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Title: Australian insects

Author: Walter W. Froggatt

Release date: July 15, 2025 [eBook #76505]

Language: English

Original publication: Sydney: William Brooks & Comany, Limited,
1907

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTRALIAN
INSECTS ***

AUSTRALIAN
INSECTS.
BY

WALTER W. FROGGATT, F.L.S.,

Government Entomologist, New South Wales.
Member of the Association of Economic Entomologists, U.S. America;
Member of the Société Entomologique de France; Member of Council,
Linnean Society of N.S. Wales, and N.S. Wales Naturalists’ Club.

With 37 Plates, containing 270 Figures, also
180 text-blocks.

Sydney:
WILLIAM BROOKS & COMPANY, LIMITED, Printers and Publishers,
17 Castlereagh Street.

PREFACE.
There have been so many enquiries from people in all parts of Australia,
as well as from visitors from other countries, for a book dealing with our
insects, that the writer thinks that the time has come when a Text Book
dealing exclusively with Australian Entomology will be well received, both
at home and abroad, by all those interested in this subject.
The difficulty has been to write in a popular style so as to interest the
general reader, and induce him to further follow his studies of the wonders
of Natural History, yet at the same time to define the characteristics of the
insects described and give some idea of their classification, so that it will
not lose its value as a Text Book to the student while enlarging the circle of
its readers.
Since the year 1770, when Sir Joseph Banks captured the first diamond
beetle on the sandy shores of Botany Bay, the majority of our insects have
been described in rare old English or foreign publications, the Zoology of
Voyages and Travels, or the Transactions and Proceedings of Scientific
Societies consisting of many hundreds of volumes written in many different
languages.
Many of these original descriptions, written in English or Latin, are so
brief and obscure that without seeing the type they are quite unintelligible
even to the trained entomologist, and therefore are absolutely of no value to
the beginner.
Most of the earlier describers of Australian insects confined their
attention to beetles, moths, and butterflies. Among the few exceptions are
Westwood, who has identified himself with insects in nearly all the orders,
and as he figured many of them (often in colours), there is no trouble in
determining his species; and Walker, who also described many unique
Australian insects (chiefly in the British Museum Catalogues); but his often
vague descriptions, without details or figures, have puzzled all
entomologists who have not had access to his types.

During the last decade, however, as specialists have taken up the work of
monographing the more neglected orders, and as large general collections
of insects have been obtained from what were, at one time, inaccessible
parts of Australia, a writer can now obtain satisfactory data as to the
classification and number of Australian insects hitherto wanting.
With these views the present text book has been prepared.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Preface iii.
Contents vii.
List of Plates xi.
Introduction xiii.
Classification 1
Distribution 4
Structure 6
Fossil Insects 9
The Collection and Preservation of Insects 395
Museum Collections and Types 409
Publications Dealing with Australian Entomology 418
Addenda 423
Index 425

“The White Ant City,” Somerset, Cape York, N. Queensland.
(After Savelle-Kent)

CONTENTS.

Order I.—APTERA.
Page
Family 1. Collembola 10
„ 2. Thysanura 11

Order II.—ORTHOPTERA.
Family 1. Forficulidae 15
„ 2. Blattidae 17
„ 3. Termitidae 20
„ 4. Embiidae 28
„ 5. Psocidae 30
„ 6. Mantidae 31
„ 7. Phasmidae 34
„ 8. Acridiidae 40
„ 9. Locustidae 46
„ 10. Gryllidae 48

Order III.—NEUROPTERA.
Family 1. Perlidae 50
„ 2. Odonata 51
„ 3. Ephemeridae 54
„ 4. Sialidae 55
„ 5. Panorpidae 56
„ 6. Hemerobiidae 57
„ 7. Trichoptera 66

Order IV.—HYMENOPTERA.
Family 1. Cephidae 70
„ 2. Oryssidae 70
„ 3. Siricidae 71
„ 4. Tenthredinidae 71
„ 5. Cynipidae 73
„ 6. Chalcididae 74
„ 7. Proctotrypidae 81
„ 8. Ichneumonidae 83
„ 9. Braconidae 85
„ 10. Chrysididae 87
„ 11. Evaniidae 88
„ 12. Megalyridae 90
„ 13. Formicidae 91
„ 14. Mutillidae 98

„ 15. Thynnidae 100
„ 16. Scoliidae 102
„ 17. Pompilidae 105
„ 18. Sphegidae 106
„ 19. Eumenidae 110
„ 20. Vespidae 112
„ 21. Masaridae 113
„ 22. Apidae 114

Order V.—COLEOPTERA.
Family 1. Cicindelidae 124
„ 2. Carabidae 126
„ 3. Dytiscidae 133
„ 4. Gyrinidae 134
„ 5. Hydrophilidae 135
„ 6. Staphylinidae 136
„ 7. Pselaphidae 138
„ 8. Paussidae 138
„ 9. Scydmaenidae 139
„ 10. Silphidae 140
„ 11. Scaphididae 141
„ 12. Histeridae 141
„ 13. Phalacridae 142
„ 14. Nitidulidae 143
„ 15. Trogositidae 144
„ 16. Colydidae 146
„ 17. Rhysodidae 146
„ 18. Cucujidae 146
„ 19. Cryptophagidae 147
„ 20. Lathrididae 148
„ 21. Mycetophagidae 148
„ 22. Dermestidae 148
„ 23. Byrrhidae 150
„ 24. Georyssidae 150
„ 25. Parnidae 150
„ 26. Heteroceridae 151
„ 27. Lucanidae 151
„ 28. Scarabaeidae 153
„ 29. Buprestidae 162
„ 30. Eucnemidae 165
„ 31. Elateridae 166
„ 32. Rhipidoceridae 167
„ 33. Malacodermidae 167
„ 34. Cleridae 168
„ 35. Ptinidae 169
„ 36. Cioidae 170
„ 37. Bostrychidae 171
„ 38. Tenebrionidae 172
„ 39. Cistelidae 175
„ 40. Lagriidae 175

„ 41. Anthicidae 176
„ 42. Pyrochroidae 176
„ 43. Mordellidae 176
„ 44. Cantharidae 177
„ 45. Scolytidae 178
„ 46. Brenthidae 179
„ 47. Anthribidae 180
„ 48. Curculonidae 181
„ 49. Cerambycidae 190
„ 50. Chrysomelidae 200
„ 51. Erotylidae 206
„ 52. Coccinellidae 207

Order VI.—LEPIDOPTERA.
Sub-order.—RHOPALOCERA.
Family 1. Nymphalidae 214
„ 2. Libytheidae 219
„ 3. Lycaenidae 219
„ 4. Pieridae 223
„ 5. Papilionidae 225
„ 6. Hesperidae 227

Sub-order.—HETEROCERA.
Family 1. Castniidae 232
„ 2. Uraniidae 232
„ 3. Agaristidae 233
„ 4. Syntomidae 235
„ 5. Zygaenidae 236
„ 6. Sphingidae 236
„ 7. Hepialidae 239
„ 8. Psychidae 243
„ 9. Limacodidae 246
„ 10. Arctiidae 248
„ 11. Liparidae 252
„ 12. Bombycidae 255
„ 13. Geometridae 259
„ 14. Noctuidae 262
„ 15. Pyralidae 268
„ 16. Tortricidae 274
„ 17. Micro-lepidoptera 278

Order VII.—DIPTERA.
Family 1. Cecidomyidae 285
„ 2. Mycetophilidae 287
„ 3. Colicidae 288
„ 4. Chironomidae 291
„ 5. Tipulidae 292
„ 6. Stratiomyidae 293

„ 7. Tabanidae 294
„ 8. Bombylidae 296
„ 9. Acroceridae 297
„ 10. Mydaidae 298
„ 11. Asilidae 298
„ 12. Apioceridae 301
„ 13. Pipunculidae 301
„ 14. Syrphidae 302
„ 15. Conopidae 305
„ 16. Muscidae Acalyptera 305
„ 17. Anthomyidae 311
„ 18. Tachinidae 312
„ 19. Dexiidae 313
„ 20. Sarcophagidae 314
„ 21. Muscidae 315
„ 22. Oestridae 317
„ 23. Hippoboscidae 319
„ 24. Pulicidae 321

Order VIII.—HEMIPTERA.
Family 1. Pentatomidae 327
„ 2. Coreidae 331
„ 3. Lygaeidae 333
„ 4. Pyrrhocoridae 335
„ 5. Tingidae 336
„ 6. Aradidae 337
„ 7. Hydrometridae 337
„ 8. Reduviidae 338
„ 9. Cimicidae 341
„ 10. Capsidae 341
„ 11. Cryptocerata 342
„ 12. Belostomidae 343
„ 13. Notonectidae 344
„ 14. Corixidae 345

Sub-order.—HOMOPTERA.
Family 1. Cicadidae 346
„ 2. Cercopidae 354
„ 3. Membracidae 356
„ 4. Fulgoridae 358
„ 5. Jassidae 360
„ 6. Psyllidae 361
„ 7. Aphidae 367
„ 8. Aleurodidae 370
„ 9. Coccidae 371

Sub-order.—ANOPLURA.
Family 1. Pediculidae 388

Sub-order.—MALLOPHAGA.
Family 1. Trichodectidae 390
„ 2. Philopteridae 390
„ 3. Gyropidae 390
„ 4. Liotheidae 390

Order IX.—THYSANOPTERA.
Family 1. Thripidae 392

LIST OF PLATES.
FACING
PLATE. PAGE
I. Cockroaches 17
II. White Ants 22
III. Nests of White Ants 24
IV. „ „ „ 28
V. Leaf Insects 35
VI. Long-horned Grasshoppers 46
VII. Crickets 48
VIII. Dragon Flies 51
IX. Ant Lions 57
X. Saw Flies 71
XI. „ „ 73
XII. Fig Insects 78
XIII. Ichneumon, Sand, and Flower Wasps 89
XIV. Ants 95
XV. Nests of Wasps 112
XVI. Bees and Wasps 118
XVII. Beetles 151
XVIII. Flower Beetles 163
XIX. White Butterflies 214
XX. Miscellaneous Butterflies 220
XXI. „ „ 227
XXII. „ Moths 235
XXIII. Great Swift Moth 241
XXIV. Bag Shelter Moths 245
XXV. Case Moths 253
XXVI. Miscellaneous Moths 268
XXVII. Mosquitoes 289
XXVIII. Flies 299
XXIX. House Flies 314
XXX. Blow Flies 316
XXXI. Plant Bugs 327
XXXII. „ „ 336
XXXIII. Cicadas 346
XXXIV. Galls of Coccids and Beetles 374
XXXV. Galls of Coccids 380
XXXVI. Lac Insects 378
XXXVII. Thrip Insects 393

INTRODUCTION.
The chief drawback to the study of entomology by the outsider has been,
until modern times, the dry-as-dust technical terms used in the descriptive
work, and the formidable names attached to many of the interesting little
creatures, without any information about their habits or life histories. This is
not surprising when we know the methods of some of the writers, and the
material on which they often worked; namely, specimens obtained from
abroad, often in a more or less damaged condition, discoloured and aborted
from being squeezed among spirit collections, and with a brief or no record
of their native home.
This has been all changed since trained students like Darwin, Wallace,
Bates, and many others have spent years in the wilds studying zoology
under natural surroundings, recording their observations while they made
collections, and, with this wealth of material and accurate knowledge, gave
such descriptions, that they have led into many new fields of investigation,
one of the most important of which is economic entomology.
The Economic Entomologist has become more necessary and important
every year. His investigations, carried on in the field and insectarium, have
not only done much to popularise entomology, but have saved the countries
interested untold wealth by the discovery of methods for checking the
spread and ravages of injurious insects. The technical description of an
insect is not sufficient to satisfy a practical man; he wants to know where it
passes the earlier stages of its existence, what it feeds upon, and its place in
the insect world.
In the open-air study of God’s tiny creatures many pleasant and
profitable hours may be spent, and dwellers in the country need never feel
time hang heavily on their hands, after they have once had their eyes
opened to the wonders of Nature around them. It is the writer’s privilege to
know and correspond with a great many busy men and women, scattered all
over Australia, who are doing valuable work in collecting specimens,
making notes, and seeing both with eyes and brain—true bush naturalists in
every sense of the word.

In acknowledging my obligations to friends who have helped me in the
course of this work, I desire to express my thanks to Mr. Masters for notes
on the habits and range of insects, and the examination of specimens in the
Macleay Museum; to Messrs. Sloane, Lea, Lyell, R. Turner, Tillyard,
Tepper, Kershaw, Dun, Dr. Jefferis Turner, Dr. Goding, and Rev. T.
Blackburn for various notes, specimens, and help generally. From Mr. C.
French and C. French, Jr., I have had the loan of papers, books, and
specimens unobtainable in Sydney, and from Mr. J. J. Fletcher suggestions
and references to works in the N.S.W. Linnean Society’s library.
Many other correspondents have greatly assisted me in examining and
determining specimens—Dr. Horvath, Dr. Forel, M. André, Dr. Sharp, Mr.
W. F. Kirby, Mr. C. C. Green, Dr. Silvestri, Dr. Howard, Mr. W. M.
Ashmead, and Mr. D. W. Coquillett.
I am indebted to Mr. Maiden for the identification of the native food
plants of many insects.
I am also greatly indebted to Mr. W. S. Campbell for permission to use
the drawings of Messrs. Grose, Burton, and Chambers, which have
previously appeared in the pages of The Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W., and
which for beauty and accuracy have rarely been surpassed. To Mr. Burton
and Mr. Gurney my thanks are also due for their care in arranging and
photographing other specimens. To the other friends who have kindly aided
me in this undertaking in any way I beg here to offer my best thanks.

AUSTRALIAN INSECTS.

CLASSIFICATION.

In considering the classification of our insects, I have on the whole
followed that adopted by Sharp in his “Insects” (vol. v., vi., 1895, 1899),
Cambridge Natural History, but at the same time have considered it
advisable, in a work of this kind, to leave out whenever possible the
definition of the smaller sub-divisions. I have also made one important
alteration in his scheme of classification by placing the Termitidae after the
Blattidae, following on with the Embiidae and Psocidae, as I consider that
these are nearer primitive Orthoptera than Neuroptera in their wing
structure; we thus do away with Pseudo-Neuroptera that has always
appeared to be an unnecessary division; and we should have the courage of
our convictions and place them on one side or the other.
In zoological classification, the sub-kingdom Arthopoda, comprising
creatures whose bodies are composed of rings or segments, and jointed legs,
contains four large groups: (1) Arachnidae, spiders, mites, ticks, and
scorpions; (2) Crustacea, crabs, shrimps, wood lice, &c.; (3) Myriapoda,
centipedes, millepedes, &c.; (4) Insecta, insects; and a fifth group,
Onychophora, containing the Peripatus, is now included. Though these
creatures are broadly related, insects are readily distinguished from the
members of the preceding groups.
The word Entomology is derived from two Greek words, Entomos, an
insect; and Logos, a discourse. Insects are arranged by entomologists in
Orders, Families, Genera, and Species. The first clearly-defined
classification was published by Linnaeus in his “Systema Naturae,” 1758,
where he divided them up into seven great orders; namely, Coleoptera,
Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Aptera,
distinguished by the number and structure of the wings. Later on (1778)
Fabricius founded another classification, based on the structure of the
organs of the mouth, but this artificial arrangement soon became obsolete.
In 1815, Kirby and Spence issued the work in four volumes entitled “An
Introduction to Entomology or Elements of the Natural History of Insects,”
a second revised edition coming out in 1816. This was the first attempt in
England to popularise entomology, and to give the ordinary reader an idea

of classification. In it will be found a great deal of general information that
all young entomologists should read.
In Westwood’s “Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects,”
published in 1839, a great advance was made, and the science placed on a
sound footing; this has been a great help to all workers. He divided the
insects into thirteen orders; but, though the tendency of American and
European writers has been to increase these divisions, we have reduced
them, and in Kirby’s “Text Book of Entomology” only seven are used. In
the last work, “Insects” (Cambridge Natural History, 1895), by Sharp, the
same seven orders are used, though in a somewhat different manner, with
the addition of an eighth, Thysanoptera, to contain the single family
Thripidae.
The correct naming of insects is based on the following rules: First
comes the Order, which may contain a number of Families, all with certain
peculiarities; as, for example, the straight-winged insects, Order Orthoptera,
of which we will take the Family Acridiidae, “locusts.” This Family is again
subdivided into smaller divisions or groups, called Genera; all the
individuals comprised in the Genus have some well-defined external
characters that form a common link binding them together: the individuals
are known as Species. Therefore each insect when it has been described has
a generic or group name, and a specific or individual name. The generic
name should be based on some Greek or Latin root, preferably the former,
but it cannot of course be compounded from both languages; it should on
translation give some clue to the general distinctive character of the group.
The specific name should be derived from Latin, and give the student some
idea of the locality, markings, colour, or shape of some part of the insect
under observation; thus, Locusta australis, Brunner, is the southern locust
or grasshopper. As a matter of convenience to students, the name or
abbreviated name of the entomologist who first described the insect follows
the name when mentioned in scientific articles or catalogues, but is not
usually done in general work.
The rules here laid down, however, are much more observed in the
breach than in the observance. In former times most descriptions of insects
were written in Latin, but at the present time they are being described not
only in English, French, and German, but many other languages difficult for
the ordinary English student to translate, such as Russian, Bohemian,

Hungarian, &c., so that it is very difficult in many instances to find out
whether some generic names have any meaning. The difficulty of creating
generic names with pure roots that are not preoccupied by previous writers
is always increasing, and to save the trouble of going through the lists of
genera already in use, many zoologists use the names of other naturalists,
names of localities, or “nonsense” names compounded of a jumble of
letters. Then, again, when the genus is an extensive one containing many
species, the describer gives it the Latinised name of the collector or some
friend he wishes to honour, so that we may come across both a generic and
specific name that throws no light on the identity of the insect. As an
example, Grabhamia curriei; Coquillett named this mosquito in the first
instance Culex curriei, Currie’s mosquito, which was consistent, but
Theobald found on subsequent examination that it belonged to his Genus
Grabhamia, dedicated to Dr. Grabham.
Even without these drawbacks, a beginner naturally finds the
classification of insects a serious task, and the simple committing to
memory of the scientific names a big undertaking; but when he has once
grasped the rudiments, the system will soon appear to him.
One of the most difficult things the popular writer meets with in
scientific work is to find a suitable vernacular name to fit a common insect;
a beetle may be bright yellow, with a brown head; the first man comes
along and calls it the “Yellow-bodied Beetle,” another passes by and says it
is the “Brown-headed Beetle,” yet neither would be quite accurate or define
its main peculiarities. Again, we often find a popular name that designates a
particular insect in one district is used for quite a different species in
another part of the State: quite recently I asked several correspondents for
specimens of the beetle in the Maitland district known as the “Jackeroi,”
and had four distinct species of weevils forwarded under that name. The
“Dicky Rice” is the name given to a tiny grey weevil (Prosayleus
phytolymus) by the orchardists about Windsor, but in other districts it is
used indiscriminately for a number of other weevils.
Should any one take up a box full of unnamed and unclassified insects,
he will feel like a stranger in a picture gallery without a catalogue; for,
while everything is very beautiful, how much more interesting if he only
knew something about the subject; for the same reason, each insect named
and arranged has an individuality that it did not previously possess.

DISTRIBUTION.

The insect fauna of Australia is as remarkable and distinctive in its
peculiarities as the flora, and probably for the same reason,—the fact of its
isolated position from the larger continental areas, and the configuration of
the continent. If we take away the eastern mountain range running north and
south from Cape York to Gippsland, we find an immense tract of almost
level country with hardly a river of any size except the Murray and its
tributaries, covered with thick scrub or open forest, great flat unbroken
plains in the south; rolling downs towards the north; sand-hills, and low
timbered ranges in the interior. It is half the year without any permanent
water for hundreds of miles at a stretch; scorched with a blazing sun and
fierce hot winds in summer, bleak and cold in the winter. Yet there is no
desert country of any extent in the strict sense of the word in the most arid
portion; for given a good fall of rain, the country, apparently parched
beyond recovery, soon puts on a coat of green, wild flowers shoot out,
insects and little creatures of all kinds emerge from their hiding places, and
birds appear as if by magic.
Naturally our fauna, and the insects in particular, have had to adapt
themselves to these extremes, and we find them with many curious habits
without parallel in more normal countries.
Our fauna is extremely rich in gall-producing insects in many different
orders; there are about 50 different species of coccids that form well defined
galls upon their host plants, yet the only record of a gall-making coccid
outside Australia is a single species in Mexico. Numbers of Thripidae
produce galls in the leaves or flower buds of our native shrubs, while the
galls of Psyllidae, Diptera, and Hymenoptera are very abundant.
Ants, Formicidae, swarm in the driest parts of the interior; and flies, of
all kinds, blow flies, blue bottle, and the small house flies, are a perfect pest
all through the summer months.
All our coastal scrubs are rich in flowering shrubs which provide food or
hunting ground for a large insect population. The flower wasps, Thynnidae,
(in which the males are large and handsome with well developed wings, but
the females are diminutive and wingless,) comprise several hundred
described species; the only other countries in which they are represented are

the west coast of South America, and a few in the Pacific Islands. The allied
ant-like Mutillidae with their wingless females are more numerous in the
interior. Though our country is very rich in Sawflies, Tenthredinidae, they
all belong to genera peculiar to Australia; the members of the typical genus
Cimbex extending its range as far east as Japan do not reach us.
The low stunted flowering shrubs covering large patches of both the
eastern and western coasts support an immense number of Jewel-beetles,
Genus Stigmodera, also peculiar to this continent. We appear to have few
forms allied to North or South America; our affinities are with Africa, and
the Malay Peninsula; insects of well sustained flight, as the Orthoptera, are
found here identical with species found in Africa and Asia.
Many insects abundant in the eastern coastal districts are very limited in
their range; but on the western watershed others may be found ranging right
across to the Indian Ocean.

STRUCTURE.

The imago or perfect insect is encased in a more or less perfect horny
integument composed of a substance called chiten, which forms in many a
regular box containing all the vital organs. Every insect can be divided into
three primary divisions: first, the head, to which is attached the mouth parts,
antennae, and eyes; second, the thorax or chest, sometimes forming a solid
mass, but properly composed of three segments, namely, the prothorax,
mesothorax, and metathorax, to which are attached three pairs of legs, and
two pairs of wings (there are, however, many exceptions to the last, as some
have only one pair, and others are wingless); third, the abdomen or body,
consisting of a number of segments variously estimated from five to eleven,
the normal number being ten, which enclose the digestive, breathing, and
reproductive organs.
Every insect in the first instance comes from an egg or living larva
produced by the female, and though, even to the naturalist, it seems very
hard to account for the countless millions of some of the smaller insects
such as aphids and scale insects which suddenly swarm as if by magic over
plants, there is no such thing as spontaneous generation; insects cannot
come out of the ground from nothing, or be produced from the crystalline
dew upon the foliage as we have sometimes found stated in newspapers.
Again, a grain weevil cannot change into a flour moth, or vice versa, as
many of our farmers will say in all good faith. In some groups the insects
are produced as living larvae, and commence to feed at once; but in the
majority, eggs are deposited in or upon the food, in which state they may
remain without hatching but a few days, or more than a year. As soon as the
little caterpillar or grub emerges, it starts upon its food, spending the whole
of this stage of its existence in eating and growing, moulting at intervals by
casting off the outer skin to accommodate its increasing bulk; when full-
grown and ready for the final moult, it stops eating, crawls away into a
suitable place, and forms a cocoon, cell, or shell, in which it pupates. It is
now a chrysalis or pupa, quiescent, without any movement except a slight
twitching of the tip of the abdomen when disturbed. Under the pupal
covering the different organs of the perfect insect become gradually
defined, until one bright day the last evolution is completed, and with a few

convulsive movements the perfect insect bursts out of its enveloping
swaddling clothes and appears in all its beauty and perfection.
Some groups, however, undergo a much more simple or incomplete
metamorphosis; emerging from the egg a baby insect ready to eat, (like the
grasshopper,) the same food as its mother; it undergoes a series of moults,
and after casting its skin every time, becomes more nearly perfect without
any true pupal stage, and finally after the last moult comes forth with well-
developed wings, a perfect insect.
The typical insect is furnished with a large compound eye on either side
of the head composed of a number of small sections called facets, varying
in number from sixteen to several thousands in some of the more highly
developed families, and two or three simple eyes forming bright shining
dots between the compound pair called ocelli. In some groups these ocelli
are wanting; in others both eyes and ocelli, so the insects are therefore
blind.
The mouth parts are composed of several hard plates; in chewing or
biting (mandibulate) insects, they consist of a pair of stout jaws, in front of
which lies the labrum, and behind the maxillae; again behind the maxillae
follows a second pair fused together to form the labium. Both labium and
maxillae are provided with a pair of slender jointed appendages known as
labial and maxillary palpi; these are used as fingers to assist in drawing
food into the mouth. In those groups with sucking (haustellate) mouths
these various parts are coalesced into a simple sucking tube ending in a
sharp style-like tip, which is buried in the tissue of the plant when the insect
is feeding. The antennae when well developed consist of a number of
distinct rings or segments, standing out on either side of the head, and
generally attached to the front of the head between the eyes; they serve as
organs of touch, smell, and probably hearing. The legs contain five distinct
joints; first, the coxae or hips; next, the trochanters, small joints with a ball
and socket-like action from which the femora or thighs move backward and
forward; to these are attached the tibiae or shanks terminating in the tarsi or
feet at the extremity. Most insects are also furnished with a pair of tarsal
claws, between which may be a small pad, called the pulvillus or
empodium.

