86 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
and a handsome shrub (I’ve seen it in gardens) is bright 
with its handsome, red flower-like calyx. 
The shining yellow berries of the brown cedar, 
Ehretia acuminata, are hanging in ripened clusters; it is 
curious that no matter how plentiful these berries are the 
birds do not seem to eat them. 
The hard, yellowish-green berries of the native elm, 
Apananthe philippinensis, are ripe also. Lewis’ honey- 
eaters love this uninteresting-looking little fruit, so do 
the beautiful Regent birds, Sericulus melinus. Some years 
ago we were living on the edge of a scrub where there 
were a great number of these beautiful birds. There were 
some large native elm trees only a few feet from the back 
door, and I used to watch the birds devouring the berries; 
they built a bower there, only a few steps away from 
the house, just inside the serub, in one of the few coarse 
grass tussocks that grew there. The centre was scraped 
away and flattened, and the grass at either side bent over 
to form the bower; the ground around it was cleared, and 
a few land shells ‘and coloured leaves scattered about. 
In the larger scrubs the white wax-creeper, or Hoya, 
is in flower, so are the beautiful scrub orchids (Calanthe 
veratrifolia). I have seen these lovely white orchids grow- 
ing to perfection in the thick scrub on the banks of Evans 
River, where they could be picked literally in hundreds. 
They are easily cultivated, simply requiring to be placed 
in a damp, shady situation, similar to that suitable for 
ferns. They are wonderful flowers for lasting. Some I 
have growing have now been in flower for six weeks, and 
are still quite fresh. 
On some of the wild grape vines there have been 
large fawn-coloured grubs with darker brown markings; 
they mostly keep high up, and are night feeders. I suppose 
they must belong to some kind of hawk moth. 
There have been beautiful caterpillars feeding on the 
small plants of Black Wattle (Acacia decurrens var pan- 
ciglandulosa) ; they are striking-looking, with their alter- 
nates stripes of green and yellow; the pupae are pale green, 
with wavy white markings. With finely-spun silk, they 
weave some of the leaves into a resting place. I kept one 
grub for a week on Cootamundra Wattle (Acacia 
Baileyana) leaves, which it eat readily, but the pupa is 
smaller, and of a lighter colour than those fed on their 
