6910 



An EniomologisCs 



T could only persuade one small species of Tineina to patronize my 

 labours. I tried to account for this in the fact that the smooth bark 

 of the gum trees, patrolled incessantly by large ants, does not offer 

 the same inviting footing as our rougher barked oaks and other timber 

 trees. I have often tried beating, and succeeded poorly with Lepi- 

 doptera, better with Coleoptera, — the young wattles, Eucalypti, and 

 other less leafy trees, affording poor shelter for Lepidoptera, but being 

 much frequented by Coleoptera. Entomologists at home who hear 

 of the capture of novelties abroad feel a longing to partake of the ex- 

 citement, but, if I except the gratification of finding novelties, I may 

 truly say that I have found more pleasure in one day's collecting at 

 dear old Darenth than in all the collecting I ever had in Austraha. 

 The interminable sameness of ungraceful trees and scrubby bushes; 

 the tiresome walking over barren rocks, or in dried-up water-courses, 

 destitute both of flowers and grass; a temperature of 120° or 130° in 

 the sun; clouds of dust; myriads of annoying Diptera ; the glare of 

 light reflected from white quartz ; and the imminent peril of treading 

 on poisonous snakes, are the inevitable concomitants of collecting in 

 the summer. To this must be added the fatiguing life of a gold- 

 digger and the listlessness caused by sleepless nights, the result of 

 attacks from countless fleas. When I had boxed a few insects and 

 returned to my tent 1 w^as so w^orn out that I had no heart to kill and 

 set them, but laid down and smoked until it was time to turn under 

 my opossum rug, and then came the fleas ! 



On the 21st of December we moved to Campbell's Creek, a distance 

 of seven or eighl miles ; it was an old digging-ground, and therefore 

 a poor spot for Entomology. However, I obtained many Buprestidae 

 and a few brilliant species of CEcophora, despite the bad locality. 

 About twenty yards from my tent were some dozen young wattles, 

 three feet high, and two or three bushes of Eucalyptus : they were on 

 an arid flat, with little or no other vegetation within some hundred 

 yards, yet here I took better insects than in any other locality, one of 

 which, a Micro, the Boydia criniferella of Newman, I cannot help 

 describing. One evening in January I saw in the dusk an insect 

 quite new to me ; it was sitting on the smooth bark of a gum tree, one 

 pair of wings (the hind pair) having the costal margin ciliated in the 

 most extraordinary manner ; the fore wings were in motion, vibrating 

 and beating the air in a very curious way. After continuing this mo- 

 tion for several seconds the insect would start off, and run with great 

 speed, but stop at the distance of a few inches, and then vibrate its 

 fore wings as before. When at rest the costal margin of the hind 