The wings of insects vary considerably. Some are membranous and
smooth; others are covered with down or scales; while in many the fore pair
are solid chitinous wing-cases, useless for flight, and chiefly acting as
protective covers to the hind pair, which, when the insect is at rest, lie
folded up beneath them. The flying wings are traversed with branching
tubes called nervures, which, while strengthening them, also perform an
important function in the breathing of the insect, and are pierced with small
openings; these openings are very distinct in some of the hymenoptera.
Insects breathe by means of openings situated along the sides of the
thoracic and abdominal segments called spiracles, opening out into
branching air vessels called trachea, which pass into the interior, ramifying
throughout the body and extending into every part and appendage, even to
the tips of the antennae. The nervous system, the life and movement of the
insect, consists of a double chain of ganglia, (ganglion, a knot,) nerve cells,
which are connected with finer encircling nerve tissues, that radiate in all
directions, returning to the ganglia, the latter regulating the nerve sensation.
Therefore, as their perceptions are so much less confined to the brain than
in vertebrate animals, they cannot feel to the same extent. Thus, you can
frequently find a locust, beetle, or ant that has escaped from a bird, minus
its abdomen, still crawling about, quite able to move all its remaining
organs. You can even remove the long slender body of a dragon-fly, and
carefully insert a bit of grass stalk of the same length and weight to balance
the wings, and it will fly off quite readily; but of course they will not live
long after such injuries.
We know that many insects must have very keen perceptions of sound,
or the movement of the air around them, for they will drop to the ground at
the least alarm, before the bush upon which they are resting has been
touched. Very little is understood about the organs of hearing, except in the
case of grasshoppers and locusts where the ears have been located at the
base of the abdomen or on the front leg; these in some species can be
detected with an ordinary lens. It is considered by some writers that the
hairs and spiracles upon the different parts of the body may transmit sound
and act as ears. The organs of sound are very interesting, but can be better
treated when dealing with the different groups.
Usually, there are only two sexes of insects, males and females; but
among those living in social communities, like the bees, ants, wasps, and

termites, the majority of the inhabitants are neuters. These neuters are
usually aborted females, which do all the work in the construction of the
nest and look after the food supply of the rest of the community.

FOSSIL INSECTS

In comparison with other countries, fossil remains of insects are scarce;
only ten species have been described and named. My information on this
subject is obtained from Messrs. Etheridge and Olliff’s Memoir of the
Geological Survey, (Palaeontology No. 7,); “The Mesozoic and Tertiary
Insects of New South Wales,” 1890. The first record of fossil insects was
made by Moore in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 1870,
entitled “Note on a plant and insect bed on the Rocky River, N.S.W.”
“These insects were obtained from a chocolate-coloured micaceous
laminated marl, forming a bed ten feet thick, at a depth of about one
hundred feet from the surface, and forming a portion of the Tertiary drift
worked at the above locality. The latter are probably of Pliocene age.” (E. &
O.)
Jack obtained the wing of a dragon fly in the Cretaceous beds of the
Flinders River, N. Queensland, which was described and figured by
Woodward under the name of Aeschna flindersensis in the Geological
Magazine, 1884. It was entombed in a dark chocolate limestone.
The insects described and figured by Messrs. Etheridge and Olliff
consist of a cicada (C. lowei) from the “Taeniopteris-bearing beds of the
Talbragar River in New South Wales, and of Lower Mesozoic age”: a fly,
Chironomus venerabilis: and a mayfly, Ephemera culleni: and a beetle larva
belonging to the Lampyridae, under the name of Palaeolycus
problematicus, from the Tertiary beds at Emmaville, New England.
From the Ipswich Coal Measures of Queensland comes the fossil wing
of a Buprestid beetle, allied to existing Stigmodera, which they called
Mesostigmodera typica. Among the insect remains from this locality the
authors note several wings that appear to belong to weevils and other
beetles allied to existing species.
Mr. W. S. Dun informs me that insect remains have been found at
Narellan N.S.W. in Wianamatta shales, and also in the brick pits at St.
Peters near Sydney.

Order I.—APTERA.
Spring-tails and Silver-fish.

These tiny little creatures are wingless in all stages of their existence,
with only six segments in the abdomen; they are active little creatures of
very delicate structure, found in all kinds of situations. We have many
indigenous species, but on account of their small size and retiring habits
they have been seldom noticed, and a wide field awaits some future
entomologist who undertakes the study of these interesting insects.
Very little systematic work had been done with these insects until
Lubbock’s “Monograph of the Collembola and Thysanura” was published
by the Ray Society in 1873. In this work not only are a large number
described, but observations made upon their habits and life histories are
recorded.

Family 1. Spring-tails.
COLLEMBOLA.

These are among the smallest insects, for the largest does not measure
more than ⅓ of an inch in length, and most of them are very much smaller.
They are chiefly found in damp situations among loose soil, decaying
vegetable matter, and such like material, and can stand a very cold
temperature. They are easily distinguished from the silver-fish by the few
joints in the antennae, and the great powers of jumping they possess by
means of their long jointed tail appendages.
Our common species, Lipura sp., is at times very abundant in the loose
soil; after a sudden thunderstorm they are often washed out in such numbers
that, carried into the little pools along the road side, they form a dull blue
scum on the surface of the water. They measure ⅓ of a line in length; are of
a dull blue colour, and have short, thickened antennae and legs; the body is
distinctly segmented and rounded at the tip. Resting on the surface of the
water they are constantly in motion, springing up every moment like little
rubber balls.

Another species belonging to the Genus Smynthurus, allied to S. viridis,
a European form, but probably an undescribed native species, appeared in
great numbers in lucerne paddocks in S. Australia in 1896, where they did a
great deal of damage by eating the surface of the leaves, swarming over the
fields in countless millions.
It is a member of this genus (Smynthurus lutus) that Lubbock has
described in such an entertaining manner when recounting the courtship of
these queer little creatures.

Family 2. Silver-fish.
THYSANURA.

The silver-fish are divided into two distinct groups: those clothed with
fine loose silver-like scales, and those in which the scales are absent and are
replaced by fine hairs. The abdomen contains ten segments; their bodies are
elongated, furnished with long, slender, many jointed antennae tapering to
the extremities, and the tip of the abdomen carries two or three slender
thread-like tail appendages. Though the group has been divided into four
divisions, there are not many species described; they frequent warm, dry,
dark situations.

Fig. 1.—Lepisma saccharina (Linn.).
The common Silver-Fish.
(Redrawn from Marlatt’s “Household Insects.”)

Lepisma saccharina, the Common European Silver-fish, measures up to
½ an inch in length, and is covered with delicate lead-coloured scales that
give it a dull metallic lustre. They are great pests in libraries, where they eat
the glaze on papers or clothbound books, pasted labels, or even the surface
of etchings and engravings. Our common species was generally supposed to
be this insect; but Dr. Silvestri, to whom I submitted a number of specimens
caught in Sydney houses, says that it is Lepisma longicaudata, the common
African species unknown in Europe.
There is another tiny, little, dull yellow species found under stones in
ants’ nests that Silvestri has named Lepisma cursitans. In the dry western
scrubs of the interior under stones, hiding in the dust, I collected Lepisma
producta. In a natural open cave among the sandstone cliffs on the sea shore
near Gosford N.S.W. I found a number of a very large species resting on the

bare rock, with a striking resemblance to small dried shrimps; for this
peculiar species Silvestri proposes the name of Allomachilus froggatti.

Order II.—ORTHOPTERA.
Cockroaches, Grasshoppers, Termites, &c.

Fig. 2.—Mouth Parts of a Grasshopper, Showing the different
parts.
1. The labrum, or upper lip.
2. Mandibles.
3. Jaws.
4. The lower labrum.
5. Tongue.

(Redrawn from Duncan’s “Transformations of Insects.”)

The members of this order are known as straight winged insects, because
the narrow membranous fore wings (elytra) are usually laid flat along the
sides of the body, covering the fan-shaped hind wings that are folded up
beneath them. In some of the families we find groups or individuals with
the wings rudimentary or so modified in structure as to be useless for flight,

and in a few the perfect insects of one or both sexes are wingless. In some,
like the typical grasshoppers, the hind legs have the thighs greatly
developed and adapted for springing or jumping; in the Mantids the two
hind pairs of legs are simple, but the front pair are produced into curved,
spined tibiae and femora, weapons well adapted to capture their prey. The
mouth parts are composed of a rounded upper lip, with two stout mandibles,
and a pair of jaws to which are attached jointed appendages (maxillary
palpi), the labrum or hind lip bearing similar appendages called the labial
palpi; besides these they have a stout spade-shaped tongue, so that they both
bite off and chew up their food.
Though the majority are vegetarian in their habits, one group, the
mantids, are carnivorous, and in these insects the mouth parts are produced
into a sharp point to the tip of the jaws.
They emerge from the eggs that are deposited singly or in masses in or
upon the ground or attached to the twigs of their food plant; as baby insects
they are much like the adult, undergoing a series of moults without any true
pupal stage, until in the last moult they emerge with fully developed wings
and reproductive organs.
The Orthoptera comprise a number of very different looking insects,
among them some giants of the insect world like the stick and leaf insects. I
have placed the earwigs, cockroaches, termites, embids, book lice,
grasshoppers, crickets, mantis and phasmids together, though there is some
difference of opinion among entomologists as to the exact position of the
termites, embids, and book lice. The latest list of the Orthoptera is W. F.
Kirby’s “Synonymic Catalogue of Orthoptera, vol. I.,” containing all the
named species of the Forficulidae, Hemimeridae, Blattidae, Mantidae, and
Phasmidae. This work was published by the Trustees of the British
Museum, 1904: a second volume (not yet published) dealing with the
locusts, grasshoppers, and crickets will complete this work. The latter were
catalogued by F. Walker 1869–1870 in five parts, (Catalogue of the
Specimens of Dermaptera, Saltatoria, and Supplement to the Blattariae in
the British Museum), which this work of Kirby’s when finished will
supersede.
Among the chief specialists on Orthoptera may be mentioned Henri de
Saussure, who besides his monographs in the “Biologia Centrali-

Americana,” has published many papers in scientific journals, of which the
most important (containing descriptions of Australian species) is his
“Melanger Orthopterologiques” in the Memoirs de la Societe de Physique
et d’Histoire Naturelle de Geneve 1863–4, and in subsequent volumes.
Brunner von Wattenwyl has described other Australian species in different
German publications, and in 1893 published his “Révision des Système des
Orthoptères” in the Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova.
Kirby described other of our species chiefly in papers contributed to the
“Annals and Magazine of Natural History,” and the Transactions of the
Zoological and Entomological Societies.

Family 1. Earwigs.
FORFICULIDAE.

These insects are slender in form, with somewhat rounded heads bearing
two large facetted eyes, but no ocelli; and long slender antennae composed
of short oval joints. The elytra, very short, usually not extending beyond the
hind margin of the thorax, cover the hind wings when at rest. These hind
wings are short but broad, somewhat resembling a human ear when
expanded for flight, but neatly folded up beneath the abbreviated elytra at
other times. In many groups however both elytra and wings are absent, the
insects trusting to their legs and powers of burrowing to get out of danger,
and even those with well developed wings seldom use them. The thorax is
narrow; the legs stout, well adapted both for digging and running; and the
abdomen, tapering to the extremity, terminates in a pair of callipers or
pincer-like processes, sometimes curved and toothed into remarkable
shapes. It is the possession of these curious anal appendages that has led to
the earwig being popularly credited with all kinds of evil propensities; but
though they certainly look very formidable they can only give one’s finger a
harmless pinch if handled carelessly, and are otherwise perfectly harmless.

Fig. 3.—Labidura truncata (Kirby).
The common Earwig found in the sand
along river banks.
(Original W. B. Gurney.)

Earwigs are met with chiefly in damp situations; some of the smaller
ones can be collected by pulling the rotten bark off dead trees; others are to
be found under stones or logs; and in summer time many will be found in
burrows in the damp sand on the water’s edge after the manner of mole
crickets. In point of numbers this is not a large family, only about 520
species being described from all parts of the world; and only about 20 from
Australia, so that they are poorly represented in this country.
The Genus Labidura contains 15 described species from all parts of the
world; Labidura riparia, a cosmopolitan species ranging from Europe to
Asia and Africa does not reach Australia; but we have a typical species in
Labidura truncata, which has similar habits, living in burrows in the sand
along the edges of lagoons and creeks. It measures an inch in length, and is
of a general reddish brown tint mottled with dull yellow; and the dorsal
segments of the abdomen are deeply barred with reddish black almost
confluent down the centre. The head is large; the prothorax small, with the
elytra and wings well developed; the abdomen, rather narrow at the base, is

broadest behind the large callipers, which are slender, furnished with two
blunt teeth on the inner edge and meet at the extremities. It differs from L.
ripara in having the apical edge of the last abdominal segment truncate, and
not scalloped as in the former.
The next large Genus Anisolabis is also world wide in its range and
contains 36 described species, 3 of which are recorded from Australia, 2
from Tasmania, 1 from New Zealand, and 1 from Norfolk Island. Anisolabis
colossea, our largest common wingless species, also recorded from New
Caledonia, was described by Dohrn (Ann. Museo Genov. 1879), and a
second variety by Burr under the name of A. minor in 1902; but it is most
variable in size, ranging from over 1½ inches in length to less than half an
inch. It is of a uniform dull reddish brown colour, with a rounded head,
truncate thorax, and elongate broad abdomen terminating in a pair of short
stout finger-like appendages fitting close together and turned up slightly at
the tips.
A second species of Anisolabis common in Tasmania and recorded from
the top of Mount Wellington is black, somewhat broad and flattened on the
dorsal surface, with the anal appendages short, slender, and twisted over to
the left side as if they had been damaged. It was described by Bormans
(C.R. Soc. Ent. Belg. 1880) under the name of Anisolabis tasmanica.

Fig. 4.—Anisolabis colossea (Dohrn).
The large wingless earwig.
(Original W. W. Froggatt.)

Labia grandis described by Dubrony (Ann. Museo Genov. 1879) comes
from North Australia. The genus contains 47 described species; several
undetermined species in my collection are small dark brown earwigs with
well developed elytra, and anal appendages very narrow at the base, small,
and curving over at the sharp tips.

Plate I.—ORTHOPTERA.
Family Blattidae.
1. Blatta orientalis ♂ (Linn.).
2. Blatta orientalis ♀ (Linn.).
3. Blatta orientalis Larva (Linn.).
4. Polyzosteria limbata (Burm.).
5. Periplaneta australasiae (Fabr.).
6. Geoscapheus giganteus (Tepper).
7. Panesthia laevicollis (Sauss.).
8. Periplaneta americana (Linn.).
9. Phyllodromia germanica (Linn.).
10. Periplaneta americana (Linn.).

Plate I.—ORTHOPTERA.

Apterygida arachidis, a cosmopolitan species recorded from all parts of
the world, is found in Australia; and the common European typical species,
Forficula auricularia, which is widely distributed over the old world and
America, is not recorded from Australia in Kirby’s Catalogue, but I have
specimens in my collection given me by Mr. J. J. Walker taken in New
Zealand, who told me he had also captured it in Tasmania, so that it is more
than probable it will be found on the mainland.

Family 2. Cockroaches.
BLATTIDAE.

The typical cockroach is a shield-shaped insect, with stout horny plates
covering both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the thorax and abdomen.
The head, tucked under and hidden, when viewed from above by the rim of
the prothorax, is furnished with two large compound eyes placed well in
front; in some groups there are also two ocelli; the antennae springing from
below the eyes are very long and slender, composed of a great number of
short ringed segments. The jaws are well adapted for their vegetarian habits,
though some among the domestic species are almost omnivorous in their
tastes. Tepper considers that several species destroy the grubs and
caterpillars of injurious cut-worms, but this wants further confirmation.
Their legs are long and stout, covered with spines, and in the species living
under stones and logs the legs are usually thickened. Many species are
provided with two pairs of stout membranous wings, while the front pair
(elytra) are thickened, opaque and coarsely veined; the hind wings, though
frequently small, are fan-shaped, membranous and well adapted for flight.
The cockroach is one of the most ancient of insects, and roaches are
common in fossil beds both in Europe and America, many of them allied to
our still existing forms.
The female has a curious habit of carrying her keeled egg capsule
protruding from her abdomen for some time before she deposits it in a
suitable situation.
A number of cosmopolitan species might be called domestic insects as
they are only found about houses or the haunts of man; in London Blatta
orientalis is commonly known as the “black beetle,” swarming in cellars
and kitchens. In Sydney the large yellow roach that comes flying round the
room to the light is Periplaneta americana, an introduction from America,
which has almost driven the smaller indigenous Periplaneta australasiae
out of our houses; while in some of the southern and eastern States of
America our Australian roach has been introduced and become the common
domestic pest. The little German Roach, or “Croten Bug” of America,
Phyllodromia germanica, is sometimes found about the Sydney wharves.
Many of these bush and household roaches are provided with glands at the
tip of the abdomen, from which they can discharge (when disturbed) a
foetid odour as a means of defence. The cockroaches are a very extensive
family; Marlatt estimates that at least 5,000 occur all over the world; about
212 species are given by Kirby (Catalogue Orthoptera vol. I. British

Museum 1904) as Australian. Most of our typical forms are wingless, and
live under rotten logs or stones; some of the largest species are to be found
in the dry interior.
Saussure has described a number of our species (Mem. Soc. Geneve
1863–4–9): Walker many others, (Brit. Mus. Catalogue Blattidae 1868): and
Tepper has been a constant worker at this group in South Australia for some
years; descriptions of most of his species will be found in the Transactions
of the Royal Society of S. Australia between 1893–95, and the Zoology of
the Horn Expedition 1896.
The Genus Panesthia contains 44 described species ranging from India
to Australia, of which 7 are peculiar to this country.
Panesthia laevicollis is common in forest land, where it is found
burrowing in damp rotting logs. It is a wingless black insect, measuring
nearly 1½ inches in length, with the thorax narrow and flattened above the
head, the latter furnished with comparatively short antennae; the legs short
but very spiny; and the dorsal surface of the abdomen covered with
irregular punctures.
Cosmozosteria coolgardiensis is a very distinctive, wingless, dull yellow
species broadly marked with black on the thoracic segments, and finely
barred with the same colour on the upper edges of the abdominal segments.
It measures about 1¼ inches in length, and ranges from South Australia to
the central parts of Western Australia.
Polyzosteria limbata is a large dark brown cockroach margined on the
outer edge of the dorsal plates with yellow; it is common in the vicinity of
Sydney, and may be often noticed in the neighbourhood of Botany resting
on stumps and fences; it has the habit, like several other species, of
discharging a most offensive liquid when disturbed. Polyzosteria pubescens
is an allied but much larger insect, measures up to 2 inches in length and 1½
inch in breadth; it is of a uniform dull brown tint, and is common about
Kalgoorlie W.A., and will be probably found to range over a large portion
of the interior.
Polyzosteria mitchellii is a variegated, dull metallic green cockroach
ranging over the same country, but not more than 1½ inches in length. It has

the upper surface margined on the edges with yellow, and is mottled on the
legs and under-surface.

Figs. 5 and 6.—Desert Cockroaches.
5. Polyzosteria mitchellii (Angas). The green-banded
cockroach.
6. Polyzosteria pubescens (Tepper). The Pubescent
cockroach.

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Geoscapheus giganteus is our giant cockroach, measuring 2½ inches in
length and 1½ across the middle of the body. Like the last three it is
wingless, with the large prothoracic shield overlapping the head. In colour it
is bright reddish brown, crenulated and very rugose in the centre of the
dorsal surface. In the same year (1895) that Tepper obtained this fine
species, Saussure described another large roach under the name of
Macropanesthia rhinoceros, forming a new genus for its reception and
adding a second species which he named M. muelleri.

Family 3. White Ants.
TERMITIDAE.

Fig. 7.—Mastotermes darwiniensis (Froggatt).
The giant termite of Northern Australia, showing the
structure of the wings of the male.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The exact position of these insects in every scheme of classification has
been more or less vague, and while some writers place them in the
Orthoptera, more include them in the Neuroptera; others again to get over
the difficulty have formed a halting ground between the two and called
them Pseudo-Neuroptera. In the “Genera Insectorum,” Desneux has
followed Brullé and Comstock and placed them in a distinct order as
Isoptera. Grassi, one of the greatest living authorities on the anatomy of
insects, considers they are allied to the Neuroptera: but taking the broad
ground of outward structure upon which the Orders were formed, and
comparing the perfect termites, especially my giant species from North
Australia, Mastotermes darwiniensis, with other families, I consider they
are closely allied to the cockroaches, and therefore place them here. Take
the wing away from some of the larger species and they have a striking

resemblance to earwigs, and one of our greatest authorities on the family
(Hagen) actually described a damaged earwig from Japan as a termite.
Termites are widely distributed over all the warmer regions of the world,
though most numerous in tropical countries; and a number of fossil species
have been described from Europe and America.
When Hagen’s “Monograph of the Termitidae” was published in 1858,
only seven species were recorded from Australia and Tasmania, and one or
two of these are very doubtful. In my “Australian Termitidae” (Pro. Linn.
Soc. 1896–1897) the number was brought up to 35, and there are probably
many more to be discovered, so that the family is very well represented in
this country. Our species have been subdivided into nine genera placed in
six sub-families, which are chiefly formed on the wing structure.
Broadly speaking their habits are very similar, and each nest or
community consists of the same castes. First in order come the dark brown
perfect winged male and female insects, only found in the regular nests in
the early summer months; for soon after their wings are developed, the
workers cut openings in the clay walls of the nest, and they fly out in a
continuous stream, generally just before sunset, and when all have left the
workers again close up the openings for another year. In the winged state
they are known as “flying ants,” and on a warm summer night sometimes
come in such numbers round the lights, dropping their easily detached
wings all over the table, that they are a regular nuisance.
These perfect termites have well developed eyes; slender antennae
composed of short, rounded, bead-like joints standing out in front of the
rounded flattened head; and a short stout thorax fitting close against the
elongate rounded abdomen. They are furnished with two pairs of similar,
elongated, narrow wings of uniform width rounded at the tips, with
primitive parallel neuration; these are loosely attached to the basal wing-
flap by a cross suture, where they readily tear them across; when at rest they
are laid flat over each other down the back, extending well beyond the tip of
the body: the legs are short and stout.
Their flight is feeble, and of the millions that swarm out and flutter away
from the nest, probably not more than halfa-dozen couples are fortunate
enough to get into a suitable place to found a fresh colony.

Fig. 8.—Diagram of head of worker termite.
Dorsal view, showing the jaws and mouth parts.
Coptotermes (Termes) lacteus (Froggatt).
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 9.—Coptotermes (Termes) lacteus (Froggatt). Fully developed female or
Queen.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Plate II.—ORTHOPTERA.
Family Termitidae.
Coptotermes (Termes) lacteus (Froggatt).

1. Male (wings closed).
2. Male (wings expanded).
3. Worker.
4. Nymph.
5. Soldier.

Plate II.—ORTHOPTERA.

The next caste, that form the bulk of the life of the nest, are the workers,
delicate soft white creatures with pale yellow, rounded, flattened heads;
blind, but furnished with slender antennae; and a pair of short stout toothed
jaws hidden by the labrum, and which in the course of their labours do such
immense damage to all kinds of both native and imported timber. The third
caste, also always present, are the soldiers, that simply act as guards for the

whole nest, leaving all the work of building, feeding the young, and
gathering supplies to the workers. In the fourth we have the Queen, which
was originally one of the winged forms; after casting her wings she is
impregnated, and while the head, thorax and appendages remain as before,
the abdomen swells into a white cylindrical sack as thick as one’s little
finger; the chitinous plates that once fitted close together are now widely
separated and appear as narrow black bands. She is simply a mass of egg
tubes; and, looked after and fed by the attendant workers, she devotes her
life to laying eggs, which, like grains of sugar, are carried away and piled
up by the workers in adjacent chambers under the nursery. From these eggs
develop tiny white specks of matter that gradually develop by a regular
series of moults into workers, soldiers, and immature winged forms; the
latter have large rounded bodies and rounded wing pads representing the
future wings. Supplementary Queens are sometimes found that have never
gone through the winged stage; they have the general structure and large
corrugated bodies of the mature queens. The typical white ants’ nest, known
as a Termitarium, usually consists in the first instance of a mass of woody
laminated material that might be likened to papier-mache, originally a
stump or portion of a log that has been chewed up and voided in the form of
a mortar-like substance. This termitarium is full of irregular galleries
running like a network all through the mass, with the means of exit running
out under the nest; a mass of stout terraced structure above the ground level
surrounds the Royal Chambers, which might be likened in size and shape to
an inverted saucer, from which the enclosed Queen cannot escape, but the
attendant workers can pass to and fro. Above this is a rounded oval mass
often as big as a child’s head, which resembles stiff brown paper folded
round and round, full of fine openings, and is easily crumbled up; this, for
want of a better word, I call the nursery, as it contains all the minute larvae
as they emerge from the eggs. The formation above the nursery is more
irregular, and terminates in a rounded cap. The whole of this woody
structure is covered with a stout enveloping wall of fine clay, which, carried
up grain by grain, has been cemented together into a firm earthy wall in
contact with the woody structure at the base of the nest, but often with a
cavity at the apex.

