in. It was described as having been the driest summer remem- 
bered, and the watercourses were almost empty; but I heard a 
few days after :—‘‘ We have had awful weather since you left us ; 
since the morning of the 28th over twelve inches of rain have 
fallen. From Thursday, Feb. 6th, at 1.30, to Friday the 7th, 
same hour, there fell 6°04in. The country is full; letters can- 
not go forward. ... I don’t think you would know the creek 
again if you came back; the road is gone, and is now like the 
bed of a mountain torrent.”’ 
A peculiar coincidence with this dry summer (1894-5) in 
Pretoria was noted in the ‘ Transvaal Advertiser’ :— ‘‘ This is 
an age of records, but Pretoria is recording an_ experience with 
reference to Horse-sickness which is wholly unprecedented. 
There may have been one or two isolated cases in town, but 
Horse-sickness—as known—has utterly failed to put in an 
appearance this year, whilst ‘red-water’ amongst cattle is raging 
throughout the land.” 
The Neighbourhood of Pienaars hiver.—This is one of the 
most easily reached and best collecting-grounds near Pretoria. | 
It used to be a six hours’ coach journey, but the Pietersburg | 
Railway is now, I believe, completed to the neighbourhood, so 
that coaching in this direction is now a thing of the inconvenient 
past. Driving by road there is not much to strike the traveller 
beyond the usual open, dreary, but healthy veld, till Hammans 
Kraal is reached, and then a bush or forest country commences 
and continues to the Pienaars River. Hammans Kraal deserves 
a passing notice. It is here that the arachnologist Mons. K. Simon 
made a stay during his visit to the T'ransvaal ; and when, as is 
