22 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
EXCURSION TO COOKS RIVER. 
Notwithstanding the threatening aspect of the weather, 
and that we are in the midst of Nature’s resting season, 
there was a fair attendance of members. In a short trip, 
which occupied something less than two hours, the follow- 
ing interesting plants were noted:—Four Melaleucas, in- 
eluding the rare M. Deanei; Cassinia longifolia and C. acu- 
leata (the latter in flower); Hibbertia serpyllifolia; Aca- 
cia pumila; A. hispidula (in early flower) ; Vellya lyrata; 
Myrsine variabilis; Daviesia acicularis; Baeckea densi- 
folia (with a few belated blossoms; Melichrus rotatus ; 
Persoonia hirsuta; Mimulus ripens; Triglochin striata; 
Scirpus littoralis; Panicum indicum, ete. 
—A. A. HAMILTON. 
NOTES. AND COMMENTS. 
A Field Naturalist of 50 Years’ Standing—On Janu- 
ary 12th, at Beverley, West Australia, F. H. du Bouley, 
who has been a well-known collector of Natural History 
for 50 years, died after his last beetle hunt, from heart 
failure. 
Mr. du Bouley was born at Sandgate, Kent, on Janu- 
ary 29th, 1837, and was one of our very first bush natur- 
alists, being an ardent beetle hunter from the time he. set- 
tled in Champion Bay (Geraldton), West Australia, in 
1857, up to the day of his death. 
Engaged in squatting life, he did some pioneer work 
to the north as far as Roebuck Bay, and went to Port 
Hedland with Captain Hedland, after whom the port was 
named. He collected insects around Sharks Bay, Kings 
Sound, and other localities then unknown. 
At that distant date little was known of the smaller 
things of our fauna, and he obtained many new and rare 
~ species. Getting into communication with the authorities 
of the British Museum, he became well-known among field 
naturalists. In a journey overland from Perth to Albany, 
in 1866, he met Mr. George Masters collecting for the 
Australian Museum, and which further interested him in 
the work of insect collecting. 
Later he paid a visit to New South Wales, and when 
Cooktown Gold Rush broke out in North Queensland, his 
love of wandering and adventure took him there. He did 