Fig. 10.—Queen Termite (C. (Termes) lacteus) (Froggatt). Showing her in the Royal Cell or Queen’s
Chamber.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The nests of the Eutermes are sometimes built over stumps, but more
often on the branches or trunks of trees, where they form rounded or oval
masses a foot or two in diameter, with covered galleries leading down to the
ground. In these nests there is no distinct outer earthy sheath; when near the
ground, earth and wood are blended together in a very compact mass, full of
small galleries running at every angle, and have no distinct structure like the
first group. When the nest is placed on a tree trunk or branch away from the
ground it consists almost entirely of woody matter, and may be quite soft
and papery beneath the outer crust. In the West Indies these nests are
popularly known as “Negroheads.”
Other groups are never known to construct true nests, but form chambers
and galleries under the bark of trees, in banks, or simply under logs and
stones. Some in the interior are said to disappear underground from their
nests in the dry summer time, returning with the first rains and mending up
the dilapidated walls.
The members of the two genera Mastotermes and Calotermes have the
wings much more thickly veined than the more simple Termes and
Eutermes.
Mastotermes darwiniensis is the largest common species taken flying
round the lights at night in North Queensland and Port Darwin. It is very
dark brown, with thickly veined wings, and measures 1⅓ inches in length
from the front of the head to the tip of the folded wings. Nothing is known
of its nests or the other forms of this species. It is the sole representative of

the sub-family. I have, through the observations of Mr. N. W. Christie of
Port Darwin, good reasons for believing that Termes errabundus, described
from the soldiers and workers only, is identical with this giant termite. He
informs me that at Point Charles he finds the nests in every old post or
stump in the wet season.
Calotermes longiceps is the common Sydney species of this group, of
which we have six described from Australia, and one from New Zealand.
The soldier measures ½ inch in length, with a long broad head armed with
blackish projecting jaws, which are irregularly toothed on the inner edges.
The Calotermes live in logs and trees in small communities; they form no
regular nest; this species is found in logs of firewood about Sydney. In
some species the soldiers are very rare, the community consisting of
immature winged forms and workers.

Plate III.—ORTHOPTERA.
Family Termitidae.
Termitarium of the Meridonial White Ant, Termes meridionalis
(Froggatt).
“The Magnetic Nest,” Palmerston, Port Darwin, N. Australia.
(Original photo. N. Holtz.)]

Plate III.—ORTHOPTERA.

In the Rhinoterminae we have two species, differing from the former
group in having the wings very finely wrinkled or reticulated; and also in
having two distinct forms of soldiers, one much larger than the other, but
both with pear shaped heads and pointed finely-toothed jaws. Rhinotermes
intermedius is not uncommon in old stumps about Sydney; the winged
forms are of a light reddish brown colour with delicate wings; both the
workers and soldiers of the major type have large yellow heads, the latter
armed with curved jaws; while the heads of the small form of soldiers are
much more slender.

Fig. 11.—Typical Domed Termitarium or “White Ants’ Nest” from the coastal districts of
New South Wales. Formed by Coptotermes (Termes) lacteus (Froggatt).
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 12.—Vertical section of nest of the same
species shewing the structure of the woody
interior, with the outer clay covering.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The typical Termitinae comprise nearly all the species that build regular
mounds, containing countless thousands of individuals. Termes lacteus is
the common species that does so much mischief to buildings about Sydney,
and though not a mound builder about the city, yet from Colo Vale to
Victoria and also northward it forms tall rounded nests up to six feet high
and very regular in structure. The soldier is about ¼ inch long, with a
bright, yellow, pear shaped head, and a pair of curved jaws; it also has an
opening in the front of the head above the jaws from which it can discharge
a globule of milk-like fluid when disturbed. This species with several allied
forms has been placed in the genus Coptotermes. Termes meridionalis has a
small soldier, almost white, with a rounded yellow head armed with two
slender curved jaws, and an incurved tooth in the centre of the inner margin;
it measures a little over ⅙ of an inch in length. It has a world wide
reputation on account of building what is known as the “Magnetic Nest,”
built like a brick wall and always pointing north and south, with the wall
facing east and west. Jack (Pro. Royal Society, Queensland, 1897) considers
that this is done by the termites always building towards the rising sun; so

that, as they work at night, the clay will dry rapidly. They are found in
several localities on Cape York and near Port Darwin. Several very distinct
species are found in the interior. Termes perniger ranges from Kalgoorlie
W.A. to Western Queensland; the soldier is a very dark coloured insect with
a very large head furnished with large powerful toothed jaws, and is very
savage. T. rubriceps is found in small colonies in Central Australia, forming
their nests at the roots of the tussocks of spinifex grass. T. krisiformes, a
species in which the soldier has slender irregular jaws like a Malay kris,
makes tiny little mounds about Bulli N.S.W. or forms colonies under the
shelter of a log.

Fig. 13.—Nest of White Ant (Eutermes fumipennis) (Walker), upon the summit of a
rock where a small stump had been situated. Manly, near Sydney, N.S.W.
(Original photo. W.W.F.)

The members of the genus Eutermes are common all over Australia; they
construct hard woody nests seldom more than a foot or two high; though at
the same time, the largest known termitarium is also built by one species,

Eutermes pyriformis, pillar shaped and often 18 feet in height, probably in
the first instance commenced over a dead tree trunk.
The soldiers are very curious looking creatures; the peculiar oval or
rounded heads produced into an awl-like point in front, the centre being
filled with a clear honey-like fluid; this is discharged down the projecting
snout and smothers their enemies, because they have no true jaws above the
mouth: most of them are much darker brown insects than the other termites.
The two species, Eutermes fumigatus, the darker, smaller species, and E.
fumipennis, the lighter tinted, are common in the vicinity of Sydney.

Fig. 14.—Typical nest, of the Spinifex termite (Eutermes
triodiae) (Froggatt), about 14 feet high. Hall’s Creek,
Kimberley, W.A.
(Original photo. Mansbridge.)

Family 4. Web-spinners.
EMBIIDAE.

These rare and curious little chocolate brown creatures are elongate in
form, not unlike a slender adult termite after it has shed its wings, and they
form another group that has puzzled entomologists in regard to their
classification. Only twenty species are known from all parts of the world;
but from their affinities to prehistoric insects they have been carefully
studied. Grassi worked at the life-history of a species found in Southern
Europe under stones: Wood-Mason has figured and described Indian forms
and placed them in the Orthoptera: Perkins says that the species in Hawaii
is common on tree trunks where they conceal themselves under a fine web
like spiders.

Plate IV.—ORTHOPTERA.
Family Termitidae.
Termitarium of the Great Mound-nest White Ant, Eutermes pyriformis (Froggatt).
Palmerston, Port Darwin, N. Australia.
(Original photo. N. Holtz.)

Plate IV.—ORTHOPTERA.

Fig. 15.—Oligotoma gurneyi (Froggatt).
The web spinning embiid. With a
diagram showing the primitive
structure of wing.
(Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.)

They measure up to about ½ an inch in length; are elongate in form with
large globular heads, small toothed jaws, and long, slender antennae
composed of 20 or more bead-shaped joints which they are constantly
moving when they run about. The thorax is formed of three very elongated
segments, so that each pair of legs is very wide apart; and in the winged
forms the slender oar-shaped wings with very primitive nervures are so far
from each other that they have quite a comical look; the abdomen is short,
cylindrical, composed of 10 segments, rounded at the tip, with large anal
appendages (cerci). The legs are curiously thickened, with the tarsi of the
front pair shaped somewhat like a weaver’s shuttle. Until last year they
were unknown in Australia, when I described two species (Proc. Linn. Soc.
1904); the first Oligotoma agilis, is a wingless form, of which I found two
specimens while turning over granite boulders at Bomen near Wagga
N.S.W. The second, Oligotoma gurneyi, was obtained by Mr. Gurney in a
lighted room one evening in a suburb of Sydney; it had well developed
wings. Soon afterwards Mr. Steel had his attention called to what one of the

men in the Colonial Sugar Co.’s refinery at Pyrmont called a “white
fungus” under one of the windows. This Mr. Steel found to be a mass of
white web matted with excrement and full of slender brown insects, which
he collected into a bottle and handed to me. Though most of them were
mature, only a few showed regular wing pads, but otherwise they appear to
be O. gurneyi; in captivity they spun a great quantity of delicate white web
among which they hid, but when wet sugar was placed on the cork they ate
it readily.

Family 5. Book Lice.
PSOCIDAE.

These are very delicate little creatures that run about on moss grown
fences, tree trunks, among foliage, or hide in boxes, old baskets and other
litter. In some groups, while the larvae and pupae are wingless, the perfect
insects have two pairs of delicate wings with curious curved transverse
nervures and very few cross veins, so that the cells are few. In other groups
the perfect insects are wingless, or if present, aborted and useless for flight.
They are all furnished with long slender antennae consisting of from 11 to
25 joints; the head is large, rounded in front, with convex eyes, and three
ocelli (wanting in the wingless forms).

Fig. 16.—Philotarsus froggatti (Enderlein). A typical
specimen of the Psocidae found near Sydney, N.S.W.
(Redrawn from Enderlein’s figure,—W.W.F.)

They can be collected into a small tube on fences or tree trunks, or
shaken into a net or umbrella; but they must be handled very gently, and are
best placed in dry tubes, and killed and mounted at home. Many handsome
species are found in Australia, and some probably have a wide distribution,
as they are easily introduced into a new country with many kinds of
produce. One dull winged species is very common on the foliage of the
orange trees, where it lays its metallic green eggs in patches of 9 or 12 on
the midrib of the leaf, covering them over with a delicate white silken sheet.
A number of species were obtained in Australia by the Hungarian
entomologist L. Biro, collecting for the Royal Museum of Hungary, chiefly
captured in the neighbourhood of Sydney. In 1903 Dr. Enderlein classified
and described these (Die Copeognathen des Indo-Australischen
Faunengebietes), published in the Annals of the above Museum, and
illustrated with many fine drawings. In this monograph he divides the
family into 16 sub-families, 39 genera and 115 species, 15 of which are
described from Australia.
Philotarsus froggatti, a tiny creature 2⅓ millimetres in length, with clear
wings, is found on the Blue Mountains.

Family 6. Mantids.
MANTIDAE.

We have no exact popular name for these peculiar insects; some of the
bush children call them “Forest Ladies,” on account of the dainty form and
graceful motion of several of our smaller species, which is rather
appropriate; but unfortunately several lace-wings go under the same
fanciful name. In the United States the common species are called “Rear
Horses” from the way they stand at rest with raised fore legs. The Romans
called them “Soothsayers;” and at least two species are known as “Praying
Mantis,” namely Mantis religiosa in Europe, and Mantis carolina in the
United States, from their pious attitudes.
They are most numerous in tropical countries, and are well represented
in Australia; Westwood in his “Synopsis of the Species of Mantidae,”
published in 1889, records 624 described species, only 30 of which come
from this country. Kirby’s Catalogue (1904) brings the list up to about 843,
and adds 5 more to our list of described species.

With the exception of some curious little neuroptera (Mantispa), which
can be easily distinguished by their lace-like wings, the members of this
family cannot be confused with other groups. The long slender prothorax,
supporting a very flexible narrow head, forms an elongate neck, to which
are attached, well in front, the formidable spined fore legs, which are
seldom used as means of progression, but as weapons of offence to capture
other insects upon which they prey, for they are tigers of the insect world,
lying in wait, perfectly motionless, with their colouration adapted to the
foliage among which they hunt. The two apical portions of the thorax, and
slender body, which in the ordinary type is covered with two pairs of wings,
the first pair narrow like that of a grasshopper and the hind pair fan-shaped,
with the two pairs of slender legs, are orthopterous; while the front portion,
consisting of the narrow head turned down in front into a pointed mouth,
with large projecting eyes, and thread-like antennae, show its carnivorous
habits. The female deposits her eggs upon the twigs or bark of trees in an
almond-shaped mass, consisting of regular rows of elongate eggs piled
above each other, with the tips all pointing outward, and which are covered
with an enveloping coat of a sticky brown secretion that, as it hardens in the
sun, becomes dry and papery. When the baby mantids emerge from the eggs
they are attached to them by two slender threads fastened to the anal
appendages (cerci); they hang head downward, like a mass of tiny
squirming caterpillars, until they cast their first larval skin, when they fall to
the ground, soft, wingless, little stick-like creatures, ready to hunt for
themselves. These egg masses are very conspicuous objects in the bush and
orchard, and are often received from my correspondents with enquiries as to
what they are, and whether they should be destroyed. As each is the home
of some hundreds of little creatures that destroy thousands of smaller
injurious insects, they should never be disturbed by the gardener.
The commonest species in our gardens is the “Thick shouldered green
mantis,” Orthodera ministralis better known under the name of Orthodera
prasina, but as it was described many years before under the first name, the
latter has become a synonym. It is about 1½ inches in length, somewhat
stout and thickset, the front portion of the neck-like prothorax as wide as
the head, fitting up close against it, and narrower where it joins the
mesothorax. It has well developed wings and flies very well, but it usually
remains immovable and alert, resting on a leaf as green as its own bright
coat, its treacherous deadly fore-legs are raised, ready to lash out and seize

any incautious moth or butterfly that comes within reach, and it will often
secure one larger than itself. It ranges from Tasmania round to North-west
Australia, and has been recorded from New Zealand, into which place it
could have been easily introduced from Australia with foliage plants.

Figs. 17 and 18.—Australian Mantidae.
17. Tenodera australasiae (Leach), the long-winged
mantis.
18. Archimantis latistylus (Serv.), the short-winged
mantis.
(Original photo. Burton.)

The Genus Archimantis contains five species described from Australia,
of which Archimantis latistylus is the commonest species about Sydney. It
measures 4 inches in length, is furnished with large well developed wings,
and varies in colour from dull green to brownish yellow; the female is

smaller, with more thickened body and shorter wings. The fore-wings, or
more properly elytra, are brown, rounded at the tips, often marked in the
centre with a dark spot; the hind wings are semitransparent. It hides among
the dull-coloured foliage of the Leptospermum and Melaleuca bushes,
which assimilate well with its own uniform tint. This species will be found,
figured, in colours in McCoy’s “Zoology of Victoria, Decade xiii.”
Archimantis montrosa, a slightly larger species, comes from Victoria
River, North Australia; the type was taken by Elsey, naturalist to the
Gregory Exploring Expedition in 1856. A. armatus, a smaller brown
species, from the same district, has the prothorax curiously spined on the
outer margins, and the under-surface covered with coarse tubercles.
Tenodera australasiae is another of our best known species, not
uncommon about Sydney in the summer months on the low scrub. It was
first described, and figured in colours, by Leach in his “Zoological
Miscellanies” 1815; and Westwood states that the type is in the Banksian
Collection in the British Museum. It has a wide range over Australia, and is
also a native of New Caledonia, New Guinea and Ceram. It is a more
brightly-tinted insect, 3½ inches in length, of a general yellowish brown
colour; the apical edge of the elytra striped with green, followed with a
stripe of pale salmon colour, and the rest semitransparent; the wings are
tinged with pink along the front margin, the whole mottled with black and
brown, thickest towards the body.
There are a number of active, little, black or dark brown mantids with
curiously shaped bodies that run about on the dull coloured tree trunks,
seldom flying, (though many of them are winged), but trusting to their
imitative tints to escape observation; several of our species belong to the
Genus Paroxypilus.

Family 7. Stick or Leaf Insects.
PHASMIDAE.

These are sometimes in general appearance not unlike mantids, but the
distinctive characteristics are well defined; for though the prothorax is more
or less elongated into a neck, and the abdomen, wings, and hind legs long, it
will soon be noticed that the fore pair of legs are not spined, but are regular
walking or clinging legs like the hind ones. The head is oval or rounded,

with a somewhat simple mouth adapted for chewing foliage; smaller eyes;
and large, thicker jointed antennae.

Plate V.—ORTHOPTERA.
Family Phasmidae.
Podacanthus wilkinsoni (Macleay).
1. Male.
2. Female.
3. Immature male.
4. Showing structure of hind legs of immature male.
5. Egg (enlarged).

Plate V.—ORTHOPTERA.

They in the matter of colouration also adapt themselves to their
surroundings, and are usually green or brown when at rest, though when the
wings are expanded they exhibit some brilliant tints. In some groups the
species are winged in both sexes; others have only winged males; and one
group is wingless in both sexes, the latter generally long, slender, and stick-
like.

This family contains some of the giants of the insect world; specimens of
several of our Australian species measure 12 inches in length; while
supposed closely allied fossil forms unearthed in the Carboniferous deposits
of Europe measure up to 19 inches and were supplied with immense wings.
The female while crawling about among the foliage drops her eggs singly
on the ground beneath, where, protected in their hard shells among the litter,
they sometimes remain over a year before the baby phasma comes out. The
remarkable form and texture of these hard oval egg cases has attracted the
attention of entomologists in many countries, and Sharp has figured and
described some from New Britain.
Just as the Mantis has adapted its colour and shape to catch its prey, so
the phasma to protect itself from its many enemies has evolved wonderful
leaf-like processes upon the wings and legs, agreeing in style with the
surrounding foliage. It is noticeable that the larger bodied female is often
more leaf-like than her slender mate, probably because more helpless; this
is particularly so in the gravid or egg-laying condition.
G. R. Gray described a number of our species in the Transactions of the
Entomological Society 1836, and others in the “Entomology of Australian
Phasmidae” 1833, and later in his “Synopsis Phasmidae”; Westwood in his
“Catalogue of the Orthopterous Insects in the British Museum” 1859
describes some; a few have been described by Macleay, Leach, McCoy and
Rainbow, bringing our list up to about 60 species. In Kirby’s Catalogue 95
species are listed from all parts of the world, but no additions are made to
our list.
The members of the Genus Bacillus are slender, wingless, stick-like
creatures of which 5 species are recorded from Australia. The Great Brown
Phasma, Acrophylla titan, is the type of one of our groups, containing 11
species described from this country. The female measures 8 inches to the tip
of the body, and is slightly broader across the outspread wings; the general
form of head and thorax to base of tegmina is slender; the abdomen is
thickened; the legs and mesothorax are spiny. The general colour is greyish
brown; the tegmina light brown, but thickly blotched with blue-black so
that it is often more black than brown; the wings are very large with the
costal area broad and similar in colour to the tegmina, but shaded with red
at base, the hind membranous part of them light chocolate irregularly
mottled with dull greyish brown. The male is more slender in form, about

an inch shorter, the smaller tegmina mottled with greenish yellow; the front
of the wings, which are proportionately small, are of the same colour, and
the hind portion dark chocolate finely mottled with light brown. This large
stick-insect used to be common about Sydney before the scrub was cleared
away, and ranges northward up the coast. Gray says: “It is found on low
scrubs about Port Jackson where the inhabitants call it “Walking Straw” or
the “Animated Stick.”

Fig. 19.—Group of Gregarious Phasmids,
Podacanthus wilkinsoni (Macleay) resting upon
denuded eucalyptus foliage.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Genus Podacanthus is represented by 3 fine species. The large pink
winged phasma, P. typhon, has a wide range from Victoria to Queensland.
When resting with closed wings it is of a uniform rich green tint, but when
the wings are opened out, the upper surface of the abdomen and the wings
behind the frontal stripe are bright rose red. The female measures 5 inches
to the tip of the body and over 7 inches across the outspread wings. In this
genus the mesothorax is short, the dorsal surface covered with short spined
bosses and the metathorax swelling out into a thickened body tapering to
the large boat shaped ovipositor. The male is smaller and much more
slender.
P. wilkinsoni is a gregarious species, appearing in the summer in the
New England forests in countless thousands, stripping every leaf off the
eucalyptus bushes as they travel along to the south-east, so that all the trees
look as if they had been killed by ringbarking, from which habit they have
received the name of “Lourie’s Ringbarkers,” Mr. Lourie being the owner
of Noundoc Station, where they are very numerous. The female measures
about 3½ inches to the tip of the body, which is broad and thickset from the
shoulders, of a general uniform bright green tint on the dorsal surface, with
the ventral somewhat blackened and roughened. When the wings are
expanded the front margin shows the basal part pale orange yellow, and the
membranous part behind varying from rich rose red to pink. The male is a
more slender insect of a dull olive green tint, about the same length, with
the broad wings delicate purple. They appear with well developed wings
about New Year, and are depositing their eggs toward the end of February,
the first frost killing the last of them off.
Didymuria violescens was described and figured in Leach’s “Zoological
Miscellanies 1815” as our typical Australian Phasma; Gray again figured it
in colours in his “Entomology of Australia” under the name of the “Violet-
winged tailed Spectre.” It is a slender species not unlike the last, of a
brownish yellow colour, with wings of a deep violet almost red tint; and it
has 3 large spines on the thighs of the hind legs.
The Genus Tropidoderus contains four species according to the latest
catalogue, though there is some doubt whether one or two should not be
defined as only varieties of T. childreni described by Gray.

T. rhodomus is figured and described by McCoy; it measures 6 inches in
length and 9 across the outspread wings. With closed wings it is a rich
green, but when they are expanded, the basal portion of the wings is bright
red, with the apical portion green, and the rest semitransparent. The tegmina
is short, leaf-like, green above, but shaded with red on the under-surface.
This is one of the short-necked broad-bodied forms, and while the fore-legs
are long and slender, the thighs of the mid and hind pair are dilated into
flattened leaf-like forms; it is found, clinging among the foliage of the gum
trees, from Victoria to Queensland. The typical T. childreni differs from this
form in having the basal portion of the apical area of the wings yellow
instead of red, and the hyaline wings tinged with yellow. McCoy has
figured another under the name of T. iodomus: and Rainbow a fourth from
the neighbourhood of Sydney under the name of T. decipiens which also
comes very close to the typical species; it has the basal portion of the apical
area of the wings purple.

Fig. 20.—The Spiny Green Leaf Insect. Extatosoma
tiaratum (Macleay).
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Extatosoma tiaratum is remarkable for the great difference in the sexes;
the male is a rare insect, about 4 inches long; is a dull dark green, with
small tegmina; the wings are large, rounded at the tip, the apical margin
green with the rest semiopaque, dark brown, mottled with whitish bands;
the head is conical, coming to a point at the summit and cleft in the centre,
covered with fine tubercles.
The female measures about 5 inches, is of a similar colour, large and
swollen in proportion; the tegmina are represented by two flaps, and the
wings are wanting. The head is of the same conical shape as that of the

male, but larger; neck short and stout; the legs produced into dilated spiny
leaf-like processes, cut out and arcuate like the leaves of holly; and the
lower segments of the abdomen are fringed with spiny leaf-like appendages.
Often the large body is mottled with white specks and smutty blotches,
giving it a wonderful resemblance to the foliage among which it hides. It
has a very wide range from Tasmania to New Guinea.

Fig. 21.—A group of Spiny Green Leaf Insects, Extatosoma
tiaratum placed on a Japanese Holly bush to show
protective mimicry.
(“Agricultural Gazette” N.S.W.)

Clemacantha regale is a large, handsome, very long phasma over 9
inches in length, of a combined yellow and green tint; the head is striped

with parallel green and pale yellow. The leaf-like tegmina are striped with
white; wings have the apical area green shaded with pink at base; rest
semitransparent with a blue tint. It ranges from N.S. Wales to Queensland.

Family 8. Short-horned Grasshoppers.
ACRIDIIDAE.

These are insects with the thighs of the hind legs swollen or enlarged,
much longer than the fore legs, and adapted for jumping. The tarsi are
composed of three distinct segments. The antennae are short, containing
less than 30 joints; the ovipositor of the females is not sabre-shaped, but
composed of short plates adapted for boring into the ground; and the organs
representing ears are placed on the sides of the first abdominal segment.
This group of the Orthoptera may be described as the short-horned locusts
or grasshoppers in contradistinction to the tree or grass dwelling green
grasshoppers with long thread-like antennae. All the true plague locusts that
ravage many of the warmer countries and do an immense amount of
damage belong to this division. Many species have a wide range; our
locusts are allied to the African and Indian forms. Most of the species are
winged, and many are capable of long sustained flight; these are furnished
with air sacs in the interior of the thorax and abdomen; these when
distended with air assist in lightening the otherwise heavy body. The
remarkable shrill notes produced by some of these insects are caused by
rubbing the inner edge of the hind thigh against the outer surface of the
wing covers which are frequently furnished with ridges or raised veins for
this purpose. The so-called ears consist of a membrane covering a small
opening on the abdomen, and are of a somewhat different structure in
different groups.

