THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST. 
J^n Sntomologist’s Qyding Wrip to Qloneurry 
(Queensland). 
By HENRY HACKER. 
Business matters requiring my presence 
in Oloncurry, i decided to 'take boat from 
Brisbane to Townsville, and cycle from 
there onwards, annexing such insects as 
were come across on the journey. Time 
did not allow of any regular collecting, 
Ibut a few small bottles of formalin were 
taken to preserve the insects in. When 
Townsville was reached, to save time 
and incidentally to escape the rigours 
of cycling over the lluughton Range, the 
train was taken to Charters Towers, the 
queen city of North Queensland, now 
somcwtnt of a fallen queen. However, 
a start from that town was made on 'tile 
morning of February 7; at the end of 
the day Pent land, a distance of 7b miles 
from flic Towers, was reached; the coun¬ 
try between proved to he 'ridgy and 
bushy. Billing the heat of the day a spell 
for an hour or so was taken at a almdy 
creek. Here a very beautiful Symphyletes 
was taken on a tea-tree overhanging the 
water; a yellow Spanish tly, Zonitis, was 
common on tlu* coarse grass; a pretty 
little I -a ills (bell ulus) was first taken 
her,-, and proved to be plentiful through¬ 
out the trip, although not previously re¬ 
corded from Queensland ; other captures 
at this place were two species of Crypto- 
eephalus (one probably new to science, 
the other being the handsome gracilior), 
Klaphodes larinus (hitherto known only 
from North-Western Australia and plen¬ 
tiful on gum saplings), two kinds of 
l’uropsis, two of Rhyparida, and an 
Oxyops, all on .young gum trees, whilst 
fire beautiful little Tachys liipustulatus 
was plentiful on mud at the water’s 
edge. The next day's journey was a hard 
one. The road proved to be so rough that 
J had to leave it and ride on the footpath 
alongside the railway line. It was not 
an enviable journey, for 1 had to jump 
olf every few yards to dodge culverts 
and loose stones on the line, and con¬ 
stant irritation was caused by grass 
seeds. I was not sorry to reach Torrens 
Creek —the North Queensland meat 
works — where a night was put in. Dur¬ 
ing the day tl« widely-distributed tiger- 
llieetle, Cicindela semicincta, was plenti¬ 
ful in muddy places, whilst another and 
apparently a new species like Hackeri 
"ns running about on sandy roads. The 
other insects taken were Iiathliodes 
quadrilineatus, coin on on reeds, live kinds 
of Myllocerus, a Stenooorynus, very 
( 12 ) 
plentiful on bushes and abundant all 
over North Queensland; Pliilonthus, sub- 
cingulatus, plentiful in decaying vegeta¬ 
tion; a beautifully speckled Belus; a tor¬ 
toise beetle, Coptocyela; a small Calo- 
mela, and a tine lCbyparidu, whilst a 
rainbow-hued Chalcopterus was found in 
numbers on Uie hark of u mimosa tree. 
At Torrens Creek one of the “great natu¬ 
ral resources” of W estern Queensland 
was experienced, consisting of half 
a hurricane of wind and dust, and 
reminding one of the willy-willies 
or duststorms of Kalgoorlie. They 
are very plentiful in this district, 
this one doing considerable damage 
to the roofs of the houses. The 
next day’s journey to llughendon was 
monotonous and dry, the only water on 
the road being ut a. Government dam 
about half-way between Prairie and 
Hughenclon. Ti« country towards 
llughendon begins to change from forest 
to treeless black-soil plains, consequently 
the captures Consisted mostly of Tene- 
brionidae, Curculionidae, and such Cara- 
bidae as are peculiar to downs country. 
•From llughendon to Richmond, a dis¬ 
tance of SO miles, the road travels over 
what is called the North-Western Downs 
of Queensland. As the wet season has 
not yet started, the country was in 
a desolate condition, not a blade of 
grass nor au animal of any kind 
being visible; the only vegetation 
to break the monotony was a few reeds 
end thorn bushes along the bore drains 
that cross 'the road, one at Teleuion sheep 
station and the other at Marathon, and 
a few stunted trees round the edge of 
water-boles, winch were then quite dry. 
On this stage the captures consisted of 
Gnathaphanus puleher, Chlaenius austra¬ 
lis, an ordinary-looking Diaphoromorus, 
Phortieosomus gmndiis, a Sarugus, two 
kinds of Purohehveus (one much re¬ 
sembling an Encara), a Polyphrades, the 
peculiar gout-i leaded Rhinaria tragoce- 
pb&la, Aleidts bubo, and a short Lixus- 
Richmond is a little galvanised iron town, 
chiefly noted for heat. During my stay 
the inhabitants suffered from a plague 
of beetles, the most abundant of which 
was a very distinct species of Ptcrohe- 
laeus, but others, especially Phorticoso- 
iuus graadis and a large Unatii.iphanus 
(midway between puleher and Riverinae) 
were also very numerous. They were 
