Norm Byrnes 01 Ihe Herbarium, was 

 lb1e (a direct us to the lew suitable 

 .ulleetiiig areas of pseudo rain forest 

 neat by He explained that the flora i* 

 UUdl he .same ihroughoui the State, 

 *ith the exception of the cast coast 

 i \in icm Land with its much higher 

 niii.il and the lop of the escarp- 

 ments where Ihere are ditTerenl plant 

 KMWfeS although the country is still 

 Jry. 



Houover on this occasion it was 

 he life histoiy of the Y'irachola butler- 

 By, which was the object of our visit. 

 Mr. John Peters of Sydney , who first 

 o>und the larvae arid pupae, told its 

 vhere he had located the Sir\<h>u>s 

 ruits in which they feed on the 

 Darwin loreshoro Having now ulenti 

 N ihis tree to. the first time, there 

 nas no difficulty in finding others. 

 Later at East Point, we took several 

 larvae and a number ol pupae alter 

 Opening ovet two bundled flints with 

 emerged pupal cases. 



Along the top of Ihe clill al 

 l.amaruo Beach, well known for its 

 hippie" colony, is the main insect 

 toflccti a' spot near Darwin with a 

 .number of species of butterfly moving 



along the tops of the trees growing 

 from the shelf above the beach below 



Although at present the authorities 

 seem mainly concerned with provid- 

 ing houses, roads and amenities toi 

 ihe largely civil servant population, 

 there is a band of enthusiasts collect- 

 ing together w hat remains of evidence 

 of the pioneers. Housed in an old 

 building in the Botanical Gardens 

 is a fascinating collection of bits and 

 pieces from th- earlv day. It is hoped 

 that eventually they will be housed in 

 a proper setting 



Mataranka Homestead has a three 



fold attraction. It abounds m wild life 

 in comfortable surroundings, and has 

 .. thermal pool being led by a spring 

 at a Constant teinpei atuie of some SO 

 degrees. 



It was here that I had hoped to 

 check on the hie histoi y of the bullet 

 Hj Danuus ftllUtttl till wis. the Oialige 

 Tiger which was Hying in some num- 

 bers with the Lesser Wanderer 



{Danoui cfirysipput petttld), on the 



firSI visit. Despite hours spent by day 

 and by torchlight at night, it was not 

 until the last afternoon that I managed 

 to take three specimens of the formei. 



December, 1971 



353 