Fig. 22.—Diagram of Grasshopper. Cyrtacanthacris exacta (♀) (Walker).
ant, antennae; e, eye; vert, vertex; oc, ocellus; fast, fastigium; c. fac, costae facialis; c, clypeus; m,
mandible; l, labrum; mp, maxilliary palpi; lp, labial palpi; ps, prosternal spine; p, pronotum; m.
epis, meso-episternum; m. epim, meso-epimeron; co, coxa; tr, trochanter; meta-epis, meta-
episternum; meta-epim, meta-epimeron; fem, femur; tib, tibia; tar, tarsus; sp, spiracle; v, ventral
valves of ovipositor.
(Original W. B. Gurney.)

The reproductive organs of the female consist of several anal plates that
are used after the manner of an auger to cut a circular pit in the hard soil,
the abdominal segments being extended while the operation is going on; the
eggs are deposited at the bottom of the hole, enclosed in a similar exudation
as that which encloses the eggs of the mantis, and some of the plague
locusts deposit two or more egg masses before they die. These grasshoppers
have been studied by many entomologists, who have subdivided them into
different groups. Brunner von Wattenwyl places them under nine sub-
families or tribes chiefly based on the structure of the head. Saussure has
described some of our species; Walker, Stoll and Blanchard others.

Fig. 23.—Locusta danica (Linn.) The Yellow-winged Locust.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Yellow-winged Locust, Locusta danica, is common in open forest
country all over Australia, and usually makes a rustling noise as it flies up;
it is too well known to need describing; with its wings closed it is a mottled,
dull brown and green insect up to 2 inches in length, with a short broad
head and crested thorax; when the wings are opened it shows a large patch
of rich yellow banded with black. The male is often fully a third smaller
than the female. It has been described under a great number of different
names, but is now considered the same insect as found in the South of
Europe, Africa and Asia.
The Blue Mountain Locust, Oedaleus senegalensis, might easily be
mistaken for a smaller dull coloured specimen of the last one, but the
yellow tint, when present, is very slight, and the wings have the tips
blackened as well as the inner band. It has a wide range over Australia, and
is also found in Africa from which place it was described by Krauss.

Fig. 24.—Chortoicetes pusilla (Walker). The
small Plague-locust of the interior of
Australia.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 25.—Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker). The larger Plague-
locust.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Large Coast Locust, Acridium maculicollis, is sometimes found in
gardens; it measures 3 inches to the tip of the wings, and is greyish brown
with darkly mottled elytra. Locusta australis is like the Yellow-winged
Locust, with more regularly mottled elytra, and clear transparent wings. The
small plain Locust, Chortoicetes pusilla, is under 1 inch in length; the male
is of a general bright yellow colour, and the female, somewhat larger, of a
general greyish brown tint. It is the species that for the last few years has
done so much damage to our grass and crops in the Western country. C.
terminifera is one-third larger, and is of a general light brown mottled
colour, with the wings semitransparent, tipped with dull brown; it at times is
one of our plague locusts. The Rose-winged Locust, Hyalopteryx australis,
is one of our small but very noisy locusts, about 8 lines in length; when at
rest it is light brown mottled with darker tints, the expanded hind wings are
brightly shaded with rose pink and clouded with black. It is found in open
grass lands, and when disturbed rises with a very shrill screech. The Red-
legged Locust, Cirphula pyrocnemis, is a short broad insect about 1 inch
long; is of a general dark brown tint, with the expanded wings dark
yellowish brown: the head and thorax are roughened; the abdominal
segments are dull yellow with several black bands on the sides: it is
common on the open flats about Sydney in summer. The common “Great
Striped Locust,” Cyrtacanthacris exacta, measures nearly 3 inches; it
ranges all along the Eastern coast and is often seen in secluded gardens; it
has a broad dorsal stripe down the centre, varying from yellow to dull
green.

Fig. 26.—Cirphula pyrocnemis (Stäl). The Red-legged Locust.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Figs. 27 and 28.—Australian Grasshoppers.
27.—Tryxalis rafflesii (Blanchard). The Slender Narrow-headed
Grasshopper.
28.—Goniæa australasiae (Leach). The Ridge-backed Grasshopper.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Long-nosed Locust, Tryxalis rafflesii, is very common in open
grassed flats; the female is nearly 3 inches long, with a slender pointed
head, and long pointed body, varying from all shades of grass green to pale
salmon colour. It is easily recognised by its curious finger-like antennae,
and grotesque head. The male is a very slender, much smaller insect. The
pink-winged Tryxalid, Atrastemorpha crenaticeps, is much smaller; it has a
pointed head of a uniform pale green tint; the wings are brightly tinted with

red, deepest at the shoulders. The Ridge-backed Grasshopper, Goniaea
australasiae, is a large, stout, reddish brown insect about 2 inches long,
which lives on the hills in open forest; the male is a much smaller hopper,
but both sexes have the head, thorax, and closed wings forming a sharp
ridge down the back. In similar open forest country we find Coryphistes
cyanopterus, which usually rests on the tree trunks, with its slightly
roughened head, thorax, and mottled elytra closely resembling the bark. It
measures 2½ inches in length, but though it is very variable in size and
outward colouration, the wings when expanded always show a rich blue
tint. The Crested Locust, Ecphantus quadrilobis, is one of our western
forms that rests among the dry grass on the plains; it is dull green to yellow,
short and thickset; is 1½ inches long; with the back ridged, and the crested
thorax formed into 4 lobes. The spotted locust, Stropis maculosa, is another
of our western forms; it is broad and thickset; about 2 inches long; of a
uniform dark brown tint, with the thorax barred, and the elytra mottled with
large patches of light yellow.

Fig. 29.—Coryphistes cyanopterus (Charpentier).
The Blue-winged Locust.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 30.—Stropis maculosa (Stäl). The Spotted Ground-locust of the
interior.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

There are also many other curious forms of wingless, short-horned
locusts in the interior, belonging to several genera, and probably some fine
things that have never reached our museums.

Family 9. Long-horned Grasshoppers.
LOCUSTIDAE.

These grasshoppers are found not only among the grass but on low
shrubs, or in tree tops, feeding upon the foliage; while others, many of them
wingless, live underground after the manner of crickets. Among those that
frequent trees are some that, like the phasmids, have the legs and wing-
covers so wonderfully veined and spotted that they are an exact imitation of
the leaves of their food plant. They are easily distinguished from the
previous group by their long, slender, thread-like antennae composed of a
number of fine joints; in most cases the body is softer; and in the female
furnished with a sabre-like ovipositor with which she generally deposits her
eggs in rows along the side of a leaf or twig, though others place them on
the ground. The basal portion of the thigh of the hind leg is generally
thickest, and most of the species have four jointed tarsi, with the ear process
not upon the base of the abdomen, but on the knees of the fore-legs. Some
are said to be carnivorous, and I have twice seen a large green species
which comes to the flowers of the stunted angophora devouring honey bees,
but probably more for the honey they contain than the blood of the bee.
Brunner von Wattenwyl has written a great deal about these insects and
described a number of Australian species. Tepper is one of the few

Australian entomologists who has taken up this group, describing some in
the Transactions of the Royal Society of S. Australia: in the Locustidae of
the world Sharp groups them into fifteen tribes. Most of these Orthoptera
are solitary or found in pairs; some too have a very musical note.
The Mountain Grasshopper, Acridopeza reticulata, is such a curious
looking creature that it has been figured and noted by many naturalists.
Both sexes are of a uniform dull brown colour, but very different in
structure; the male measures 2 inches; has long pointed elytra, and well
developed wings; the head is small; the antennae slender and thread-like;
the eyes stand out on the side of the head, and the thorax is saddle shaped.
The female is furnished with a very short, rounded body richly mottled with
blue, white, and red, covered with a pair of rounded, short, shell-like elytra,
but the wings are wanting. When disturbed she stands on tiptoes, arches her
body, raises her elytra exposing all the bright tints of her body, which
probably act as a warning to her enemies.

Plate VI.—ORTHOPTERA.
Family Locustidae.
1. Acridopeza reticulata (Guérin), ♀.
1a. Acridopeza reticulata (Guérin), ♂.
1b. Acridopeza reticulata (Guérin), eggs.
2. Alectoria superba (Brunner).
3. Ephippitytha 32-guttata (Serv.).
4. Pseudorhynchus lessonii (Serv.).

Plate VI.—ORTHOPTERA.

Another remarkable grasshopper is Alectoria superba, found in the dry
western country among the grass; it is a long, slender, green insect,
measuring 2½ inches; the elytra and legs are richly mottled with bright
reddish brown; the thorax is produced into a large circular crest edged with
bright red, a large boss below on either side, and another projecting above
the head. The female has a very small lance-like ovipositor. The Speckled
Green Grasshopper, Ephippitytha 32-guttata, is about the same length as the
last, of a somewhat lighter green tint, and has the elytra mottled with a
double row of black spots varying from 32 to 44 in number. The head is
small, the thorax short and somewhat saddle-shaped. It is found about
Sydney on flowering shrubs; and there is a darker variety which has a wide

range over the interior, to which Tepper has given the name of E.
quadrigesima-guttatus. The Small Green Grasshopper, Caedicia valida, is
one of our dainty, slender, green species found in the gardens, where it
sometimes damages the young fruit by gnawing patches off the skin, or
nibbles holes in the foliage; it produces a sharp musical note uttered three
times in succession.
The Large Green Leaf Grasshopper, Locusta vigentissima, figured by
McCoy, is also found on low shrubs in the summer; it measures nearly 3
inches, and is of a uniform dull green colour, with the head, legs and
antennae more or less yellow: the head is broad; the thorax stout; the legs
long and spiny; the elytra long, tapering to the tips; the wings large,
semitransparent; the abdomen short, in the female furnished with a long
sabre-like ovipositor. The Lance-headed Grasshopper, Pseudorhynchus
lessonii, has a wide range along the eastern coast among the long grass; it is
green, with the tips of the elytra marked with yellow; the wings are small,
and the front of the head produced into a lance-like point. Among the
foliage of the eucalypts in Southern Australia there is a very handsome large
grasshopper with the head small, the thorax very square, and the elytra very
leaf-like in form; it has a curious bloom upon it like that upon many of the
gum leaves, and is a very fine case of mimicry.
The Genus Anostosoma comprises a number of reddish brown wingless
locusts more like crickets in many ways, for they live chiefly in holes in the
ground, have long thread-like antennae, and stout spiny legs. Anostosoma
australasiae is a very formidable looking insect with immense head and
jaws, originally described from Moreton Bay; it is sometimes found about
Sydney, measuring 3 inches in length; it has antennae over 4 inches long.
The smaller species, Anostosoma erinaceus, is of a similar colour and form,
but not more than 1½ inches in length; it is not uncommon in gardens.
Paragryllacris combusta lives in hiding during the day under a curled
leaf spathe of a palm frond, or in a cavity in a tree trunk; if in the last it
often forms a white tough substance of a net-like structure over the front,
and if disturbed will snap at a grass blade or straw and shake the net,
making a distinct sharp sound. It is of a uniform, yellowish brown tint,
measuring about 2 inches to the tip of the large curled wings closely folded
over the body.

The curious Cave Locust, Pachyrhamma sp., with its small oval body,
and long slender antennae and hind legs, is always found in caves. It is a
dull brown wingless creature, whose slender thread-like antennae are many
times longer than the body.

Family 10. Crickets.
GRYLLIDAE.

These are the black field and house crickets which are so well known by
their shrill note; this is caused by the insect rubbing the stout wing covers or
elytra together; those of the males have a distinct circular wavy neuration
forming distinct ridges for this purpose.
Crickets are easily distinguished by their slender thread-like antennae,
short rounded heads, black wings folded down the back, and spiny hind legs
adapted both for creeping through the grass or jumping out of the road of
their enemies. The abdomen is furnished with a pair of slender spined
appendages on the sides, and the female with a stiletto-like ovipositor
composed of two grooved pieces by which the eggs are deposited in the
ground.
We have a number of field crickets in this country; Walker in his
catalogue of the family gives 12 species, of which Gryllus servillei is our
common field cricket, sometimes swarming out in sufficient numbers to do
a great deal of damage to field crops and vegetable gardens. It is of a
uniform black tint, with a short, shining, round head; it measures about 1
inch in length, and has a wide range over Australia. The Mole Cricket,
Gryllotalpa coarctata, is found all over the interior, forming underground
tunnels in the sand along the edges of watercourses; it was collected in the
Horn Expedition in Central Australia, and is also found about Sydney. It is
of the usual dull brown tint, with hooded thorax and spade-shaped fore-legs.
Another curious little black cricket is common about the edges of
watercourses, and when disturbed often jumps in and swims about on the
surface; it belongs to the Genus Nemobius, and is only ⅙ of an inch in
length.

Plate VII.—ORTHOPTERA.
Family Gryllidae.

1. Gryllus servillei (Sauss.).
1a. Gryllus servillei (Sauss.). (Elytron ♀.)
2. Gryllotalpa coarctata (Walk.).
3. Pachyrhamma sp.
4. Nemobius sp.
5. Paragryllacris combusta (Germ.).
6. Anostostoma erinaceus (Gray).]

Plate VII.—ORTHOPTERA.

Order III.—NEUROPTERA.
Lace-winged Insects.

After excising the families usually treated as Pseudo-Neuroptera from
this order, these insects can be defined as the “lace wings,” furnished with
two pairs of delicate gauzy wings reticulated with a network of fine
transverse and parallel veins forming a great number of more or less
irregular cells. The head is furnished, with a few exceptions, with stout jaws
adapted to their carnivorous habits; large eyes; and antennae of many
different forms, sometimes short, thickened, or clubbed, but in others long,
slender, and filiform. The legs, suited to their clinging habits when at rest,
are generally slender, and the body more or less elongate.
Most of them undergo a complete metamorphosis; the active larvae are
furnished with large sucking or biting jaws; in the terrestrial forms they live
among foliage or on the ground, and feed upon aphids, mites, ants, &c., and
when full grown pupate in regular cocoons. While some of the aquatic
forms go through a pupal stage in cells in the mud or under stones, others,
like the dragon flies, have no true pupal form, simply going through a series
of moults, and changing from an aquatic life to an aerial one by crawling
out of the water and emerging from the pupal case, leaving it attached to the
water plant.
Sharp places the Neuroptera in eleven families, further divided up into a
number of sub-families under five tribes. In excising the Pseudo-
Neuroptera seven families remain, though the Hemerobiidae includes a
number of sub-families that by some writers are ranked as families.
The Neuroptera are represented in Australia by many very handsome and
curious insects, of which the dragon flies are probably the most typical and
well known.

Family 1. Stone-flies.
PERLIDAE.

The Stone-flies are not an extensive group, and though the European and
American forms have been studied, very little is known about our species.

In England several species are much prized by fishermen as tempting bait
for fly-fishing.
The perfect insects have oblong, flattened bodies of uniform width to the
tip of the abdomen, terminating in a pair of long slender tails or setae. The
head is long, provided with large prominent eyes, three ocelli, slender
thread-like antennae, and weak mouth parts; the fore-wings are slightly
longer than the hind ones, which are very broad and folded down the
middle when closed. They are generally found about watercourses in early
summer, and lay an immense number of eggs (5,000 to 6,000 some
authorities state are laid by each female); these eggs are dropped on the
surface of the water. The larvae are very like the perfect insects except that
they have no wings; they are active carnivorous creatures living in the
bottom of swift running streams, crawling under the stones, and feeding
chiefly on the larvae of mayflies.
Only four or five species have been described from Australia; I had a
number of specimens sent me from Hobart, Tasmania, the larvae of which
were said to be damaging the woodwork down a well. It has been identified
as Eusthenia spectabilis. This insect was named by Westwood, and is
figured in Griffith’s “Animal Kingdom,” (page 348, plate 72). It measures
about 2 inches across the outspread wings; its general colour is dark brown,
with the fore wings lighter, mottled with brown at the base and the lower
half dull red; the hind pair brighter red with the tips blackish. The head is
flattened, with long slender many jointed antennae tapering to the tips. The
thorax is slender, flattened on the upper surface; the legs stout; and the tip
of the abdomen bears two slender jointed tails (setae). This insect is also
found in Australia. A second species, Eusthenia thalia, is described from
Tasmania by Newman; I have one from Gippsland Victoria probably a new
species. Several species have been described by Walker (Brit. Mus.
Catalogue, Neuroptera 1852) in the typical Genus Perla from Tasmania.
Members of the Genus Cupnia are often found upon the snow in
Northern Europe.

Plate VIII.—NEUROPTERA.
Family Odonata.

1. Tramea loewii (Brauer).
2. Synlestes weyersii (Selys).
3. Ischnura delicata (Selys).
4. Rhyothemis graphiptera (Ramb.).
5. Orthetrum nigrifrons (Kirby).
6. Diplacodes (Diplax) bipunctata (Brauer).

Family Sialidae.
7. Chaulcodes guttatus (Walk.).
(Original photo. Burton.)

Plate VIII.—NEUROPTERA.

Family 2. Dragon Flies.
ODONATA.

Everyone has noticed dragon flies that sail and dart about over swamps
and rivers, the embodiment of grace and beauty in flying creatures. In
England and Australia they are popularly known as “horse-stingers,” a very
misleading name, for they cannot sting, and if they frequent the vicinity of
horses it is for the sake of the flies or gnats they can capture. In America the
country folk know them under the still more peculiar name of “Devil’s
Darning Needles,” while the French children, who recognise their beauty
and dainty form, call them “demoiselles.” Westwood places the dragon flies
in the family Libellulidae; but both Kirby and Sharp call them Odonata; the
former again divides them into the Libellulidae and the Agrionidae, and the
latter subdivides them into groups with the same characters, namely the
Anisopteridae and Zygopteridae.
The members of the first group are those with the hind pair of wings
slightly larger than the front pair, and the second with wings of equal size or
the hind pair smaller. Specialists have further subdivided them into seven
smaller sub-families containing about 300 genera.
Dragon flies are widely distributed over the world, but are most plentiful
in the warmer zones; about 2,000 have been described from all parts of the
world, of which 107 species are recorded from Australia; but as Billinghurst
was able to collect 41 species in one circumscribed district in Victoria
(Victorian Naturalist No. 1, 1900), systematic collecting would certainly
add many more to our list.
In the early stages of their life dragon flies are aquatic; the female
deposits her eggs on the foliage of water plants, sometimes dipping into the
water to be sure they are submerged. The slender larvae with wing pads in
place of the future wings have somewhat the form of the adults, and are
carnivorous, feeding upon all kinds of smaller water insects.
The dragon flies form a very distinct division of the Neuroptera; every
organ is beautifully adapted for their aerial life, their immense eyes giving
them an outlook on all sides, while the slender cylindrical body does not
impede their flight; and the great oar-shaped wings strengthened with many
stout nervures enable them to twist and turn in the air with wonderful ease
and rapidity.
The Libellulidae are thick-bodied dragon flies of medium size, and
comprise a number of fine species. The larvae are short broad creatures

with wide heads; they live in the mud on the bottom of ponds. Rhyothemus
graphiptera belongs to a genus containing over 30 species ranging from
Africa to China, and the Eastern Archipelago to the New Hebrides. It
measures 2½ inches across the wings, which are yellowish brown,
beautifully mottled with darker tints; the front pair are blotched at the base,
a slender stripe in front running into the first of 2 irregular transverse bands
about the centre and tip; in the hind pair the two apical bands have basal
markings consisting of three small irregular blotches: it is found in the
northern parts of N.S. Wales.

Fig. 31.—Diagram of a Dragon Fly.
a, antenna; ar, arculus; b.s, basilar space; c, costal nervure; s.c, sub-costal nervure; e, eye; f, front;
m, median nervure (or radius); s.m, sub-median; m.s, median sector; m, membranule; n, nodus;
n.s, nodal sector; o, occiput; p, pterostigma; p.s, principal sector; s.s, short sector; s.t, sector of
triangle; t, triangle; i.a, inferior appendage; s.a, superior; a.n, antenodals. The numerals refer
to the segments of the abdomen.
(Original R. J. Tillyard.)

The Genus Diplax contains a number of more delicate, short-winged
insects, of which Diplax rubra, a typical form, is common both along the
rivers and in the open scrub, often quite a distance from water. It is a
moderate-sized dragon fly, tinted with pale yellow at the base of the hind
wings, and has a distinctive bright red body. Diplacodes (Diplax)
bipunctata has much the same habits, and a wider range over the country; it
is common about Sydney, and is slightly smaller than the previous species,
and of a general yellow tint. Orthetrum nigrifrons is a more thickset dragon

fly about 2 inches across the wings; the head and front of thorax are black,
with the hind portion of the latter and body deep blue; it is a very distinctive
species along the watercourses and in the open bush. Orthetrum
villosovittatum is a slightly larger form found in Southern Queensland, with
slightly clouded wings, blotched close to the body with yellowish brown:
the head and thorax are brown, and the body is red.

The Aeschnidae contain the giants among the dragon flies: Petalura
gigantea is our largest species, and varies much in different localities; most
of ours on the Blue Mountains measure about 5 inches across the wings, but
Tillyard captured them at Cairns N.Q. 6½ inches. It is a very robust insect
of a dull brown tint, with a single, broad, pale stripe on the sides of the large
square thorax, and when viewed from the side seems to have the abdomen
attached to the under-side of the thorax. The pterastigma of the wing is
long.
Hemianax papuensis is typical of one of our large species, often flying in
numbers about Sydney hawking for gnats high up in the air before a storm.
It measures 4 inches across the wings, which have a slight smoky tint.
Aeschna brevistyla is about the same size as the previous species, but the
wings are clear, and the abdominal segments are marked with two angulated
white blotches, one on either side of the dorsal stripe. The larvae are
curious, elongate, oval creatures, with large heads, living in the mud at the
bottom of stagnant ponds and are common about Sydney.

The Agrionidae are the delicate slender-bodied dragon flies with oar-
shaped wings, and narrow heads with the eyes standing out on either side.
Lestes analis is our common type of the large genus; it is of the usual
slender form, with the body nearly as long as the expanse of wings, and is
of a general reddish brown colour. Synlestes weyersii is a very beautiful
slender creature nearly 3 inches across the wings, and over 2 inches from
the front of the head to the tip of the body. It has transparent wings with an

oval whitish pterastigma toward the tips, and the whole head and body is
deep rich metallic green. It flies in a very graceful manner up and down the
edges of the watercourses, resting every now and then on a reed or
overhanging twig, and is very easily captured. Ischnura heterosticta is our
tiny, little, banded, blue and brown dragon fly, with the female of a more
sombre brown tint: Tillyard has recorded two forms of females in this
species, one taking on the garb of the bright-coloured male.
Ischnura delicata, very similar in size and form, has the basal two-thirds
of the abdomen red and the apical portion blue. The larvae of both these
species are common in the ponds about Sydney in the early summer.
Tillyard (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1905) has recently added three new species
of the Genus Austrogomphus collected in the Cairns district N. Queensland.

Family 3. May-flies.
EPHEMERIDAE.

These delicate gauze-winged insects were named Ephemera from the old
idea that their life as perfect insects lasted only for a day; they were born in
the morning and died at the fall of day. Though their span of life is short, as
they possess only rudimentary mouths incapable of absorbing food, and
only live a short time after the eggs are laid, it is generally a matter of a few
days.
They have large prominent eyes; three ocelli; and minute antennae
consisting of two thickened joints surmounted with a needle-like hair or
bristle: the prothorax is small, the middle portion large; and the somewhat
small body, generally composed of ten segments, is provided with a slender
articulated hair-like tail on either side. The wings are broadest at the base,
rounded at the extremities, with the hind pair small, in some genera the hind
pair absent. The larvae live in burrows in the mud at the bottom of ponds or
watercourses, and when full grown climb up the stalks of grass or plants
and cast their pupal coverings.
Most of our species are only found in odd pairs, and do not assemble in
swarms as they sometimes do in England; but in 1885, in the Royal
Geographical Society’s Exploring Expedition in New Guinea, when
ascending the Fly River we met with great clouds of the large white Mayfly,
Palingenia papuana, flying along over the surface of the water just as

described by D’Albertis in his work on New Guinea; specimens I collected
are now in the Australian Museum.
The commonest species about Sydney is Atalophlebia australasica, a
small chocolate brown insect marked with black; the wings are vitreous
with black markings on the veins, the front margin tinged with umber
brown on the cross veins. It was described by Pictet in his “Natural History
Neuroptera” (1843–45): Walker has described another from Tasmania:
Eaton three more from different parts of the mainland: and Burmeister one
in his “Handbook of Entomology” as far back as 1839. The members of this
genus have a wide range from South America through Africa, Japan, and
Ceylon. A single species of the Genus Coloburiscus has been described
from Melbourne.
The chief work on these insects is Eaton’s “Revisional Monograph of
Recent Ephemeridae or May-flies,” Parts I.-V. (Transactions of the Linnean
Society 1883–87;) in this work he subdivides them into three groups
containing 55 genera and 270 species.

