THE INSECTS OF MACQUARIE ISLAND—TILLYARD—BRUES—LEA. 7 
magnificent volume, “The Home of the Blizzard.” In this paper it will be quite 
sufficient to give such details of the island as will make the positions of the various 
collecting places quite clear, or such as bear specially upon some point of interest in 
connection with the actual insects collected. 
Macquarie Island is situated in latitude 54° 37’ South, longitude 158° 34’ Hast. 
It is very hilly, the highest point rising nearly 1,500 feet above sea-level. There are 
no trees; but the hill-sides are clothed in dark-green tussock-grass, scattered through 
which are patches of the more brightly coloured Maori Cabbage (Stilbocarpa polaris). 
One of the striking features of the island is the penguin rookeries, on the sites of which 
the vegetation becomes completely destroyed. 
Some of the insects in the collection 
were taken from under stones in these rookeries. 
Another feature of the island is the 
immense masses of kelp which are cast ashore after every burst of heavy weather. In 
the rotting kelp, various species of Diptera breed; and their larve form the principal 
diet of the introduced Maori Hens or Wekas. 
The Expedition Hut of the Macquarie Island Party was situated on the lee side 
(east) of a small peninsula, which forms the extreme northern end of the island, and is 
known as the North Head Peninsula. This peninsula is about three-quarters of a mile 
long by one-quarter of a mile wide, and is connected with the main portion of the island 
by a sandy spit, uncovered except during very heavy weather. The wireless station 
was erected on the top of this peninsula. 
The following are the positions of the various localities mentioned in the notes 
written on slips of paper by the collector, and wrapped around each separate tube of 
. Specimens :— 
“North End” refers to the vicinity of the Hut. 
“West Point’’ is at the north-west extremity of the island. 
“ Aerial Cove” lies directly below the wireless station, on the western side of 
Wireless Hill. 
“Garden Bay” is not mentioned in Mawson’s book. But, as the only Victoria 
Penguin rookery mentioned therein was close to the hut, and as an attempt 
to grow vegetables was made in the same vicinity, it is fairly certain that the 
name given by the collector, in association with a rookery of the species of 
penguin mentioned above, must have been quite close to the hut. 
Owing to the methods of preservation, and the long time that has elapsed since 
the specimens were collected, the material is not, for the most part, in a very satisfactory 
state for detailed study. This applies especially to the Collembola, in many of which 
the delicate cuticle has become more or less detached from the underlying parts, rendering 
the task of determining the form of the ocellar groups and the post-antennal organ a 
very difficult one. For these specimens I tried three methods of study. Firstly the 
Specimens were very carefully washed, passed up through ascending grades of alcohol, 
