Litchfield enquirer., 1857-12-24
Australian Pests.

A9S!raUa0 feStS.
! The advice Hewitt gives to those who, not
content with such things as they have" are
troubled by golden visions Of fat off country
is first to 60 and dig coal pit, thou work
month at stone quarry, next sink we'll fift,
feet deep in the wettest place h can find a''i
finally clean OCT a space of sixteen feet square
of a box twenty feet deep and if after tina
he has still fancy for the gold fields. tn II h
him come understanding however, that all
the time, he lives Oh heavy unleavrnrd bread
on tea without milk, and on mutton or beef
without veg, tables, and as tough us India rub
ber''
Then, as to the living Accomplishments of
table at the diggings. "At your meals, in
moment, myrads Of flies come sweeping down,
cover the dish, and the meat on your plates
till ttey are one black moving mass dash head
long into your tea, or whatever You are drink
ing, and fight you to the last moment for the
last morscl Every meal is pitched aud
hard fought battle too. At every hour of the
day from sunrise to sunset they assail with in
cessant and unconquerafle avidity Yesterday
while on the hills, l wished to take closer
view of the plants and stones put on my
spectacles. Instantly dozens of black flies, ell
>conced themselves behind the glasses, as many
in fact as could crowd in and they defcd me to
dislodge them had to take off my glasses,
and go Oh with my doom of bough.twiring"
1t is curious that Dampier in his voyage
round the world in 1890 never mentions the an
noyance of flies any where but in Australia,
though he had been in the hottest Regions of
the West Indies, South America, and Indian
Ocean, which shows that they are here an un-
exampled plague" Speaking of the natives
he says, "The.r eyes are always half closed to
keep the flies out of them they being SO veus
troublesome here that no flaming will keep
them from coming to ones face and without
the assistance OF both hands they will creep in
to ones nostr|s and mouth if the lips are not
Shut very close. So that from their infancy
being thus annoyed with these insects, they do
never open their eyes as 9th people, and
therefore they cannot see far unless they hold
up their heads as if they were looking at some
what over them"
Meats are almost Immediately covered by
blow flies and corrupted.
! Ants are most numerous next to the flies.
/ They cover the whole surface of the ground,
of all colors and all sizes, and almost every va
rety Of them sting kcenly. Nor is it the ground
only on which they swarm there is not log
| lying On the ground ror tree standing in the
forest, up ard down which they are not creep
ing in myriads Trains of them are constantly
ascending the twigs of the loftiest gum trees,
two hundred and fifty feet hgh aud other
trains defending. They appear to be the main
cause of the hollowness of the trees, as they
pierce the centre of the younger ones and cat
out and make their nests in the hearts. They
eat the wood of the bouyls, so that immense
arms fall of with sudden snap just as if
they had been cut asunder 10y All axe. Tie
other day we cut down a young stringy bark
tree, and split it to make some trestles, and the
heart OF it was all eaten out, and occupied by
ants. These insects many of them all inch and
half long, tercely conte. the ground with us
when we are pitching our tent in any fresh place
aud their sting is as severe as that of a wasp
When the flies leave after sunset, egions
of mosquitoes come piping in theiI thin notes !;
these we could keep off, they are feeble COM
pared to the flies, but have great power
punctuation if allowed time"
" We watched the actions of the large inch
and half long ants called bulldogs, and are
satisfied they sting exactly as wasps and bees
do. We laid u quantity of rice which was wet
to dry in the sun. a cloud of black flies settle
Oh it but very soon advanced host of bull
dog ants They pounccd OH the flies as tigers
would OH their prey, seized the flies with their
mandibIes, aud stuuy them with their tails.
Their death was instant aud the ants march
I'd off with them.
If the bulldogs only killed the black fly, we
should regard them as no trifing benefact-
ors, but they are SO vicious, aud sting us so
abomnaby on all occasions, that we wag" ruth
less war OH them if they enter our tent but
as to killing them by cutting them in pieces,
that is absurd cut them in two and the head
will Immediately seize the body aud grippe it
6ercely with its slippers and the tail will sting
away at the head"
Some of their nests are often six or eight
feet across each way, and as hard as rock it.
SELF"
"Other species form nests like globes, two
feet in diameter, hard like gutta percha and as
tough these are found under the roots of
trees, when blown down. The white ants
form collical nests of clay of three or four feet
high, and the same in diameter at the base
These are baked by the sun to the hardness Of
bricks, and the entrances to them are SO care
fully concealed that they seem like a solid pile
of clay
"There are also centipedes, lizards and scor-
pions, and red spider whose bite is said to be
deadly"
A ROMANCE on THE RIvER.--Last summer