Family 4. Alder Flies and Snake Flies.
SIALIDAE:

This small division contains two groups that Westwood treated as two
distinct families, the Sialidae and the Raphidae; but Sharp points out, that
in general structure and habits they are very closely related to each other,—
the latter chiefly differing from the former in the remarkable elongation of
the prothorax, and he thus only ranks them as sub-families.
The Alder Flies have two pairs of broad wings, wide at the base, the hind
pair slightly smaller and capable of being folded behind; they are all
traversed by numerous veins forming irregular cells. They are slow in their
movements, and are to be found clinging to bushes in the vicinity of water.
Our commonest species is the Chauliodes guttatus, described by Walker; it
is a large, dull brown insect with an elongated thorax and body; the head is
furnished with long, slender, annulated antennae, large prominent eyes on
the sides, and three ocelli on the summit. The wings are semiopaque, the
fore pair finely spotted with black, thickest on the front margin; the broader
hind pair are only lightly spotted at the extreme tip, with from 4 to 5 larger
rounded spots about the centre. It measures over 3 inches across the

outspread wings, and 1¼ inches from the head to the tip of the abdomen; it
has a wide range from Victoria to Queensland.
The larvae are remarkable for having fringed filaments on the sides of
the abdomen; they crawl about in the mud or among the weeds in water-
holes, and are carnivorous, feeding upon other aquatic insects; when ready
to transform, the pupae come out of the water and crawl under stones, or
sometimes under the loose bark on tree trunks.
The Snake Flies are curious looking creatures with elongated necks, and
the female is provided with a very curious, long, curved ovipositor. They
are found under bark on tree trunks, both in the perfect and larval state; they
are unknown in Australia, but Howard states that an attempt was made
some years ago to send living Raphidians from California to destroy codlin
moth grubs, but that nothing has been heard of them since.

Family 5. Scorpion Flies.
PANORPIDAE.

These insects have the head turned down in front with the mouth parts
forming an elongate beak; large projecting eyes; and slender antennae. The
prothorax forms a slender neck to the larger mesothorax; the wings are
narrow and somewhat oar-shaped, traversed with a network of veins; the
legs are long and slender, except the hind pair, which are thickened on the
thighs and stoutly spined; the tarsi are large and coated with a sticky
membrane, which assists it in catching flies.
At first sight many of them might be taken for crane-flies of somewhat
clumsy build; in the European Panorpa the males are furnished with a
peculiar anal appendage from which they take the popular name of
Scorpion Flies. Members of the Genus Boreus are wingless and resemble
tiny grasshoppers; in America they are often found on snow. The family is
represented in Australia by Bittacus australis, which has a wide range from
Tasmania to Queensland, and is very abundant in the early summer, hanging
about the leptospermum and ti-tree bushes. It rests among the foliage, with
the large hind legs hanging loosely down below but ready to strike out the
moment an incautious fly comes within range. The long flexible tarsi fold
round the captive with the stout spines transfixing it, while the Bitticus
draws its leg round under the head so that it can press its sharp beak into the

victim and suck up its blood. Its general colour is reddish brown marked
with black; the wings are clouded, narrow, rounded at the tips, and
reticulated with fine nervures. Nothing is known about the earlier stages in
the life-history of this insect, but specimens in captivity laid a number of
flattened bun-shaped eggs which did not hatch out.

Plate IX.—NEUROPTERA.
Family Hemerobiidae.
1. Nymphes myrmeleonides (Leach).
7. Porismus strigatus (Burm.).

Family Myrmeleonidae.
2. Glenurus erythrocephalus (Leach).
4. Glenurus falsus (Walker).
5. Glenurus circuiter (Walker).
6. Glenurus pulchellus (Kirby).

Family Mantispidae.
3. Mantispa strigodes (Westwood).
(Original photo. Burton.)

Plate IX.—NEUROPTERA.

Family 6. Ant-lions and Lace-wings.
HEMEROBIIDAE.

This interesting division of the Neuroptera comprises a number of
smaller groups, ranked by some entomologists as families, but now
generally regarded as sub-families. Westwood divided them into two
families, the first containing the true ant-lions; both Kirby and Sharp treat
them as one, but the latter places them in seven well defined sub-families.
They come naturally together from the fact that all the larvae are
provided with large, curved, hollow, sucking jaws, and are carnivorous in

their habits, while the perfect insects have simple biting jaws. They all
have, in the perfect state, long slender bodies, provided with two pairs of
finely reticulated wings, folded over each other when at rest; the head is
short, with large projecting eyes; ocelli generally wanting; and the antennae
are composed of many short annular joints.
The Myrmeleonides are the true ant-lions, whose larvae in many species
construct funnel shaped pits in soft sandy soil an inch or two in depth, at the
bottom of which, buried in the loose soil, with only the tip of their large
jaws visible, they lie in wait for any ant or other small insect that may
happen to slip over the edge and tumble to the bottom, where it is
immediately seized in the ant-lion’s powerful jaws and devoured; when
however, as often happens, the trapped visitor manages to regain its footing
and nearly succeeds in clambering out, the ant-lion presses its head
downward like a spade and throws a quantity of sand right at its prey,
generally bringing its quarry within reach again. It generally excavates its
pit under the shelter of a log or rock so that it is protected from the rain, and
when full grown pupates at the bottom of its shaft. The larva is a short
thickset little brown creature covered with tufts of short stout bristles; the
head is broad and rounded behind, attached to the heart-shaped body by a
neck-like thorax. They are easily captured by slipping a knife blade under
them and throwing them out when they are intent on catching a struggling
ant. In captivity they are easily kept in a saucer full of sand, and have the
power of going for weeks without food; when placed on a smooth surface
they always arch their heads and crawl backwards.
Most of our described species belong to the Genus Glenurus, all slender
elongated insects resting with their long narrow wings folded over their
backs against a twig or grass stem, and when disturbed flitting away in a
very awkward manner; they are very easily captured.
Glenurus pulchellus is the commonest species about the coast, with a
wing expanse of about 2½ inches; its general colour is chocolate brown,
mottled and marbled with lighter tints; the fore wings are speckled with
black; the apical portion of the hind pair deeply blotched with chestnut
brown, encircling a white patch, with a second smaller one nearer the
extremity. Glenurus falsus is a shade smaller; the fore wings darker; and a
single dark patch on the hind wings. Glenurus striola is a slightly larger
species with semitransparent wings, marked on the posterior margin of the

hind pair with a narrow light brown stripe. I found this species very
plentiful in some swampy flats near Brisbane, Q., in October, where they
were resting on the rushes. Glenurus fundatus is our largest species, often
measuring up to 4 inches across the wings, and is of a general uniform
mottled grey tint spotted with brown; it is common along the coast in North
Queensland. Glenurus circuiter is easily recognised from all the others by
the shape of the fore wings, which are broadened to the tips, cut out behind
at the extremities, and both pairs are irregularly blotched and spotted dark
brown, giving it a very handsome appearance. Glenurus erythrocephalus
has semitransparent wings, elongate and rounded at the tips, the fore pair
thickly covered with spots and blotches of dark brown, the hind pair usually
only marked with three spots, but the spotting is very irregular and variable.
It comes from the more northern parts of N.S. Wales and Queensland.

The Ascalaphides are all moderate-sized, clear-winged insects with a
stigma toward the tip, and curious long slender antennae clubbed at the tips;
they might be likened to dragon-flies with butterflies’ heads. Suphalasca
sabulosa measures about 2½ inches across the wings; the head and thorax
are fringed with fine hairs, the stigma on the wings black. It is generally
found on bush land clinging to a grass stalk or twig, with the wings folded
down, and the slender body sticking out at right angles. I have found the
larvae living under the dry bark attached to dead tree trunks, their short
hairy bodies covered with tufts of stout bristles, their large jaws pointing
upward; and from their situation they probably capture the large sugar ants.
In captivity they would remain for days resting against the side of the box
without any movement, and lived for several months without taking any
food, and finally formed a round cocoon.
The female places her eggs in a double row along the edge of a blade of
grass, and the young ones, when they hatch out, sit in the bottom of the
eggshell, all head and jaws, waiting for something to turn up, and must
often undergo long fasts.
Stibopteryx costalis is a stout bodied insect with a wing expanse of 3
inches, a large, dragon-fly-like head, and narrow rounded wings banded

with parallel bands of chocolate brown. It ranges from Sydney right round
Australia.
The Nemopterides are a very curious group of lace-wings, which have
the hind pair of wings produced into slender or clubbed appendages of most
peculiar form. Kirby (Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1900) has
listed all the known species from all parts of the world, 33 species in 7
genera.
Chasmoptera hutti, described by Westwood from Western Australia, has
a wing expanse of 1½ inches, and the hind pair are produced into a spoon-
shaped tail. Croce attenuata is a smaller, dull coloured, brown insect, with
the fore wings like those of a mayfly, and the hind pair forming a pair of
antennae-like processes longer than the body. It was taken by my
correspondent, Mrs. Black, round a lamp, and comes from North
Queensland. It is described by me in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society
1904.
The Mantispides are lace-wings that in general form, imitate the
orthopterous mantis; with the same elongate neck, spined fore legs and
broad head, but the structure of the wings soon shows its affinity to the
lace-wings. We have some very fine species in Australia, which are usually
found hiding among the foliage of trees, and are generally captured when
beating the bush for beetles. Nothing is known about the earlier stages of
any of our species, but Brauer studied the larval and pupal forms of the
European Mantispa, and found that the eggs were stalked; the larvae are
long slender creatures with large jaws. Westwood has figured and described
a number of our species (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1852).
Mantispa biseriata, one of our largest species, measures up to 2½ inches
across the outspread wings. Its general colour is dull reddish brown; the
wings are mottled with very fine black dots, and the stigma on the fore wing
forms a dull red blotch. It has a wide range from Victoria to North
Queensland. Mantispa strigipes is a smaller darker species, with no distinct
stigma but a stripe of dull red along the front margin of both pairs of wings,
thickest toward the extremities. It ranges over Victoria and N.S. Wales.
The Hemerobiides are well represented in Australia by some very
beautiful insects, which when at rest are recognised by the way in which
their wings are folded against each other, forming a ridge above the back;

the antennae, generally long, consist of a number of short annular joints.
The eggs are laid upon the food plant; the larvae feed upon small insects.

Fig. 32.—Croce attenuata (Froggatt). The Thread-
winged Nemopteron.
(Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.)

Nymphes myrmeleonides, described and figured by Leach in 1814, has a
somewhat robust body, long slender antennae and narrow head; the wings,
which have an expanse of 3 inches, are large, of equal size, and
semitransparent, except the tips, which are ornamented with an elongate
brownish blotch enclosing an irregular white spot in the centre. It is a very
ungainly insect when flying, with its large oar-shaped shining wings; it has
a very wide range along the eastern coast. The larvae live under the shelter

of logs hiding among the dust and dirt with only their jaws projecting;
specimens obtained near Armidale, N.S.W., lived for some time in captivity,
forming the usual spherical parchment-like pupal case, from which the
insect emerged about a month later.

Fig. 33.—Psychopsis illidgi (Froggatt). The Painted Lace-wing.
(Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.)

Fig. 34.—Psychopsis coelevagus (Walker). The small Metallic
Lace-wing.
(Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.)

The Genus Psychopsis was formed by Newman in 1840 (Newman’s
Entomologist p. 415) to contain the curious creamy white moth-like insect
Psychopsis mimica. It has broad rounded wings covered with fine hairy
veins shading from buff to grey or creamy white, spotted with red on the

base of the fore wings and a dull brown spot on the centre of the hind pair;
the head is turned down in front when resting. It measures about 1½ inches
across the outspread wings and is found from South Australia to
Queensland. I figured and described all our known species (Notes on the
Genus Psychopsis Newman, with descriptions of new species) in the
Proceedings of the Linnean Society N.S.W. 1903, where I added two new
species. Psychopsis coelivagus is our smallest species, measuring 1 inch
across the outspread wings, which are creamy white thickly mottled with a
central band of metallic coppery brown; it comes from S. Queensland.
Psychopsis illidgi is one of the most remarkable looking of all our
Neuroptera, with its large rounded buff fore wings with confluent ochreous
yellow markings crossing them, and the usual dull spot in the centre of the
smaller hind wings. It measures about 2¾ inches across the wings, and is a
rare insect. Illidge has taken several specimens that came flying in to the
light at night on the top of Mount Tambourina in South Queensland.

Fig. 35.—Larva of Psychopsis
mimica (Newman). Bred
from the egg (much
enlarged).
(Original W.W.F.)

Psychopsis insolens and P. meyricki are both dull coloured smaller
insects, the first found about Sydney and Brisbane, the latter on the top of
Mount Kosciusko, resting on the rocks.
The eggs are not stalked but are attached to the food plant; the young
elongated larva, furnished with stout projecting jaws, crawls upon the
foliage and feeds upon aphids. This Genus was considered peculiar to
Australia, until in the last few years two species have been described from
Africa and a third from Burmah.
The curious black mottled lace-wing, Porismus strigatus, has a narrow
red head furnished with long slender antennae and large rounded eyes; the
front portion of the thorax forms a regular neck. The narrow elongate black
wings, blotched and tipped with pale yellow shading into white, are folded
over the back forming a ridge when at rest on a tree trunk. They are
sometimes met with about Sydney, and are common in New England
toward the end of summer. I found larvae and eggs under logs in that
district which I believe to be those of this insect; the former were stalked
and deposited in a narrow semicircle attached to each other; the larvae, of
the usual tick-shaped form, covered themselves over with bits of burnt
ashes, and clung to the surface of the log, where they easily escaped notice
with their protective covering.

Fig. 36.—Larva of Porismus strigatus
(Bohem). The adult Lace-wing is
shown in Plate VI., Fig. 7.
(Original W.W.F.)

The Genus Osmylus contains a number of slender insects with longer,
semitransparent, spotted, brown wings, and fine antennae clothed with short
hairs. The larvae, active little creatures, feed about among the leaves
destroying aphids. Osmylus tenui measures about 1¼ inches across the
outspread wings, is of the usual dull brown tint, and is found in Victoria.
In the Genus Drepanopteryx the fore wings are short, broad, rounded in
front at the shoulders, and arcuate on the hind margin; the hind pair are
rounded, semitransparent, with a darker costal margin; when resting upon a
twig they tuck the head down under the thorax, and turn the wings upward,
almost standing on their heads; they could be easily passed over from their
resemblance to a brown leaf.
Drepanopteryx binocula and D. instabilis are found in N.S. Wales and
Victoria; the first has dark fore wings and measures about ¾ of an inch; the
second is somewhat smaller and lighter coloured.

Figs. 37 and 38.—Life History of the Brown Lace-wing.
37.—Micromus Australis (Froggatt).
38.—Larva.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Chrysophides comprise the lace wings known as “Ruby Eyes” from
their rich metallic tint, or “Aphis Lions” on account of the voracious habits
of their larvae. They hide among the foliage in the day time, and in summer
often come buzzing round the lamp, several species giving out a most
objectionable smell when handled. They are generally slender-bodied green

or yellow insects with large delicate glassy wings, folded over the back.
They attach their eggs to the foliage on long slender stalks, probably a
means of protection against other larvae that might otherwise find and
devour them. The larvae are active little creatures with large heads
furnished with scythe-shaped jaws; their rounded backs are covered with
short stiff hairs, by means of which they hold bits of dirt, sand, or wood,
with which they cover themselves when feeding upon the aphids or scale. If
when in captivity these bits are brushed off they run round and replace them
bit by bit; pushing the bits into the jaws with their fore legs, then turning
their heads backward, they drop each bit upon their backs, repeating the
operation until they are again completely covered. When full-grown they
spin a white hemispherical cocoon composed of fine white threads and the
longer hairs of the body, from which in summer the perfect insects will
emerge in a fortnight.

Fig. 39.—Chrysopa ramburi (Schiner). The Green Golden Eye.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 40.—Life history of Chrysopa ramburi (Schiner).
Larva; stalked egg; and pupa enclosed in hemispherical cocoon covered with the remains of
the aphis upon which it has fed during the larval stage.

The Green Lace Wing, Chrysopa ramburi, is our common orchard
friend; and where plentiful they soon clean the trees of aphid and scale
insects. Its general colour is bright green fading into yellow after death; the
large golden eyes are so bright that they can be seen through the cocoon
some time before it emerges. The Brown Lace Wing, Micromus australis, is
common among dead bushes, and also in summer in orange orchards; it is
much smaller than the last, only slightly over ¼ of an inch across the
expanded wings; is of a general light brown colour mottled all over the
wings with darker tints. The broad head is furnished with large bronzy eyes,
and slender hairy antennae composed of 44 very short annular joints. Both
the slender, brown, ferret-like larvae and the perfect insects are very active
little creatures, always on the move. This species was described by me in
the Agricultural Gazette N.S. Wales, 1904.

Family 7. Caddis Flies.

TRICHOPTERA.

The larval forms of these interesting little creatures are common in our
creeks and water-holes, encased in their cocoons or sacks formed of silken
strands covered with bits of sticks, leaves, sand or small stones; they may
be often noticed floating on the surface or crawling about under the water
among the weeds and mud. These are protective coverings, for though the
head and front of the thorax, that are projected in front when the larva is
moving along, are hard and leathery, the abdominal segments are covered
with a thin integument, and would soon fall a prey to the many carnivorous
water insects in the ponds if it were not for their case-bearing habits. These
cases, unlike those of the terrestrial case moths, are open at both ends, so
that the water can flow right through when the creature is crawling about.
They are known in England as “water moths,” or “caddis-flies,” and are
much sought for by anglers as bait for fly-fishing. The perfect insects have
two pairs of membranous wings with fewer cross veins than other members
of the Neuroptera; the hind pair are broadest and folded when at rest; most
of them are clothed with fine hairs instead of scales. The head is small, with
very long, slender, thread-like antennae composed of many short indistinct
joints, and the biting mouth is rudimentary; the prothorax is short, with an
elongate body rounded at the extremity; and the legs are well developed,
and more or less provided with spines. The female deposits her eggs,
enveloped in a gelatinous mass, in the water, often carrying them about with
her attached to the tip of the abdomen for some time before they are
dropped.
Some of the smaller species are so wonderfully like small tinead moths,
that it takes an experienced eye, aided with a good lens, to pick them out of
a box when mixed up with small microlepidoptera; and from their delicate
form and small size most of my specimens have not been taken as caddis-
flies, but obtained from the leavings of insect boxes of moth collectors.
Between the years 1874–80 McLachlan published his fine “Monograph
of the European Trichoptera,” illustrated with a great number of very fine
drawings; over 500 species are identified and described in this work.
According to Howard, about 150 species have been described from North
America.

McLachlan treats them as an Order in his work, dividing them into a
number of families, chiefly based upon the number of spines on the legs,
the joints of the palpi, and the ocelli.
Judging from my own collection of caddis-flies I should think that
Australia is rich in species, but they are a much neglected family and I do
not know of a single named specimen in any of our Museum collections.
In the British Museum Catalogue of Neuroptera published in 1852,
Walker gives only four species from Tasmania and Australia: Leptocerus
magnus and L. oppositus, which he describes from Tasmania, and
Plectrotarsus gravenhorsti, described by Koller from Australia; the latter
measures nearly an inch across the wings, and ⅓ of an inch in the body, and
is of a general yellow tint, thickly clothed with yellow and black hairs; the
fore wings are bluish black marked with white, yellow at the base and along
the fore border; the hind wings are yellow but blackish toward the tips.
Monopseudopsis inscriptus, described by Walker, is a larger fly, of a
general black colour, with pale wings spotted with yellow, the hind pair
clouded. The locality of this species is given as Australia.

Order IV.—HYMENOPTERA.
Bees, Ants and Wasps.

This division contains an immense number of very interesting insects
which, though generally known as bees, ants, and wasps, comprise many
other just as important families; some are unfortunately popularly called
flies, such as saw-flies, gall-flies, and ichneumon-flies, but all true flies
have only one pair of wings. Hymenoptera are, with a few exceptions,
furnished with two pairs of semitransparent membranous wings, sometimes
shaded with black or yellow tints, devoid of hairs or scales, but traversed by
stout nervures forming irregular cells; the hind pair are the smaller, and are
furnished with a row of spines along the front margin capable of hooking
into the hind edge of the fore pair, thus adding to their powers of flight.

Fig. 41.—Diagram of the Head of a Wasp.
a, eyes; b, clypeus; c, labrum; d,
mandibles; e, ocelli; f, insertion of the
antennae.
(Redrawn from Cresson’s “Hymenoptera
of North America.”)

Fig. 42.—Diagram of the Thorax of a
Wasp.
a, prothorax; b, mesothorax; c,
scutellum; d, postscutellum; e,
metathorax; f, tegulae; g, parapsidal
grooves.
(Cresson’s “Hymenoptera of N.
America.”)

In a few anomalous groups we find the females wingless, such as
Thynnidae, Mutillidae and others; in some like the fig insects
Blastophaginae, the males are wingless and blind; in the ants, while the
males and females are winged, the bulk of the community consists of
wingless workers forming a third sex or caste.

Fig. 43.—Diagram of Fore-wing of a Bee (Mellinus).
1, Costal cell; 2, median or externo-medial cell; 3, sub-median cell; 4, anal cell; 5,
marginal or radial cell; 6, first sub-marginal or cubital cell; 7, second s.-m. or
cubital cell; 8, third s.-m. or cubital cell; 9, fourth s.-m. or cubital cell; 10, first
discoidal cell; 11, second d. cell; 12, third d. cell; 13, first apical cell; 14, second
a. cell. a, Costal nervure; b, sub-costal nervure; c, externo-medial nervure; d,
anal nervure; e, marginal or radial nervure; f, basal nervure; g, first transverso-
cubital nervure; h, second t.-c. nervure; i, third t.-c. nervure; j, transverso-medial
nervure; k, discoidal nervure; l, cubital nervure; m, first recurrent nervure; n,
second r. nervure; o, sub-discoidal nervure; p, stigma; q, posterior margin; r,
apical margin.
(Cresson, “Hym. N. America.”)

These insects are furnished with well developed antennae; large
compound eyes, in some groups composed of an immense number of
facets; usually 3 simple eyes or ocelli, but these are sometimes wanting; a
more or less tubular mouth adapted for sucking up food (commonly called
the proboscis), though mandibles are always present. The thorax is stout
and broad; the three primary portions, prothorax, mesothorax and
metathorax, are distinct on the upper surface with well defined lateral or
ventral plates. The legs are generally large, with spined tibiae, and slender
tarsi terminating in a double claw or hook, but varying much in size and
shape in the different families. The abdomen takes all kinds of remarkable
forms, from the thickened sessile body of the sawfly to the slender stalked
abdomen of the sand-wasp, and the female is furnished with an ovipositor,
sting, or saw at the extremity.
The Hymenoptera are considered by naturalists to be one of the most
highly developed or specialised orders of insects, on account of the social
habits of some of the chief families, and the care they display in providing
for the safety and food supplies of their larvae.

They undergo a complete metamorphosis: from the egg is hatched out a
soft, generally legless larva which when full grown, if in a protected cell, is
simply enveloped in a thin skin, but otherwise forms a stout silken or
parchment-like cocoon; the larva usually takes a considerable time to
change into the pupa; the change is not rapid as that of a butterfly.
Australia is very rich in hymenoptera; most of the typical families are
well represented, and we also have a few very distinct groups peculiar to
this country.
There have been many schemes of classification and sub-divisions of
these insects proposed by various authors, and the present idea among
specialists seems to tend to a still closer definition of the families, as
exemplified in Ashmead’s recent Classification running through the pages
of the Canadian Entomologist; but in a book of this kind, I can only deal
with the most important divisions and refer my readers to the work of such
specialists.
Westwood divided the first section, Terebranti, in which the females are
provided with a more or less projecting instrument for depositing their eggs,
into two sub-sections, Phytiphaga, in which the abdomen is sessile, and
Entomophaga, in which the body is stalked. Some of the French
entomologists had previously suggested dividing them up into five large
families defined by the peculiarities of the ovipositor or borer. Kirby used
the same terms as Westwood, but I have followed Sharp, who uses the
names Sessiliventres instead of the first, and Petioliventres for the second,
for they certainly express more clearly the form of the body of the groups
under observation. The first group contains four families.

Family 1. Stem-Sawflies.
CEPHIDAE.

The first group comprises what Sharp terms “Stem-Sawflies,” which are
not represented in Australia. They are slender little insects with long
antennae; the larvae feed in the stems of plants; one damages wheat stems
in Europe, another infests willows in America, a third is recorded from
Japan; but they are unknown in Australia.

Plate X.—HYMENOPTERA.

Family Tenthredinidae.
1. Phylacteophaga eucalypti (Froggatt).
2. Phylacteophaga eucalypti (Froggatt), Larva.
3. Perga dorsalis (Leach).
4. Perga dorsalis (Leach), Larva.
5. Perga lewisii (Westwood).

