458 
NEW ZEALAND 
*Sarcophaga impatiens turned up again at Taumaranui, and I had 
the good fortune to get at the same place a female of * Tabanus 
impar, Walk., of which the National Collection has but a solitary 
male, also from New Zealand. As Mr. Austen is making a special 
study of the genus I thought it best to mate this fly with that in 
the Natural History Museum. 
The Wanganui Rivee. 
The voyage down the Wanganui River from Taumaranui to the 
sea is one of the sights of the world. It may be done in two days, 
but it is far pleasanter to take three, as we did, staying the night at 
Ohura. During the first day’s voyage the river, broken by a 
succession of rapids, winds from side to side of a comparatively open 
valley. The mountains on either hand running up to 2000 ft., or it 
may be higher, often expose on their flanks fine sections, some at any 
rate appearing to be of pumice, like that near Taumaranui station. 
Inhabitants are few and far between, the slopes being covered with 
seemingly trackless forests. Most of the trees are evergreen and 
sombre, albeit pines are few, but here and there rose a handsome 
flowering tree, though it was late in the year, since the Southern 
February corresponds to the Northern August, and flowers were for 
the most part over. A brighter tint of green is given to the lower 
parts of the bush by the numerous Tree-ferns of various species, some 
tall and slender, others short and robust; a common kind having the 
underside of the fronds a silvery white. It is most fortunate that 
the bush through which the Wanganui flows has hitherto remained 
almost unscathed by fire. 
An afternoon at Ohura, where the house-boat, a floating hotel, is 
moored, should have provided good sport, so at least one felt justified 
in hoping, but once again the bush proved sadly disappointing. The 
dingy little Zizera labradus was indeed common enough, and I saw 
more than one * Pyrameis gonerilla , but no other butterflies. At 
the top of the cliff, in a small clearing, stood a solitary Salix alba } 
of course an introduced tree, but it had a very ancient appearance 
owing to the fact that it was clothed with indigenous ferns and other 
epiphytes. On its trunk were abundance of the pupa-cases of a 
large Cicada (? Melampsalta cingulata ); the perfect insects sang 
loudly in the branches far above my head, but declined altogether to 
venture within reach of the net. It was a fascinating experience to 
female, which Mr. Austen said he could not match with anything in the British 
Museum, but in the absence of a corresponding male he could say nothing further. 
