CHAPTER V 
SOUTH AFRICA, 1905 1 
Cape Town, lat. 34° S. Sea-level. 
August 8th, 1905. 
Surely no one who was on deck when the “ Kildonan Castle ” 
anchored in Table Bay will forget the impressive scene. Behind 
the town-lights which gleamed along the front the grand mass of 
Table Mountain, clear cut against a streak of dawn, lay under 
the Southern Cross and Magellanic Clouds: in the opposite quarter 
Jupiter and Venus shone brilliant beyond our experience, the latter 
reflected in the sea, while Orion standing on his head demonstrated 
that we were indeed in a Southern land. These astronomical facts 
had a bearing on our entomological operations, since we had to grow 
accustomed to the fact that the most promising hunting grounds 
were slopes with a north-east aspect. 
Faithful to our own science rather than to the Association of 
which we were members, Dr. Dixey and I had decided to go on to 
Durban by the same steamer, and put in as many days collecting 
as possible on the Natal Coast. This left but a day and a half 
at Cape Town, in which to get a glimpse of its fauna and flora, 
and we were truly fortunate in that the Southern spring smiled 
upon us and provided, if indeed few insects, at any rate what Mr. 
Boswell would have termed “ some fine prospects.” The drive under 
the imposing line of crags termed the Twelve Apostles is very fine, 
as is the view from the highest point of the road towards the north¬ 
east. Spread out at one’s feet between Table Mountain and Table 
Bay lies the city, while in the far distance a range of mountains, at 
this season capped with snow, completes the picture. 
1 This chapter originally appeared in the Transactions of the Entomological 
Society of London for September, 1907, p. 809, as a joint paper by Dr. F. A. 
Dixey, F.R.S., and myself, entitled: “Entomological Observations and Captures 
during the Visit of the British Association to South Africa in 1905.” My companion 
is not responsible for any points in which this account may differ from the original. 