Plate X.—HYMENOPTERA.

Family 2.
ORYSSIDAE.

This family consists of the single Genus Oryssus, of which only 20
species are known. They are remarkable for the curious situation of the

antennae on the under-surface of the head, the cylindrical rounded
abdomen, and the exposed needle-like ovipositor. Turner has described one
from Mackay, Queensland, in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society
N.S.W. under the name of Oryssus queenslandicus. It is a small black insect
measuring ½ an inch in length; with mottled brown wings, and typical
shape of the genus.

Family 3.
SIRICIDAE.

These handsome Sawflies are common in Europe and America, the
larvae living in timber; the members of the typical Genus Sirex have long
cylindrical bodies rounded to the apex; the borer of the female extends
beyond the tip of the abdomen. One species, Sirex australis, has been
described from Australia by Kirby (List of Hymenoptera 1882). I have
never heard of another specimen being found, and believe the type is
unique.

Family 4. Sawflies.
TENTHREDINIDAE.

These are the typical stoutly built Sawflies, with the pronotum narrow,
and the thorax generally broader than the head; the abdomen sessile, and
provided in the female with a beautiful saw-like instrument on the under-
surface of the tip of the abdomen, with which she slits the leaves to deposit
her eggs in the tissue. The larvae are caterpillar-like creatures usually
furnished with three pairs of legs; they feed upon the foliage of many
plants.
Our species all belong to genera peculiar to Australia: Klug described
several in the Berlin Magazin in 1814; Leach figured and described others
in his “Zoological Miscellanies 1817”; Westwood described and figured a
number in an important paper in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society
1880, others in his “Arcana Entomologica 1841”; and Kirby added to them
in his List of Hymenoptera, B.M. Catalogue 1882.
The Genus Perga contains about 50 of our largest Sawflies, broad
thickset insects, with reddish or light brown opaque wings, and short

antennae forming an elongate club at the extremity. The larva is black or
brown clothed with short scattered shining bristles, black head, three pairs
of short stout legs, broad thorax, and abdomen tapering to a rounded tip.
They feed gregariously upon the foliage of eucalypts, often stripping off all
the leaves of the young bushes; they rest in the day time clustered together
in a bunch of 50 or more round a branch, holding on with the legs; when
disturbed they raise and rap the tip of the abdomen against the leaves, at the
same time discharging a sticky yellow fluid from the mouth smelling
strongly of eucalyptus extract. They are very subject to the attacks of
dipterous and hymenopterous parasites, which these means of defence may
keep away. When full grown they bury themselves in the soil, and form
elongate, oval, parchment-like cocoons clustered together.
The Steel Blue Sawfly, Perga dorsalis, is slightly over 1 inch in length;
is of a deep metallic blue, marked on face and thorax with bright yellow,
and has stout reddish brown wings; the smaller male has the upper surface
of the abdominal segments clothed with silvery pubescence. Perga kirbyi is
dark reddish brown, similar in form and size to the last species; Perga
lewisii, a much smaller yellowish brown insect, flattened on the dorsal
surface, is common about Sydney upon the foliage of the “blood-wood”
(Eucalyptus corymbosa), where she lays her eggs in the leaf in a double
row, and stands over them until the tiny larvae hatch out and are able to
move away; while thus occupied you can pick her up, but she will not move
away, but raise her wings and fight like a hen over her chickens. Though
this is our commonest species, and I have taken hundreds of females, I have
never seen a male. Perga cameronii is like the last species, but larger, with
more distinct markings on the back; it is found on the Blue Mountains.
In the Genus Pterygophorus about 10 species are described; they are
much smaller insects, with bright metallic blue colours marked with reddish
yellow; the male has the antennae produced into a comb or feathery
structure, those of the female are formed of short rounded joints. The larva
is a dull olive green creature covered with small warty tubercules; the head
is broad, and the abdomen tapers off into a slender pointed tail; it has seven
pairs of abdominal legs. It feeds upon the foliage of Leptospermum, wild
dock and other plants, and when full grown bores into dead wood, pupating
in a rounded oval cell.

The Ringed Sawfly, Pterygophorus cinctus, ½ an inch in length, is dark
blue marked with deep reddish orange on the thorax, with a ring round the
centre and tip of the abdomen of a similar colour; the wings are marked and
clouded with black.

Plate XI.—HYMENOPTERA.
Family Tenthredinidae.
1. Pterygophorus cinctus (Klug).
2. Pterygophorus cinctus (Klug), Antenna ♀.
3. Pterygophorus cinctus (Klug), Larva.
4. Philomastix glaber (Froggatt).
5. Philomastix glaber (Froggatt), Antenna.
6. Philomastix glaber (Froggatt), Larva.

Plate XI.—HYMENOPTERA.

The Pale Coloured Sawfly, P. interruptus, slightly larger, has the thorax
marked with orange yellow, and the abdomen deeply blotched with the
same colour, forming interrupted bands on the sides; both these species are
taken upon flowers in the summer months.
Philomastix glaber has very curious larvae that feed upon the wild
bramble on the northern rivers of N.S. Wales; they have large heads, no
abdominal legs, and two slender rat-like tails on the tip of the body. The
sawfly measures 1 inch in length; the general colour is shining yellow,
mottled with dull metallic blue on the thorax and abdomen; the semiopaque
wings are barred with dark brown; the male has shorter antennae composed
of short funnel shaped segments. There are a number of small species,

belonging to the Genera Eurys, Euryopsis and Polyclonus, found chiefly
upon flowers; Polyclonus atratus, sole representative of the Genus, has 18
jointed antennae, each joint furnished with a hairy finger turning inward at
the tips. The Blister-leaf Sawfly, Phylacteophaga eucalypti, punctures the
leaves of small gum trees; the larva feeds in the tissue, and when full grown
pupates in a chamber in the centre, forming a distinct blister in the leaf: in
the pupal state it has power to bend the body and rap against the side of the
chamber. The sawfly measures ¼ of an inch in length; the male is black
with a red head; the slightly larger female has the head and thorax reddish
brown; the antennae have eight joints, long and slender. They have long
stout legs, and are very active when they first emerge from the leaves,
making a loud buzzing sound as they run about and try to escape.

Family 5. Gall-flies.
CYNIPIDAE.

This is the first group of the Petiolata, which are often known from their
small size as Micro-hymenoptera. They are all small creatures, differing
from the succeeding families in that they are broadly speaking plant eating,
usually forming galls in which they live and pupate. However, there are
some that live upon the gall-making forms; others live only upon the tissue
of their cousins’ galls without disturbing their host; and again some that are
known as inqualines (visitors that dwell in the cavity with the true gall-
maker); so that their life histories are somewhat complicated.
The typical gall-fly deposits her eggs in the tissues of the selected plant
by means of her ovipositor, which is beautifully adapted for the purpose;
she injects in some cases a fluid that keeps the wound from closing up at
once and so destroying the delicate egg. Most of the Cynips galls are
rounded woody excrescences. The Gall Wasps have wings with few cells
and no stigma; the front portion of the thorax is joined to the second; the
ovipositor is concealed; the antennae straight, containing from 13 to 15
joints. I described three hymenopterons forming galls on wattles (Proc.
Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1892), but these insects submitted to Dr. Mayr some
years afterwards proved to belong to another family. The only species
described from Australia are 3 named by Ashmead (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.
1900), which were collected by Koebele without any exact locality being

given; and Hypodiranchis aphidis described by me as a parasite of the
common peach aphis in the Agricultural Gazette N.S.W. 1904.

Family 6. Parasitic Wasps.
CHALCIDIDAE.

This is a very extensive family, the members of which differ from the
other small wasps in having the antennae elbowed, the first segment often
as long as all the others combined; the antennae may be simple, but are
often clubbed at the tips, and in the males of some groups with the segments
or joints feathered or furnished with slender branching fingers. The delicate
gauze-like wings are traversed by very few veins, and the abdomen is
produced into all sorts of curious shapes, ornamented sometimes with
remarkable anal appendages; and the ovipositor of the female, though often
short, is sometimes much longer than the whole insect, and is usually
prominent. These tiny little creatures deposit their eggs in the eggs, larvae,
and pupae of other insects, wood galls, and excrescences produced by other
insects, though a few groups are plant feeders and even produce galls.
Most of them are very minute, and can only be collected by keeping
infested galls, leaves, eggs and cocoons in jars and breeding them out, so
that the majority of them escape the eye of the ordinary collector, though
among the most beautiful of all insects in rich colours and delicate
structure.
Walker described a number of Australian species in the British Museum
Catalogue, Hymenoptera 1846, others in his Monograph of the family 1839,
and the Proceedings of other Journals (1863, &c.); but his usual locality is
simply “New Holland,” and without access to the types one would have
some difficulty in determining any species. Westwood obtained and figured
some of our largest; and Haliday others in the “Entomologist” 1842; while
the few others described are those obtained by the zoologists on the various
scientific expeditions visiting this country. Ashmead has contributed the
only modern paper (Pro. Linn. Society N.S.W. 1900) on these and other
parasitic hymenoptera collected by Mr. Koebele and myself. The species in
the Genus Leucaspis are large thickset chalcids, with the ovipositor curving
round and fitting into grooves in the dorsal surface of the abdomen.
Leucaspis darlingi was obtained by Westwood from the Darling Downs

Queensland (I have specimens from Mackay Q.): it is black mottled with
yellow, and has brownish wings; the hind legs are swollen: the antennae
thickened; and it measures ½ an inch. L. australis was obtained by Walker
from S. Australia. Nothing is known about their habits, but Leucaspis gigas
in Europe lays its eggs in the nests of mud-dauber wasps, piercing the clay
walls with its stout ovipositor. Trichoxenia cineraria, a slightly smaller
black insect, is deeply punctured all over the dorsal surface of the head and
thorax; the wings are clouded at the apex; and the upper surface of the body
is thickly clothed with dense yellow down, thickest toward the apex.
Specimens in my collection were taken about Sydney.
The typical Genus Chalcis contains a number of short stout insects,
generally black, sometimes marked with yellow and brown; they are easily
distinguished by the globular form of the thighs of the hind legs, which are
sometimes nearly as large as the abdomen. These insects are chiefly
parasitic upon the larvae of small leaf-rolling moths: Chalcis vicaria is
black, with the base of the tibiae and tarsi yellow; it is common about
Mackay Queensland. I have bred numbers of Chalcis phya, a small black
species with white mottled hind legs, from the chrysalids of the lucerne
moth (Tortrix glaphyriana). Another undetermined yellow legged species
has been bred from the codlin moth pupa. Eurytoma binotata, a tiny black
insect clothed with a white pubescence, has the pronotum spotted with
yellow, and the antennae and legs marked with reddish brown; it can be
bred from the galls on the twigs of the turpentine gum. E. eucalypti, a
smaller black species, slightly over ⅛ of an inch, comes out of eucalyptus
galls collected at Uralla N.S.W. The members of the extensive Genus
Megastigmus are all obtained from galls; they are more elongate in form,
with broad globular heads, the males with short cylindrical bodies, but the
larger females furnished with bristle-like ovipositors turning upward often
longer than the whole insect. Megastigmus brachyscelides measures ¹⁄₁₂ of
an inch, and is black to dark brown marked with yellow; it is bred from the
large galls of Brachyscelis crispa. M. iamenus, originally described from
Tasmania, I have bred from another gall coccid (B. pileata); also a larger
light yellow species bred from dipterous galls on the Snow-bush (Aster
ramulosus) has been named by Ashmead M. asteri; M. brachychitoni, ⅙ of
an inch, reddish brown and yellow, is common in the large fleshy galls on
the Kurrajong tree.

Fig. 44.—Hypodiranchis aphidis (Froggatt). A cynips parasitic upon
the peach aphis.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Stilbula peduncularis is a remarkable looking insect, with broad, rich
metallic coppery red head and thorax; the basal portion of the abdomen
forms a slender stalk with the apical tip produced into a small oval club. I
have had a closely allied form out of the pupal cocoon of the red bull-dog
ant.
The Perilampinae comprise some of the largest and most remarkable
chalcids: Thaumasura terebrator has been described and figured by
Westwood; my specimens came from S. Australia, and were sent by Mr.
Blackburn. It is a slender, rich metallic purple insect, about ¼ of an inch in
length to the apex of the flask-shaped body, which is continued in a long
jointed tail three times the length of the whole insect. T. femor-rubra is a
smaller insect with a tail not so long as the body, and of a general black
colour with transparent wings and reddish legs. Dinoura auriventris is a
very curious, metallic tinted species ¼ of an inch in length, with the apical
portion of the attenuated abdomen produced into four flanges. I have bred a
number of these wasps out of the large wood galls of coccids
(Brachyscelinae), chiefly B. pileata. Pteromalus puparum is an introduced

parasite of butterfly pupae, and is common about Sydney, where it infests
that of the orange feeding butterfly (Papilio erectheus). Another tiny little
metallic tinted chalcid, Eupelmus antipoda, infests the eggs of our common
mantis.

Fig. 45.—Pteromalus puparum (Linn.). ♂ and ♀.
Parasitic Chalcids that destroy the pupae of many species of butterflies.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

About twenty species of the cosmopolitan Genus Tetrasticus are
described by Walker, chiefly from Tasmania. The allied Tetrastichodes
froggatti is a very tiny creature, described by Ashmead from shot-like galls
on the leaves of eucalypts. Euryischia lestophoni, a larger black insect with
mottled wings, is interesting to economic entomologists, as it is a secondary
parasite of the Cottony Cushion Scale (Icerya purchasi), feeding on the fly
parasite.

The Blastophaginae are remarkable little creatures, for there is a very
great difference in the sexes of the same species; the males, yellow or
brown, wingless, and blind, are more like white ants in general appearance
than chalcids. They breed in the interior of figs, and are numerous in
Australia. Saunders (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1883) described our common species

(Pleistodontes imperialis), found in the fruit of the Moreton Bay fig about
March. The tiny male, ¹⁄₁₂ of an inch in length, is of the typical form and
colour; the elongate, shining black female (which is figured) is so different
a looking creature that it would never be taken for the opposite sex of the
insect. Their life history and remarkable habits have been described in the
Agricultural Gazette (June 1900). Idarnis australis, described in the same
paper, is a slender, bright, metallic green wasp, with a long tubular
ovipositor nearly twice the length of the whole insect, which she also uses
by pressing it down against the fig to jump like an acrobat, as well as for
puncturing the skin of the fruit. The insect I described as the supplementary
male of P. imperialis, is, Dr. Mayr tells me, the wingless male of this
species. Mayr in “Neue Feigen-Insekten 1906” states that he finds that my
identification is wrong and this is not the one named by Saunders but a new
species which he calls Pleistodontes froggatti, and places my Idarnis in his
Genus Sycoryctes.

Fig. 46.—Dinoura auriventris
(Ashmead).
A parasitic Chalcid that destroys the gall-
making coccids (Brachyscelinae) by
devouring the females and pupating
in the cavity.
(Original, W.W.F.)

Plate XII.—HYMENOPTERA.
Family Chalcididae.

1. Branch of Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla).
2. Immature fig attacked by Pleistodontes froggatti (Mayr), which are cutting their way into
the fig. A female Idarnis australis on the right-hand side of the fig.
3. Section of fig, showing insects in the centre.
4. Pleistodontes froggatti (Mayr). ♀.
5. Cutting plate (mandibular appendage) used by the insect to cut into the fig.
6. Point of head, showing beak-like extremity, and the base of the mandibular appendage
where attached to the head.
7. Wings of Pleistodontes froggatti (Mayr).
8. Pleistodontes froggatti (Mayr). ♂.
9. Idarnes australis (Froggatt). ♂.
10. Idarnes australis (Froggatt). ♀.
11. Idarnes australis (Froggatt), Wings.

Plate XII.—HYMENOPTERA.

Additional species of Chalcididae have been added to our fauna by the
researches of Messrs. Perkins and Koebele (Bulletins 1, pts. 6 & 8 Hawaii
1905). In the Encryritinae he describes 12 new species, most of them bred
from the pupae of the Dryinids collected in Queensland, but a few from
more southern regions. Chalcerinys eximia is only ¹⁄₂₅ of an inch in length;
is of a rich metallic green tint marked with black and brassy-yellowish tints,

and is furnished with long antennae. It ranges from Bundaberg to Sydney.
In the Eupelminae he describes one new species parasitic upon the parasite
fly, Pipunculus cinerascens, under the name of Anastatus pipunculi. It is a
bright metallic green and purple little creature about ¹⁄₁₂ of an inch in
length. One species of the Tetrastichinae, which he calls Ootetrastichus
beatus, has been bred from the eggs of leaf-hoppers from both Queensland
and Fiji, while another parasite on the eggs of a Jassid embedded in the
branchlets of a Eucalyptus was bred in Southern Queensland. Perkins
describes it under the name of Pterygogramma acuminata, a tiny creature
not ¹⁄₂₅ of an inch in length, of general brown and yellowish tints.

Fig. 47.—Megastigmus brachychitoni (Froggatt) ♀ . A
yellow and brown Chalcid, bred from the large
fleshy galls on the kurrajong trees.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 48.—Coelocyba viridilineata (Froggatt). A pale
yellow and green Chalcid infesting the large
fleshy galls on the kurrajong trees.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Five species of the parasitic wasps belonging to the Mymaridae are
described from Queensland. They are all tiny little creatures with slender
feathered wings and long legs. They deposit their eggs in the eggs of
different species of leaf-hoppers, and some species are very abundant. Four
species of the more robust parasites belonging to the Genus Aphanomerus
are also described as egg parasites from Queensland. After studying the
galls and insects from the wattles which I described in the Proceedings of
the Linnean Society 1892, as belonging to the Cynipidae, Dr. Mayr finds
that the insects will not fit into any known genera, so he has formed the
Genus Trichilogaster to contain T. maideni, which forms galls on the
branchlets of Acacia longifolia, and T. a-longifoliae, which aborts the
flower buds of the same wattle into oval or rounded red and yellow galls as
big as marbles. He describes a third species I sent him, T. pendulae, forming
rounded galls on Acacia pendula, and has made the remarkable discovery
that the tiny wasp deposits a female egg, which forms the central cavity on
the gall with a second male egg in a small cavity on the side of the same
gall, so that a male and female wasp is always produced from each gall, and
he thinks this will be the case with our two common species when they are
examined.

Fig. 49.—Ceraphron niger (Curtis) ♂ . A tiny black parasitic
Chalcid that infests the pupae of the leaf-mining fly
(Phytomyza affinis). 49a.—Head of Female.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Family 7. Micro-hymenoptera.
PROCTOTRYPIDAE.

In general appearance these tiny creatures, some of the smallest in the
insect world, would seem to be almost identical with those of the previous
family; but Ashmead says: “If the anomalous group Mymarinae are
removed there will be no difficulty in distinguishing at a glance a
Proctotrypid from a Chalcid,” and defines them thus: “In all true
Proctotrypidae the pronotum extends back to the tegulae, and the ovipositor
issues from the tip of the abdomen, the sheaths in a few abnormal cases
being conjoined and forming a more or less cylindrical tube or scabbard for
the reception of the two spiculae and the ovipositor proper.”
Sharp on the other hand considers that this is one of the most difficult
groups of the Hymenoptera to define; to a specialist of course they can be

easily separated, but anyone who first takes up the study of these Micro-
hymenoptera (and bear in mind that we are talking about insects, so small
that when a collector breeds them out in jars he has to liberate them upon a
window pane that he may see them against the light), he will I think endorse
Dr. Sharp’s decision. Besides the peculiarities of the abdomen previously
noted, the antennae, sometimes twice the length of the whole insect, are
composed of from 7 to 15 joints, and in the typical groups, though the first
joint may be long, it is not elbowed as in the Chalcids, and is seldom
branched. The wings are delicate, without any nervures, except in a few
small groups where the veins are somewhat like those of small ichneumon
wasps. The hind legs are generally longer than the others, and though some
have the thighs swollen as in the Chalcids, they are as a rule much more
slender, and the abdomen is usually pointed.
They can be bred from galls, particularly those of small Gall-flies
(Cecidomyia), the eggs of all kinds of insects, and the larvae of small
beetles, moths, and other wasps.
In Ashmead’s “Monograph of the Proctotrypidae of North America”
nearly 600 species are described, and a number have been added since these
were recorded in 1893. The Australian species are probably numerous,
judging from my own observations when studying gall-making insects; but
very few have been described. Westwood described four in his “Thesaurus
Entomologicus, Oxford 1874,” belonging to the Bethyllides, the
peculiarities of which he defines, and figures with coloured plates.
Ashmead describes another (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1900) under the name
of Ateleopterus longiceps, obtained by me in a hollow twig of a wattle tree;
a shining black ant-like creature about ⅙ of an inch in length, rusty red legs,
and transparent wings clouded at the base, probably parasitic on the larva of
some wood boring beetle. Sierola antipoda was bred from the curious bract-
like gall of Cecidomyia frauenfeldi on the twigs of Melaleuca bushes. A
second species of this genus was collected by Webster, and forwarded to
Ashmead, who named it after the sender.
In 1890 Riley described “An Australian Hymenopterous parasite of the
fluted scale” in “Insect Life” which he named Ophelosia crawfordi; it is a
tiny reddish brown wasp with a shining black body, and the wings
obscurely barred with smoky brown; it is easily bred from this mealy bug,
which it greatly keeps in check. Goniozus antipodum, described by

Westwood from S. Australia, is a little shining black ant-like wasp which
has been lately discovered destroying the grubs of codlin moth both in S.
Australia and N.S. Wales. The larvae feed upon the outside of the grub,
burying their heads in the tissue, and when full grown spin a loose silken
cocoon.

Perkins has recently added a number of new species to this family
belonging to the Dryinidae. In his Bulletins Hawaii 1905, Nos. 1 & 10,
“Leaf Hoppers and their Natural Enemies,” he describes 45 new species,
chiefly collected by Koebele in Queensland, but some from the
neighbourhood of Sydney. These curious little proctotrypids are parasitic
upon the larvae and pupae of the small homopterous insects commonly
known as Leaf or Frog-hoppers (Families Jassidae and Fulgoridae). The
adult wasp captures the insect, holding it with its curious clawed feet while
it deposits its egg in its body; when full grown the larva spins a white silken
cocoon, from which the active winged insect emerges in about 18 days.

Gonotopus australis is a tiny wingless ant-like creature about ¹⁄₁₂ of an
inch in length, which attacks jassids and fulgorids feeding upon grass and
low herbage. This species comes from Bundaberg Queensland; but Koebele
has bred a second species about ⅛ of an inch in length, of a general
brownish colour, from a Jassid collected near Parramatta. The curious little
sacs or larval bags of these parasites can be readily noticed projecting from
the sides of the thoracic segments. Most of these insects have well
developed wings, but, according to Koebele’s observations, they stalk their
prey when looking for the host for their egg.

Family 8. Larger Parasitic Wasps.
ICHNEUMONIDAE.

These are commonly known as Ichneumon Flies, and the family is a very
extensive one. They play an important part in the economy of Nature in

destroying thousands of the moth and other larvae that would otherwise
strip our fields and forests of their grass and foliage, and they are therefore
useful allies to the agriculturist; though they also often destroy other
beneficial insects as well as pests, and thus discount their usefulness.
Ichneumon Flies are moderately sized insects furnished with long slender
antennae composed of from 16 to upward of 60 joints, with the basal one
often thickened, but never elbowed. The wings are well developed, with a
distinct stigma and numerous nervures forming regular cells; a few species
are wingless in both sexes, but these exceptional ones have not been
recorded from this country. The legs are long, generally slender, and well
adapted for running about; the abdomen is usually long, rounded or
cylindrical, joined to the thorax on the under side, and more or less stalked,
while the ovipositor of the female is characteristic of the group and adapted
or modified for laying the eggs in or upon the different hosts they prefer to
adopt for their offspring; when they infest wood boring caterpillars that are
somewhat out of reach, the ovipositor is correspondingly long and the
sheath and “tails” produced so as to guide the eggs to their resting place on
the grub, out of the sight of the parent ichneumon. When the species lays its
eggs on the back of leaf-eating insects with no protective covering, the
ovipositor is generally short and stout, the tip sometimes so stiff and sharp,
that several species are credited with stinging people when handled. The
little wasp-grub, hatching from the egg either deposited on the back or
placed beneath the skin, feeds upon the substance of the body of its victim
without touching the vital organs, so that in most instances where the
caterpillar of a moth is infested, it yet has the power to form its cocoon and
pupate before the wasp-grub has finished growing; the latter thus finishes
its final transformation in the destroyed moth pupa, and cuts its way out
through the side of the cocoon when ready to emerge. Usually, if it is a large
species, the ichneumon deposits only one egg in its victim, but in some of
the smaller ones half a dozen can be bred from a single cocoon. Over 6,000
species of these insects have been described from all parts of the world, and
in many countries, such as this, the native species are still hardly known,
and much confusion exists in their classification on account of their
parasitic habits and the number of different hosts that the same species may
infest; but now that so many economic entomologists are at work all over
the world, it will probably not be long before they will have many admirers,

and a rich field awaits the entomologist who takes up the study of
Australian ichneumons.
Cresson in his “Synopsis of the North American Hymenoptera” lists over
1,100 described species, while in Australia up to the time when Brullé
published his “Histoire Naturelle des Insectes, Hymenopteres,” in 1846,
only one or two had been described, to which he added eighteen species;
Kirby, Smith, Cameron and several foreign entomologists have added a few
more; and in Ashmead’s recent paper ten more Australian species are
described, which makes a very meagre list.
The Spotted Black Ichneumon, Pimpla intricatoria, is one of our largest
common species, having a wide distribution over Australia, and it breeds in
a number of different moths. It measures nearly 1 inch in length to the tip of
the short ovipositor, and is of a uniform black colour with red legs and
antennae; the thorax and abdomen are ornamented with pale yellow spots,
those on the latter oval, forming a row on either side.
The Dark-winged Ichneumon, Rhyssa semipunctata, is a more slender
species of about the same length; is of a uniform dull red colour except the
basal half of the abdomen, which is black with white markings on the sides;
the wings are clouded with brown, darkest on the inner portion. These
wasps always follow up the cut worms and caterpillar plagues, and destroy
immense numbers in the pupal stage.
The Spotted Ichneumon, Mesotenus albopictus, is somewhat smaller,
with slender stalked abdomen and the slender ovipositor turned downward:
the general colour is black, with the antennae marked with yellow toward
the apical portion; the head, thorax and abdomen are richly marked with
light yellow; light brown wings and red legs mottled with black and yellow.
This ichneumon breeds in a great number of different cocoons, and
frequently emerges from the oval cup-like ones of the “Stinging
Caterpillars” (Doratifera and Limacodes).
The Ophioninae comprises a number of genera, of which the typical
species are reddish brown insects, with clear wings and curiously curved,
laterally flattened bodies, broadest at the extremity. They are frequently
noticed in numbers among the low scrub in the day time, and in the summer
evenings often fly into the house round the lighted lamp. Six species of the

typical Genus Ophion are described from Australia; but none of the Genus
Anomalon have been recorded.

