Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/257

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.COASTS OF AU9TRAT.IA. 195 also found one as far to the south as Shoal-water Bay ?. June I?. Several kangaroos were started by our wood. ing party, but none were taken. In the gullies, Mr. Cunningham reaped an excellent harvest, both of seeds and plants. Here, as well as at every other place that we had landed upon within the tropic, the air is "crowded'* with a species of butterfly, a great many of which were taken. It is doubdess the same species as that which Captain Cook remarks as so plentiful in Thirsty Sound; he says, "we found also an incredible number of butterflies, so that for the space of three or four acres, the air was so crowded with them, that millions were to be seen in every direction, at the same time, that every branch and twig were covered with others that were not upon the wing 7." The numbers seen by us were indeed" incredible;" the stem of every grass-tree, (xanthorrhtra) which plant grows abundantly upon the hills, was covered with them, and on their taking wing the air appeared, as it were, in perfect motion. It is a new species, and is described by my friend Mr. W. S. Macleay, in the Appendix, under the name of cupl?a ?mata.

  • FLZ?DaaS, vol. ii. p. 49.

?' H?twgaswoa?H, vol. iii. p.' 125. ot