AUCKLAND 447 
marine shells, a search that met with but indifferent success as the 
tide was too high. 
Zizera labradus was there to be seen in some numbers. I took 
one Geometer, Anachloris subochraria , Doubl., and might have taken 
more; it is an Australasian species. A Sphegid, Tachysphex depressus , 
Sauss., was not uncommon, making short flights close to the bare 
dried mud of a salt marsh. 
Cemetery Gully, a gorge near the middle of the town, which 
Commander Walker found somewhat prolific, yielded me only a pair 
of Plumes, Alucita monospilalis , Walk., and a male Tortrix postviU 
tana , Walk., an Australasian species. 
Kauri Gully is so called because a few survivors of the magnificent 
native Pine of New Zealand, *Agathis australis , Salisb., are there 
preserved in a patch of bush, traversed by a stream fringed with 
fine Tree-ferns; the bush is surrounded by a considerable extent of 
Manuka scrub. This gully was the most promising locality that I 
had visited, but it produced very little. The tiny Cicada, Scoly- 
popa australis , was common enough; it was fond of settling on the 
stalks of the fronds of tree-ferns, often several in a row, usually 
head downwards. The sole Lepidopteron met with was Chilo 
halterellus , Zell., a handsome silver-striped moth, which occurs also 
in Australia. On sandy paths among the Manuka there were lots of 
*Cicindela tuberculata, but the little beetles were not easy to see; with 
them were a couple of Tachysphex depressus. Under some logs near 
the school-house were plenty of a peculiarly ill-smelling Cockroach, 
*Platyzosteria novae-zealandiae , and some Crickets. 
Hot, muddy, and somewhat dejected by my poor success, I made for 
a cottage where home-brewed hop beer was to be had; roughly rolling 
up my umbrella net, I took my seat under the verandah and called 
for my drink. When the woman came back with the bottle, she 
eyed me suspiciously, and said, “ I see you are an umbrella mender.” 
Trying my best to conceal the wound inflicted by this thoughtless 
remark, I unrolled my net, saying, “ Well, no, I am not exactly 
that; you see what sort of an umbrella mine is.” But I was 
not to be let off; she replied, “ If you want to catch flies, you had 
better go into the village.” From that day I have been a humbler 
man. 
Eangitoto is the name of an extinct volcano forming an island at 
the entrance of the harbour. It is covered from base to summit with 
huge blocks of the roughest of lava, which in turn are imperfectly 
covered with a scant shrubby vegetation. Its insular position and 
natural ruggedness have preserved the mountain in its wild condition. 