Fig. 50.—Bassus laetatorius (Fabr.). An Ichneumon wasp
that destroys the pupae of Syrphid flies.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Bassus laetatorius is a well known Ichneumon which has a very wide
range over the globe, and is not a useful species, for it lays its eggs in the
larvae of Syrphid flies, which feed upon different kinds of plant lice (Aphis)
and are very useful insects to the gardener. It measures about ¼ of an inch
in length, with the head, thorax, tip and base of the abdomen black, the rest
reddish brown with yellow markings on the head. The tibiae of the hind legs
are very distinctly banded with white, black, and reddish brown, giving it
quite a distinctive character.

Family 9. Small Ichneumons.
BRACONIDAE.

These are insects with very similar habits but easily separated from the
large ichneumon wasps by the structure of the fore wings, as they have the
outer cross veins wanting, thus showing two long outer cells, which in the
former are divided into two cells. The antennae are always composed of
more than fifteen joints, and the segments of the abdomen are more

soldered together. Many of them, like the Microgasters, are very small,
others are as large as many of the smaller true ichneumons. This country is
probably very rich in indigenous species, while we have a considerable
number that have been introduced with their host insect; but hardly
anything has been done in describing our species. As far back as 1775
Fabricius named 4 species of the typical Genus Bracon, to which only three
other species have been added, though over 500 species are listed in Dalla
Torre’s Catalogue in the cosmopolitan Genus Bracon from other parts of the
globe.
The typical Braconid is usually very small; many of them are no larger
than some of the Chalcids. Wherever the cabbage aphis or other plant
infesting insects such as caterpillars are to be found, these little wasps can
be observed hovering round, waiting for an opportunity to deposit their
eggs. They differ from the large ichneumons, in that while the latter only
deposit a single, or at most a dozen eggs upon a victim, these often place
hundreds in a large caterpillar, which, emerging when full grown, form little
white oval silken cocoons on the top of the remains of their hosts, that are
sometimes surrounded with a mass of white fibre exactly like cotton wool.
After a plague of cut worms has passed over a paddock it is quite common
to find clusters of these little cocoons attached to the grass stalks; these
have been often sent to me from the country with the information that they
were the eggs of the plague caterpillars or cut worms.

Fig. 51.—Ephedrus persicae (Froggatt). A Braconid wasp that lays
its eggs on the bodies of aphids.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Bracon limbatus, one of our larger typical species, is found in Tasmania,
and has a wide range over Australia. It measures about ½ an inch from the
front of the head to the tip of the abdomen, and is of a general black colour
on the upper surface, with dusky almost black wings, and a red head. The
under-surface is marked with brown, with the thorax, thighs, and tibiae of
the front and middle legs black; the three slender curled hair-like tails
forming the ovipositor being longer than the whole insect. Eight other
species of Bracon are described, several of which are also recorded from
New Guinea and New Zealand. Among the introduced species is Lepolexis
rapae of Curtis, which is parasitic upon the cabbage aphis in Europe; it can
be collected in gardens about Sydney. Aphids containing these parasites are
always swollen, round, and apparently dead skins through which each
braconid eats its way.
Five species of the Genus Agathes are described; they are remarkable for
their showy particoloured wings, and large size in comparison with other
members of this family. Ashmead has described a tiny black species marked
with yellow bred by me from the larva of a Noctuid Moth, an undetermined

species of Agrotis, under the name of Apanteles antipoda; and a second
larger one as Apanteles australasiae. In his Genus Microbracon he has
described a dainty little black and yellow creature that infests the larvae of
our scale-eating moth (Thalpochares coccophaga) under the name of
Microbracon thalpocaris.

Family 10. Ruby Wasps.
CHRYSIDIDAE.

The popular and scientific names of these insects refer to the brilliant
metallic blue, green, golden or copper coloured tints of their armour-plated
bodies, which are also covered with coarse punctures, finest upon the
abdomen. They are stout thickset wasps with short curled antennae and
large eyes; the thorax is broad and closely attached to the abdomen, the
latter composed of from three to five segments, the first generally much
shorter than the second, with the last toothed along the hind margin, and
characteristic of the different species; the under-surface of these plates is
concave, with the tip of the abdomen produced into a tubular process, so
that when alarmed the wasp can curl her body round into a ball, protected
on all sides by the armour-like integument; and as she lays her eggs in the
nests of other wasps and bees, and is sometimes caught in the act, this habit
is probably a wise provision of Nature which enables her to resist the sting
of the lawful nest maker.
Some of the earlier observers called them “Cuckoo Wasps,” under the
impression that their larvae, when hatched out in the nests of hunting wasps
or bees that filled the cells with insects or bee bread, fed upon the stored
food supplies, but later researches show that, though the egg of both the
lawful occupant and the intruder may be deposited in the cell, the latter
does not hatch until the former has devoured all the food placed there by his
mother and is ready to pupate; then the ruby wasp baby comes out, attaches
itself to the full fed larva beside it, and sucks him dry, pupating in his skin.
Most of our species that I have bred out are parasitic in the clay nests of
the smaller Mason Wasps, Odynerus and Alastor, though in Europe many
species live in the nests of bees. The perfect insects are generally found
crawling over or flying round old fences or stumps and dead trees in the
hottest part of the day. Our species were described by F. Smith in 1874 in

his revision of the family, in the Transactions of the Entomological Society
of London; a few others have since been added to the list by Mocsáry, who
monographed the Chrysididae in 1889; and Gribodo in the Annals of the
Mus. Geneva, 1879.
No member of the typical Genus Cleptes common in Europe and
America is recorded from Australia; but two well defined species of the
beautiful ruby wasps of the Genus Stilbum that has a world wide range are
described, Stilbum splendidum confined to Australia and New Caledonia,
and Stilbum amethystinium, found also in Asia, Africa and America. The
great Genus Chrysis, which contains over 600 described species, is
represented here by about 27 species.

Family 11. Hatchet-bodied Wasps.
EVANIIDAE.

Under the recent classification of this family it now comprises three very
well defined genera, which have moderately thick antennae, not elbowed,
consisting of thirteen or fourteen joints; the nervures of the wings not so
well defined as those of the Ichneumons; and the stalked abdomen attached
to the upper part of the metathorax. They are well represented in this
country, and have been chiefly described by Westwood and Schletterer.

Plate XIII.—HYMENOPTERA.
Family Megalyridae.
1. Megalyra fasciipennis (Westwood). ♀.
Family Ichneumonidae.
2. Pimpla intricatoria (Fabr.). ♀.
Family Evaniidae.
3. Gasteruption sp.
Family Mutillidae.
4. Mutilla formicaria (Westwood). ♀.
Family Chrysididae.
5. Stilbum splendidum (Fabr.).
Family Thynnidae.

6. Diamma bicolor (Westwood).
10. Thynnus variabilis (Kirby). ♀.
11. Thynnus variabilis (Kirby). ♂.

Family Scoliidae.
7. Trielus zonata (Smith). ♀.
8. Discolia verticalis (Fabr.). ♂.
9. Discolia soror (Smith). ♀.

Family Sphegidae.
12. Bembex tridentifera (Smith).
(Original photo. Burton.)

Plate XIII.—HYMENOPTERA.

The members of the typical Genus Evania are generally shining black
insects, sometimes variegated with dull red markings; the head and thorax
are short and broad; the abdomen has the first segment produced into a
slender stalk, and the remaining ones forming a vertically compressed
hatchet-like body. They are parasitic upon the egg cases of cockroaches;
some with a very wide range have been introduced in all probability with
their cosmopolitan hosts, while they are often found in the house flying on
the window panes, evidently introduced in the same manner. In the bush the
perfect insects are commonly found on flowering shrubs in the summer
time. About 20 species are described from Australia and Tasmania. Evania
princeps is of a uniform black colour with dusky wings, and is recorded
from most parts of Australia, Woodlark Island and New Guinea. It is one of
our largest species, measuring ½ an inch in length, broad in proportion, and
furnished with very long spined legs.
The Genus Gasteruption, which takes the place of the Genus Foenus in
the earlier catalogues, contains 36 described species from Australia; as they
are rare insects, there are probably many more to be discovered. Nothing is
known about their habits for certain, but they are supposed to be parasitic
upon the larvae of wood boring insects; I have generally found them flying
round the trunk of a dead or burnt tree. They differ from the former genus in
having the head almost globular, with antennae standing out straight in
front, and large oval eyes on the sides; the thorax is more elongate, rounded
in front, so that the insect appears to have a slight neck. The abdomen
springs from a rounded node on the thorax, with the basal segments slender,
swelling out gradually, and broadest at the tip; the females bear a very long
hair-like ovipositor. The legs are slender, the hind pair longest, with both
the thighs and apical half of the tibiae thickened in a very distinctive
manner. Ten species are described from Sydney; and one, Gasteruption
pedunculatum, is also common to New Zealand.
The Genus Aulacus contains ten described species of smaller insects.
Aulacus apicalis is parasitic upon the larvae of a longicorn beetle
(Piesarthrius marginellus). I have found as many as fifty, each enclosed in a
thin parchment cocoon, all matted together in a single cavity. This little
wasp has a long extended ovipositor, and measures about ½ an inch in
length; the head and greater portion of the abdomen is black, the rest

reddish brown, with a blotch of yellow on the upper surface of the base of
the abdomen; the hyaline wings are tipped with black.

Family 12. Long-tailed Wasps.
MEGALYRIDAE.

These remarkable parasitic wasps, peculiar to Australia, are comprised in
a single genus containing 16 species, none of which are very common. They
are all shining black insects; the head short, broad and almost rounded, the
thorax broad and stout, both very rugose and clothed with fine silvery hairs
on the sides; the eyes large, circular, and very prominent; ocelli small; the
antennae composed of irregular wiry joints; the wings semitransparent,
generally banded with black, and the transverse nervures wanting in the
apical half; legs long, with the thighs thickened. The abdomen is closely
attached to the thorax, cylindrical, tapering to the extremity, and in the
females furnished with an ovipositor often more than three times the whole
length of the insect, looking exactly like three black horse-hairs. These
elongated ovipositors are used for depositing their eggs in the wood-boring
larvae of longicorn beetles belonging to the Genus Phoracantha, and
probably others of like habits, which feed under the bark in the sap wood of
different eucalypts. The perfect insects are generally found about flowers on
low shrubs in summer.
Megalyra shuchardi is of the usual black colour with silvery pubescence;
the wings are pitch black and opaque: the whole insect measures slightly
under 1 inch in length, with the ovipositor over three inches. It is found in
Victoria and New South Wales, and also recorded from Melville Island on
the North Coast. Megalyra fasciipennis was described by Westwood when
he founded the genus, in the Transactions of the Entomological Society
1841; and it is again figured in Griffith’s Animal Kingdom, Insects, Vol. II.
It is much smaller than the previous one, of similar form, the legs and
ovipositor reddish brown, the wings hyaline, barred across the centre and
clouded at the extremities with blackish brown. The male is much smaller
than the female, with similar wings, but the body is more slender and comes
to a point at the tip, furnished with a curious bifid anal appendage. This is
the species we have found breeding from the longicorn larvae.

Six other species have been described, some by Schletterer (Berliner
Entom. Zeitschrift 1889); one, Megalyra melanoptera, closely allied to
Westwood’s dark winged species. In 1902 Szepligeti (Termes Z. Fuzetek,
xxv.) monographed the family and added one more; and Bradley last year,
describing the last new form (Trans. Ent. Society of London 1905) appends
a translation of the former’s tabulation of all the known species, seven in
number. I have (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1906) since added 8 new species to
the list.

Family 13. Ants.
FORMICIDAE.

The ants are among the first insects that attract one’s notice in a new
country; civilization seems to agree with many species which form their
nests in the lawns or gardens, and even take up their quarters in the house.
Within the last decade a small introduced species has appeared in the heart
of London, and the small red ant, Monomorium pharaonis, is a world wide
pest in houses from Europe to Australia.
Ants live in communities forming nests in the ground, under logs or
stones, or in dead trees, and sometimes among the foliage of plants. These
communities consist of winged males and females, and wingless aborted
females known as workers, the bulk of the family consisting of the latter; in
some groups there are several varieties of workers, that are often called
soldiers on account of their great size and swollen heads. In those species
that are furnished with a sting both the workers and winged females should
be handled with care.
They are divided into five sub-families, based on the difference in the
structure of the segments of the body, absence or presence of a sting, and a
few other minor characters. The leading specialists differ somewhat in the
sequence of these groups; I follow Forel in placing the Ponerinae at the
head of the family; and for a good classification and definition of the genera
would refer my readers to Emery’s paper in the “Annales de la Societe
Entomologique de Belgique,” Vol. xl., 1896. All our species described
before 1858 are listed in Smith’s British Museum “Catalogue of the
Formicidae,” where he described a number of new species: Lowne
described a number of new species collected in the neighbourhood of

Sydney in the Entomologist, Vol. ii., 1865: Mayr in several papers, chief of
which are “Myrmecologische Studien,” “Neue Formiciden,” and “Die
Australischen Formiciden” added many up to 1876. Emery, Forel, and
others have since added to the list; and in Dalla Torre’s great “Catalogue of
the Hymenoptera,” published in 1893, all species described up to that date
are recorded. I have lately (1905) published a list of Australian species
(Miscellaneous Publications No. 889, Dep. Agr. N.S.W.), including all Forel
and others have added to our fauna, in which nearly 400 species are
recorded, without counting the large number of races and varieties into
which some of them are divided. From my own researches I think a great
many more will be found when they are systematically collected in the
tropical scrubs and the dry districts in the interior, which as yet have hardly
been touched.

The sub-family Ponerinae includes many large or medium sized ants
with elongated bodies furnished with only one constricted segment or node
at the base of the abdomen, and the latter terminating in a powerful sting.
The larvae are enclosed in stout silken cocoons. The Genus Myrmecia
contains most of our largest typical species peculiar to Australia, popularly
known as “bull-dog ants,” “inchmen,” or “jumpers”; about 34 species have
been described, some of which have a very wide range. The “Jumper,”
Myrmecia albo-cincta, forms its nest under the shelter of a low bush; it is a
low mound with an opening on the summit, and another on the side level
with the ground; when disturbed these ants come rushing out like a pack of
dogs with a series of short jumps, and attack everything they meet. It is one
of the smaller species, about ½ an inch in length, of a uniform black colour,
with only the front and hind portion of the thorax brownish red to yellow.
Myrmecia forficata is our large red and black “bull-dog ant,” with a very
extended range like the previous one from Victoria to Queensland. They
measure up to 1 inch in length, and are of a uniform dull red, except the
eyes and abdomen, which are black. They live in rather large colonies up to
200 in number, digging deep circular shafts or irregular chambers under
logs; when away from the latter, they form regular domed mounds over the
nests, which in summer contain the large, elongated, oval, brown sacks

enclosing the pupae, and often a number of winged males and females; the
former with small heads and jaws, the latter with jaws as large or larger
than those of the workers. Myrmecia gulosa is of a lighter red colour, with
the tip of the abdomen black. M. tarsata is our common black bull-dog ant,
with yellow jaws, and antennae and tips of the legs reddish brown; it has a
great habit of hunting up and down the larger tree trunks, and drops to the
ground at the least alarm; when disturbed in the nest, if the first two or three
are captured, the others will usually retreat down their burrows, and not
show fight like the other species. Sharp notes the bull-dog as forming large
mounds (Cambridge Natural History); but I think he was misinformed, as
the nests of the Mound Ant, Iridomyrmex detectus, are often confounded
with these ants. The Genus Odontomachus contains a number of curious
slender black ants with large heads and long projecting jaws; they are more
tropical in their range, but O. ruficeps and its varieties are found from the
Darling River N.S. Wales through Queensland to North Australia.
The “Green-head,” Ectatomma metallicum, is a common ant of medium
size that lives in small communities under stones or logs, and often makes
nests in the dry banks of lawns in our gardens. Though somewhat sluggish,
they sting sharply if they crawl on one when resting on the grass. About 28
species and many varieties of this genus occur in Australia; one in New
Zealand; and 3 in New Caledonia. The members of the Genus Ponera are
remarkable for their extended range; we have several species or varieties in
Queensland closely allied to species from South America, Borneo, Europe,
and Africa, while three are recorded from New Zealand; Euponera lutea, a
slender pale yellow ant with the abdominal segment constricted, lives in
small communities under stones or roots. It ranges from Sydney to
Fremantle, round to N. Queensland. Pachycondyla piliventris is a large,
hairy black ant with large head and rounded body, roughened, and clothed
with fine rusty down. They are generally found under stones in
communities of a dozen or so, and when exposed or disturbed pretend to be
dead, with their legs folded up under the body; they are common about
Sydney.
Six species of the Genus Sphinctomyrmex are found chiefly in the North.
They are somewhat rare ants; I have found two species, both small, slender,
dull brownish yellow insects living under stones; S. froggatti in a vineyard

near Sydney; and the second, S. hednigae, in the New England district
under large stones.

The second sub-family, Dorylinae, comprises ants with the antennae
placed close together in the front of the head, the abdomen elongated, with
the first segment forming an irregular node. This group contains some very
remarkable ants in Africa and America, but is only represented in Australia
by two species belonging to the Genus Ænictus, both of which are
described from specimens collected by Turner at Mackay, Queensland.

The third sub-family, Myrmicinae, is well represented here; they are all
small or medium sized ants, with the base of the abdomen formed into two
small nodes, and the sting rudimentary; the pupa naked and not enclosed in
a cocoon. Many of them live in very large communities.
The members of the Genus Meranoplus are tiny little brown ants with
rounded heads and bodies, resembling some of the small wingless female
Mutillid in shape and habits, for though they form irregular galleries under
stones or in dry banks, they are generally found running up and down tree
trunks; when touched they curl up the body and sham death. Meranoplus
oceanicus, reddish brown, is common in N.S. Wales; M. pubescens has a
very wide range right round Australia.

Monomorium pharaonis is our tiny red house-ant introduced from
Europe, now world wide in its range; and when once it becomes established
in a house is a difficult pest to destroy. M. rubriceps, a much larger species
but under ¼ of an inch in length, is bright reddish brown, with the nodes
very small and the apical portion of the abdomen black, and broadly
rounded. It is found crawling upon the trunks of trees, and has a wide range
from Sydney to Cape York. The typical tree-trunk ants included in the

Genus Podomyrma are much larger ants, sluggish in their habits, forming
their nests in tree stems and always found crawling about the trunks. They
are broad-headed ants with short stout jaws toothed at the tips; the thorax is
widest in front, tapering to the narrow pedicle of the broadly rounded
abdomen; the thighs of the legs are thickened in the centre. Podomyrma
gratiosa, under ½ an inch in length, is bright reddish brown, rugose and
spined on the front margin of the thorax, with the abdomen black, smooth,
and shining; it is widely distributed over Australia from Adelaide to Cape
York. P. adelaidae is a smaller species with black legs, and a distinct oval
brown blotch on either side of the black abdomen; it is common in South
Australia and Victoria. P. bimaculata is still smaller, with the blotches on
the abdomen smaller and more oval; I have had it from Kalgoorlie W.A.,
and Wagga N.S. Wales.

Plate XIV.—HYMENOPTERA.
Family Formicidae.
1. Iridomyrmex detectus (Smith).
2. Polyrhachis semi-aurata (Mayr).
3. Myrmecia gulosa (Fabr.).
4. Ectatomma metallicum (Smith).
5. Iridomyrmex rufoniger (Lowne).
6. Camponotus nigriceps (Smith).

Plate XIV.—HYMENOPTERA.

The Genus Pheidole is well represented in Australia by 22 species and
many varieties found in all parts of the country, forming irregular chambers
and galleries under stones and logs; they are tiny reddish brown ants, with a
very large headed form of soldiers often four or five times the size of the
ordinary workers. The winged forms are also very large in proportion.
Pheidole bos is dark reddish brown, the soldiers furnished with very large
swollen heads; it ranges from Western Australia to Victoria. P. anthracina is
a darker coloured form, ranging from the northern portion of N.S. Wales
into Queensland. The members of the Genus Cremastogaster are very small
black, brown, or dull yellow coloured ants with longer legs, and heart-
shaped bodies; they live in large communities in nests under logs and
stones. C. fusca is black with reddish tarsi, and a reddish tint on the thorax;
it comes from Queensland. C. pallipes and C. ruficeps are lighter coloured,
found under stones about Sydney.
Sima laeviceps is a very curious elongated shining black ant with reddish
brown antennae and tarsi, which ranges up the Queensland coast to N.W.
Australia, and is found crawling about on tree trunks, when touched curling
its body up like a wasp and shamming death.

The sub-family Dolichoderinae comprises a number of small or medium
sized ants living often in very large communities and having naked pupae.
The base of the abdomen consists of a single small node with no
constriction between the two following segments; sting practically wanting
(rudimentary). The typical Genus Dolichoderus is represented here by five
species widely distributed. D. doriae is common about Sydney living in
large communities under logs, often clustered over each other like a swarm
of bees; they collect on the leaves of eucalypts, upon which the sugar lerp
psylla, (Spondylaspis eucalypti) constructs its larval scales, and suck or lick
up the sugary exudation. This ant measures ¼ of an inch in length; the head
and thorax are black and roughened; the legs reddish brown, and the
flattened heart-shaped abdomen clothed with a silvery pubescence.
Leptomyrmex erythrocephalus might well be called the “Silly Ant” from the
aimless manner in which it rushes about with its head stuck up in the air,
and its abdomen curled over its back. They live in underground nests
sometimes deep down, but others live under stones; they are slender-bodied,
long-legged black ants under ½ an inch in length, with an oval red head,
rounded behind with long slender antennae, and the front of the thorax
produced into a slender neck. In some varieties the whole of the thorax,
legs, and head are yellowish brown.
The typical Genus Iridomyrmex contains 18 distinct species, some of
which have been subdivided into three or four varieties or races; most of
them are small, except our “Mound Ant,” sometimes known as the “Meat
Ant,” Iridomyrmex detectus, which is the commonest and most widely
distributed ant in Australia. They construct large mounds a couple of feet
above the surface of the ground, and two or three yards in diameter; they
are formed of the soil excavated from beneath when forming their network
of irregular open galleries; the upper surface is pierced with numbers of
rounded vertical shafts, up which they swarm in countless thousands and
attack any intruder, biting savagely with their stout sharp jaws and making
things generally unpleasant for the stranger. When a mound is situated in
open grassed country, one can trace regular bare roads leading off from the
nest, worn smooth by the regular stream of ants passing backward and
forward day after day. It is too well known to need description, but
measures about ⅓ of an inch in length, and is of a general brownish purple

tint, with the head light reddish brown. Smith described the worker under
the name of Formica purpurea, and the male as F. detectus, so in most
Museum collections it will be found under the former specific name. Forel
has made a new variety, which he calls Var sanguineus, of the coastal form
found in North Queensland, with the head and thorax light reddish brown.
Most of the other species are small black ants: Iridomyrmex rufoniger is
very common in the bush and in the gardens; a variety which Forel has
called domesticus is the common black ant that comes into the house in
Sydney, and is a regular pest in the summer in many districts. Tapinoma
minutum is about as large as the “Mound Ant”; black; the head and thorax
deeply pitted and corrugated; the abdomen slightly constricted in the centre,
smooth and shining. It comes from Townsville, N.Q.: a second species, T.
melanocephalum, taken in Cairns, is also found in Samoa and the Tonga
Islands.

