26 
THE GEELONG NATUEALIST. 
of economic entomology. Laying aside the marvellous provisions 
which nature has provided many even of the simplest insects 
with the means of maintenance, the study is both useful, 
intellectual and delightful. We will suppose that a grower comes 
upon an insect eating the epidermis or covering of the leaves, 
from his fruit trees, and thereby admitting the direct rays of 
the sun at a time when such may not be desirable. If he has 
a well-trained eye, and even a slight knowledge of the subject, 
he will naturally think to himself, well I will poison these leaves, 
and when the insects eat the tissues they will be destroyed. 
He gets out his sprayer, gives the tree a liberal spraying with one 
of the arsenites or other compounds recommended, and in a few 
hours he finds his caterpillars dead under the tree. His knowledge 
that the leaves had been attacked by insects which were not 
suctorial had therefore been of some practical use to him. As 
an example (one of a great many which might be given if time 
permitted) of " how not to do it," we will take the case of a grower. 
I have seen many such, w ho whilst either digging, ploughing or 
planting, kept a gun near at hand. Ask him why he carries a gun, 
he will probably reply — " to shoot the magpies destroying my 
crops." It has probably never struck him that our common bush 
magpies (both kinds) although they will occasionally eat a little 
grain, grapes, &c., are amongst the most valuable of our native 
birds. They follow the plough and spadesmen, picking up such 
grubs as may be turned up from the soil, and are the faithful friends 
and companions of the ploughman. Our old friend, the Laughing 
Jackass also comes in for his share of abuse and persecution from 
the ignorant and unthinking. I have seen many of these birds shot 
just because they happened to be perched on some high tree in or 
near the orchard. Again, that beautiful, harmless, and strictly typical 
Australian bird Menura superha, the well-known Lyre-bird of our 
gullies, has in Ihe most systematic manner been hunted down and 
killed, so that the few remaining ones have been driven back into 
the deep recesses of our mountain gullies. Surely this must be 
something worse than ignorance on the part of those who, by 
practice and observation, ought to know better. Still many of the 
pot shotters" mio^ht, if the nature and economy of this bird were 
properly explained to them, be induced to see the error of their 
ways, or by a little gentle persuasion, as the following nnecdote 
will show, be compelled to pay dearly for their love of indiscrimi- 
nate shooting. A few months since two very fine specimens of the 
native turkey or bustard made their appearance in a certain 
district not many miles from Melbourne. Here w\as a chance for 
the so called sportsmen. Aw^ay they went even after a proclamation 
to protect the turkey all the year round had been issued by the 
Commissioner of Customs, at the request of myself, and kindly 
supported and forwarded by Mr Martin, Secretary for xigriculture. 
Back in triumph (w^hich however was short-lived) they came with 