The last sub-family, Camponotinae, is a large division well represented
in Australia; they live in more or less large communities, and with a few
exceptions have the pupae enclosed in cocoons. The base of the abdomen
forms a single node, and there is no constriction between the second and
third abdominal segments; the sting is wanting, and the anal orifice is
fringed with hairs. In the works of early entomologists a number of our ants
were described under the Genus Formica, but they have been gradually
identified and placed in their proper genera, until we only have about half a
dozen still remaining in this genus, probably more on account of the
difficulty of identifying them than because they really belong here.
The Genus Acantholepis is represented by four species all described by
Forel from specimens I have collected and sent him from N.S. Wales, so
that their range seems to be restricted. They are all small, reddish brown,
smooth, shining ants; A. bosii was found under stones at Cooma, N.S.W.
The Green Tree-ant, Oecophylla smaragdina, found in tropical Africa,
India, and New Guinea, is common in the tropical scrubs on the coast of
North Queensland. They live in large communities among the foliage of the
trees, in nests formed by webbing the leaves together into an irregular mass

varying in size from a cricket ball to a man’s head. The material with which
they make these nests is obtained by the workers, by squeezing the pupae
and using the secretion they discharge. The winged female measures nearly
¾ of an inch in length, has a broad thorax and large oval body; the worker is
only about ¼ of an inch, and slender in proportion, but for his size is the
most pugnacious creature in the insect world; if one damages a nest pushing
through the scrub, down tumble a swarm of green tree ants on one’s head
and neck, and wherever they drop they stick their jaws in and hang on, and
each one has to be picked off in detail. In these forests they destroy an
immense number of insects, catching the little bees as they come out of
their nests in the tree trunks, and dragging the small beetles off the twigs by
main force. I have often seen half a dozen hanging on to the legs of a stout
weevil, apparently trying to wear him out, for they would remain for hours
in the same position, and probably succeeded in the end.
The great Genus Camponotus contains about 400 described species from
all parts of the world, of which about 60 are recorded from Australia. Most
of them are found in open forest country, forming their nests in the ground,
under logs or stones, or near the butts of trees. Several of our common
species are known as “sugar ants,” as they come about at night and invade
the pantry and store room in search of sweets; but they are omnivorous in
their tastes, and will often come round the camp fire at night, prowling
about for the small moths that flutter round, often rushing right into the
edge of the ashes to capture a moth when it falls with singed wings.
Camponotus intrepidus is one of our largest species, varying from black to
reddish brown in tint, and is thickly clothed with short hair. They form nests
in the open sandstone country about Sydney, sometimes raising a little
mound or producing a fragile funnel-shaped structure above the opening
leading into the nest. The Sugar Ant, Camponotus nigriceps, is the
commonest house species; it forms large chambers under stones or logs in
which they all cluster together. The general colour is black, with all the
abdomen except the base dull yellow, but the variations of the yellow and
black are common; it measures to ¾ of an inch in length.
Camponotus inflatus is the curious “honey ant” of Central Australia
figured and described by Lubbock in his “Bees, Ants, and Wasps.” The
naturalists on the Horn Exploring Expedition obtained a number of this and
other species, described by me in the Zoology of this Expedition. The

ordinary members of the “honey pot ants” are of the usual normal form, but
certain individuals of each nest of these species are crammed with a honey
secretion (probably obtained by the workers from aphids or psyllids), until
the abdomen swells out of all proportion to the rest of the ant; the honey pot
ants remain hanging about in the bottom of the nests like a number of
bottles of honey, incapable of leaving the nest; the supply is probably used
as food for the larvae. Spencer says that the blacks dig up these nests and
look upon the “honey pots” as great luxuries. The honey is sweet with an
acrid taste like the honey of our native bees. They are apparently common
in Central Australia; Miss Ormerod sent me some from England which she
had received from a correspondent at Kalgoorlie; and recently Mr. Field of
Tennant’s Creek sent me a fine red species from the far north.
Camponotus claripes, a smaller pale coloured species, generally makes
its galleries at the base of a tree trunk, and has a very wide range from
Victoria to North Queensland. I found the cocoons of this species in a nest
at Howlong infested with full grown red velvet mites (Trombidiidae), which
occupied the whole space.
The Genus Polyrhachis contains a number of black ants of fair size,
most of which build their nests in dead logs, and live in rather large
communities, but others form small nests by matting the foliage of trees
together; the latter are confined to Queensland, and are generally smaller
shining black forms. The true “wood ants” are more or less covered with
bright metallic pubescence and fine hairs, and with the hind portion of the
thorax and the node of the abdomen ornamented with a pair of slender
spines.
Polyrhachis ornata is black, with the thorax and base of the spines richly
tinted with gold; it comes from Queensland. P. ammon, ranging from
Victoria to Queensland, is clothed with pale golden pubescence lightest on
the head and thickest on the abdomen. P. semi-aurata has both the head and
thorax golden, with the abdomen smooth, black and shining. P. laevior is
one of the smaller tree nesting forms, and is smooth and shining without
any metallic tints, and the thoracic and abdominal spines are very small. P.
turneri, also a northern form, has the head golden, and large well developed
spines.

Family 14. Solitary Ants.

MUTILLIDAE.

Though these interesting little creatures were once placed in the
Formicidae, and are still popularly known as “Solitary Ants” in Europe and
“Cow Ants” in America, they are now classified as the first family of the
fossorial wasps. Unlike the true ants, they are solitary in their habits and
probably all parasitic in other insects’ nests. Until quite recently they were
all placed in the Genus Mutilla, in which about 1,000 species have been
described from all parts of the world, and about 130 from Australia; the
earlier ones by Messrs. Westwood and Smith, the later ones by Andre, who
has had the great advantage of obtaining a great many specimens from Mr.
Gilbert Turner, who was able to sex the species, add valuable notes about
their habits, and give the exact locality of the specimens collected. Turner,
who was a most careful observer, after some years of collecting was not
positive where they passed the earlier stages of their existence, but told me
that he believed that some of them were parasitic in the nests of ants.
Several of the European Mutillidae are known to be parasitic in the nests of
bees: I have on several occasions dug the females of the smaller species out
of moss at the foot of tree trunks, and our two largest species are generally
found under stones in open chambers, while on hot summer days both sexes
of Mutilla cordata and several other species are found running up and down
the tree trunks.
The males are furnished with two pairs of dark or semiopaque wings.
The head is rounded; the antennae curving round; with large eyes and
ocelli; the thorax broad, but showing the segmental divisions, and the
abdomen rather short and rounded, without any pedicle; the legs stout, and
spined on the middle pair. The whole insect is rugose and deeply punctured
or roughened, and more or less clothed with pubescence and longer hairs.
The females are wingless, with shorter curled antennae, very different in
size, sculpture, and even colouration to the males of the same species; with
the body more elongated and terminating in a long powerful sting. Andre
remarks upon the brilliant metallic colouration of many of the Australian
species, which is much more pronounced than in those from other parts of
the world. He also says that they resemble the American species in the fact
that they can be divided into two groups by the configuration of the eyes.
Within the last few years specialists have subdivided the Genus Mutilla
into a number of new genera; and Andre places nearly all the Australian

species in the Genus Ephutermorpha, but for simplicity I retain the old
name.
Mutilla rugicollis, described by Westwood many years ago, is our largest
species, measuring in the larger female over ¾ of an inch in length. She is
black, very deeply punctured, thickly clothed with black and silvery white
hairs, the latter forming white patches on the hind portion of the head, sides
and under-surface of the abdomen, and has a dorsal row of five distinct
spots down the back. The male is much smaller, with somewhat similar but
not so distinct white markings, and is furnished with dark brown wings,
which are hyaline, close to the sides of the thorax.
Mutilla quadrisignata has about the same measurements as the female of
the last species; with blackish hairy covering, except on the under surface of
the abdomen, and four dark, reddish brown, oval spots forming a square on
the dorsal surface. Both these species have a wide range over Australia.
Mutilla ferruginata is a smaller species with a similar deeply punctured
surface; is of a uniform dull rusty red colour, thickly clothed with darker
brown hairs; the legs and antennae deeper coloured than the body. Mutilla
cordata is typical of the smaller active forms that frequent tree trunks; the
male is black with dark wings and slender abdomen, and measures about ⅓
of an inch in length; in this case much larger than the female, which has a
rounded body with the centre of the dorsal surface occupied with a large
rounded golden blotch. I have found the best time to collect these insects is
in the hottest part of the day, when they are running up and down the larger
tree trunks; but they are very active, and drop at the least alarm, so that it
takes some practice to capture them.

Family 15. Flower Wasps.
THYNNIDAE.

These handsome flower wasps are closely allied to the members of the
previous family, as they have similar wingless females of such peculiar
shapes that, if examined alone, they would never be taken for the consorts
of the large wasp-like Thynnus, with its long stout antennae, well developed
legs, and large powerful wings. The males fly about the flowers of
leptospermum and eucalypts, and when captured bite and pretend to sting
by turning up the tip of the abdomen, which ends in a horny, harmless

process. Fortunately, when hunted for in the summer, most of our
commoner species can be taken in copula with the smaller female, with
which he flies about quite easily; when caught the female immediately
detaches herself and falls to the ground, where she crawls out of sight, so
that care must be taken by the collector to keep each pair captured in a box
by themselves, or else when once mixed up it is impossible to determine
unknown species. Australia is the headquarters of this group, for of about
400 described species, 300 are peculiar to this country; the others are
chiefly confined to Brazil and Chili in South America, with a few from Asia
and the Islands. Smith has described a great number in the British Museum
Catalogues; Westwood others; and Guerin those collected during the
Voyage de Coquille in 1830; but as many of these were determined from
single specimens of one sex, it is certain that when a collection of sexed
specimens can be compared with the types, the number of species will
suffer considerable reduction.
Nothing definite is known about the earlier stages of their development;
I have however obtained cocoons composed of a stout silken case
enveloped in a thin outer second papery covering, oval in form, with a
nipple-like projection at the extremity, from which I have bred one of our
large species. These cocoons are buried several inches in the ground like
those of the Scolias, so that the females, which are furnished with short,
stout, spiny legs well adapted for digging, probably lay their eggs in
lamellicorn larvae living in the loose soil.
A number of our common species are plentiful on the flowering
Leptospermum and Melaleuca bushes, and many of the smaller ones may
be found feeding upon the honey dew covering the foliage of small
eucalypts that are infested with scale insects. Thynnus variabilis, our
commonest species, is a very handsome wasp measuring over ¾ of an inch
in length, and nearly 1¾ across the outspread wings; the general colour is
brown; the front of the head, hind margin of thorax, and broad bands or
double dots across the abdominal segments bright yellow; the semiopaque
wings reddish brown. The female, very broad in proportion, is shorter than
the male; she is reddish brown; the abdominal segments are rugose and
blotched with yellow, forming transverse bars of rounded dots on the hind
portion. The antennae are short and curled; the head broad, with a stout
thorax; and she has short hairy legs. Thynnus leachellus, slightly smaller, is

found in the vicinity of Sydney. The abdomen is broader and shorter in
proportion; the general tint is black, richly marked on the head and thorax
with bright yellow, and each of the abdominal segments carries a narrow
transverse band of the same colour, broken by a dorsal stripe of black. The
female is much smaller, short and thickset; is of a general reddish brown
colour; the abdomen is marked with yellow blotches and bands, only the
last one divided as in the male. Thynnus flavilabris, somewhat larger, is
quite black, with only the face marked with deep yellow; the wings are
dark, smoke-coloured; and the hind margin of the thorax is thickly covered
with white hairs.
Thynnus brenchleyi is a type of the North Australian forms; it is nearly as
large as T. variabilis, but has the whole upper surface smooth and shining,
the hind margin of the thorax and the base of the abdomen truncate and
fitting close against each other. The head and prothorax are bright yellow,
the rest black. This handsome insect was described by Smith in the Zoology
of the Voyage of the Curaçoa, and it was said to come from the northern
coast of Western Australia; my specimens were taken near Charters Towers,
North Queensland. A female, sent with this species as its mate, is black,
marked on the head, sides of thorax, and abdomen with yellow, and is
furnished with a curious fringe of pale buff hairs on the hind margin of the
thorax, and along the front of the first abdominal segment.
In the Genus Rhagigaster the males are more slender in form; the
abdomen, elongated and deeply constricted or corrugated at the junction of
the segments, is usually black, with more or less dark coloured wings: the
females are very small in proportion.
Among the most remarkable is the “Blue Ant,” Diamma bicolor. In this
case the female is most common; about Sydney I have caught scores of
females, but so far have never taken a male. She measures 1 inch in length,
and is of a rich metallic blue to purple colour, smooth and shining, the
antennae and legs reddish brown. She is furnished with a fine pair of jaws
and a powerful sting, more formidable than that of any ant, and when
disturbed turns over on her back and shows fight with both jaws and sting.
The male, much smaller in size, is black, with red legs and black tarsi; the
wings are semitransparent with black nervures. The whole upper surface of
head and thorax is rugose, and the insect very ant-like in general
appearance.

Mr. Roland Turner is at present engaged in working up the Australian
Thynnidae at the British Museum, having his own and my collection of
specimens to identify; probably this combined collection is the largest in
existence, and contains an immense number of sexed specimens collected in
the field, as we have both spent a great deal of time over these typical
Australian insects.

Family 16. Hairy Flower Wasps.
SCOLIIDAE

These insects are easily distinguished from the Thynnidae in being
thickset hairy wasps; both sexes are furnished with wings in which the
neuration is distinct at the base, but the nervures fade out before they reach
the tips; the thorax is broad, rounded in front, with a very short pedicle
attaching it to the stout abdomen. The legs are stout, compressed, very
hairy, and spiny, with one stout spur on the tibiae of the middle pair of legs
well adapted for burrowing. The males are easily distinguished from the
females in being more slender in form, with longer straight antennae (in the
latter sex short, thickened, and curling round the sides of the head); and the
legs are slender, with fewer spines. Several species are plentiful about the
Sydney gardens and bush, where they can be easily captured on the flowers.
In observations made by earlier entomologists, their life history seems to
have been confused with those of the long legged sand wasps, which
burrow in the ground and form regular nests provisioned with other insects
and spiders; but the Scoliidae form no true nest; the female burrows into
the ground or under logs, where she finds the larvae or white grubs of the
larger lamellicorn beetles, on which she deposits a single egg, first carefully
stinging the beetle grub (according to Fabre, the French naturalist, who
studied the habits of several European species). The young wasp hatching
out attaches itself to the helpless grub in such a manner that it does not
injure the vital organs, and by the time it has devoured its host it is ready to
pupate, spinning a brown silken cocoon which fits into the cavity first
occupied by the unfortunate beetle grub; when fully developed it digs its
way up to the surface.
About 50 species have been described from Australia; Smith listed and
described a number of new species (British Museum Catalogue

Hymenoptera 1855): Saussure described several in the same year
(Memoires de la Societe de Physique, &c., Geneve), and later on others in
the Annals of the Entomological Society of France 1858. In 1864 he and
Sichel monographed the family: Smith described 8 more four years after:
and Kirby going through the British Museum Collections in 1889 revised
the Genera and added another to our list.
Discolia soror is our commonest shining black species; the female
measures over 1 inch in length, and is easily identified by its beautiful,
iridescent, opaque, dark blue wings. It may be often seen in our gardens on
the flowers or hovering in numbers over a dead stump, looking for beetle
larvae in which to deposit its eggs. Scolia fulva is our largest species; the
female measures up to 1½ inches in length, and is broad in proportion; it is
black and reddish yellow, but so thickly clothed with coarse reddish hairs
that it is more the latter tint; and the semiopaque wings are reddish brown.
This species is figured and described by Gray in Griffith’s Animal Kingdom
1832.
Scolia radula is a smaller black species, under 1 inch in length; the head,
apex of thorax, base of abdomen and most of the under-surface are clothed
with grey hairs, but the hind margin of the head and dorsal surface of
abdomen are clothed with reddish brown; the latter is orange yellow above,
but marked with black at the base and tip.

Fig. 52.—Life History of a Flower Wasp.
1. Dielis formosa (Guérin). ♀. (1a.—Life size.)
2. „ „ Larva.
3. Pupal Cocoon, showing opening whence the wasp
has emerged.

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Dielis 7-cincta, one of our commonest species, often clustering in
numbers on flowering shrubs in the gardens, was described by Fabricius,
and is the male of Dielis (Scolia) formosa which was not described till 1846
by Guérin. The male, ⅔ of an inch in length, is very slender in form, of a
general black colour, clothed with fine grey hairs, and marked with light
yellow on the head and thorax, with five broad bands of the same colour on
the body. The female, under 1 inch in length, is black, with the abdomen
marked on the upper surface with reddish yellow somewhat variable in its
distribution, and clothed with reddish brown hairs, thickest on the head and
thorax. This insect has been found in Queensland destroying the
underground grub of the Sugar-cane Beetle (Lepidoderma albo-hirtum).

Family 17. Sand Wasps.
POMPILIDAE.

Fig. 53.—Salius (Priocnemus) bicolor (Fabr.).
Large sand-burrowing wasp, that attacks cicadas.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

This group is well represented in Australia, and widely distributed over
the country; about 60 species have been described: several collected by Sir
Joseph Banks in 1775 were described by Fabricius; Smith, in the Catalogue
previously noticed, in a series of papers between 1862–69 in the
Transactions of the Entomological Society, other Journals, and a British
Museum publication (New Species of Hymenoptera 1879) published after
his death, has described most of our species; Saussure in the Hymenoptera
of the Reise Novara; and later Kohl has enriched our list.
The typical genera Pompilus and Salius comprise a number of large
yellow and black wasps with coloured wings tipped with black. They have
long legs well adapted for running over the ground, and may be seen any
warm sunny morning hunting about for spiders, with their antennae and
wings constantly on the move as they rush about. They will attack the
largest spider whether on the ground or hidden in a tree trunk; one large
black undetermined species even ventures down the nests of the Trap-door
Spiders and drags them forth. Sometimes one of the larger ground spiders
shows fight, and it becomes a duel to the death, the wasp now and then
being captured by its intended victim. They often place the spider in any

suitable cavity with their eggs, but others form extensive burrows in the
soil. Salius (Priocnemus) bicolor is one of our largest yellow and black
species, often measuring 2 inches across the wings, but variable both in
colouration and size. She forms a burrow as large as a mouse hole, several
feet in length, with quite a large mound of excavated soil outside the
entrance; when emerging from the chamber she looks a most formidable
creature, but unless captured never attempts to attack anyone. She
sometimes stores her nest with cicadas many times larger than herself,
which she rides down to their tomb before they are quite dead. The young
larva is usually attached to the cicada’s breast when hatched out; but I have
never been able to keep any alive after being dug out of the nest. This wasp
has a curious habit of flying round and dragging a cicada off a branch when
it is sucking up the sap; taking its place, she calmly stands over the spot and
drinks up the sap that exudes from the puncture the dispossessed cicada had
made in the bark. The members of the Genus Pepsis are large black wasps
with a beautiful metallic lustre on the wings; they are chiefly confined to
the tropics, but Saussure has described one species, P. australis, from this
country.

Family 18. Smaller Sand Wasps.
SPHEGIDAE.

Westwood placed these wasps and the Pompilidae in a single family, but
Kohl, while separating the latter, has grouped a number that were once
ranked as families, under the Sphegidae, calling them simply sub-families,
thus making this a much more extensive division, the Sphegidae proper
forming only a part of the whole.
Dalla Torre in his Catalogue treats them as a sub-division of the
Crabronidae; but Sharp takes Kohl’s classification, which I follow.
The Sphegides are easily distinguished by the peculiar structure of the
abdomen; the basal portion is produced into a slender rod-like stalk or
pedicle, with the apical part forming a rounded or oval tip; they are very
active creatures with the habits of the larger sand wasps.
The world-wide Genus Ammophila is represented in Australia by four
described species; they make their nests in sandy ground, digging out a
straight burrow with an enlarged chamber at the end, which they store with

different kinds of caterpillars they capture on the plants while hunting; these
they sting but do not kill, but though paralysed and incapable of motion,
remain alive long enough to furnish the baby wasps with a supply of fresh
food.
Ammophila suspiciosa is a slender black insect under 1 inch in length;
the thickened tip of the abdomen is dull red. This is our common species
found all over the western country. A. instabilis is a larger black species
with semiopaque wings and reddish legs; the tubular portion of the body
and base of the thickened part are reddish brown: this one is a northern
form found in Queensland.
Pelopaeus laetus is a very handsome black and yellow wasp with a
somewhat similar shaped body tipped with black; it is very variable in size,
the largest measuring about 1 inch in length. It has a wide range over
Australia, and differs from the former insects in being a regular “mud
dauber,” forming a regular clay nest consisting of a number of different
cells, each of which is filled with paralysed spiders. It is a very friendly
insect, often flying into the room on a summer day; and will build its nest
on the edge of a roof or wall.
The typical Genus Sphex contains a number of fine black wasps more or
less clothed with silver or golden pubescence on the head and thorax, with
the slender pedicle at the base of the thorax very well defined, and the hind
portion of the abdomen almost round or oval. They form underground
burrows branching out into a chamber at the end, in which they store all
kinds of different insects, each species seeming to have a preference for its
particular choice. Sphex vestita, one of our largest species, has the face
thickly clothed with silvery pubescence; it is often common in sandy
patches in gardens, where it hunts for small orthopterous insects, and is
particularly fond of a species of small brown cricket which lives in the long
grass. S. opulenta is a smaller species about ¾ of an inch in length, with the
face and back of the thorax bright silver, and the dorsal surface of the latter
coppery. About 30 species are described from Australia, some of which
have a very wide range over the interior.
The Larrides are medium sized black wasps with the abdomen not
stalked, but coming to a point at the junction with the thorax, and often
ornamented with golden or silvery pubescence forming bands on the body.

Shuckard described a number of our species belonging to the Genus
Pison (Trans. Ent. Society 1837–40), where he gives some account of the
group. Smith in the same Transactions, 1869, catalogued those previously
described, and added a number of new species; and also added the Genus
Parapison, containing species from India, Ceylon and Australia. The
European Tachytes, which Westwood says are captured in sand banks, are
represented here by three species, all shining black insects about ½ an inch
in length. Saussure (1855), and Kohl later have described others.
Pison spinolae and P. decipiens are both black wasps with silvery bands
upon the sides of the abdomen; the latter are the smaller. They are both
common about Sydney, and have a very wide range over the country; they
are very fearless insects, flying into the house, and wherever they come
upon a convenient hole in the rung of a chair, or even a key hole, will set to
work and line it with clay, forming an irregular chamber, which they store
with small spiders, deposit the egg, and after closing it up fly away quite
satisfied. Sometimes they form a row of round clay cells on a coat or other
garment hanging on a wall.
The Nyssonides comprise a smaller group of closely allied forms,
differing chiefly in the venation of the wings. Smith has described most of
our species. The members of the Genus Gorytes are represented by five
described species; all small, active, bee-like insects with coppery fasciae
upon the abdomen; several of these are known in the bush as “policemen
flies” from their habit of coming round and catching flies upon one’s
clothes and even snapping one off the back of one’s hand; these flies are
killed with their stout jaws and deposited in their nests constructed in the
ground.
The curious, large, reddish brown wasp, Stizus pectoralis, from
Queensland, at first sight might be taken for a Thynnus, but the distinct
form of the body, and the antennae thickened toward the tips, show that it
could not belong to the flower wasps. It is now placed in the allied Genus
Sphecius.
The Philanthides are easily distinguished from the other groups by the
curious rugose or punctured integument which makes them look as though
coated with armour plate, and the curious constrictions or rings between the
abdominal segments, becoming smallest toward the tip. They are generally

black or reddish brown, marked with pale yellow spots and bands. With the
exception of one species of the Genus Philanthus all ours have been placed
in the world-wide Genus Cerceris. I have generally captured them about
flowers, or flying round bushes infested with scale insects that were
throwing off honey dew, which sweet secretion has a great attraction for
small hymenoptera of many different families. Eight species are described
by Smith and Saussure; there are probably many new species to be
recorded. Nothing is known about their habits in this country, but the
European species form nests in the ground, which they provision with small
beetles; and each species is said to confine its attention to a different group
of beetles; one uses only small weevils; another carries off chrysomalids,
and so on with each species.
The Crabronides are another small group, and under the present
classification all our species have been placed by Smith in the world-wide
Genus Crabro. They are medium sized black wasps with broad stout heads
and unstalked bodies, generally banded with orange, red, or yellow; they
form burrows in the stems of plants, which they store with captured flies.
Five species have been described from Australia and Tasmania.
The Bembecides are very handsome, smooth, shining wasps of fair size,
with broad bodies, rounded and broadly pointed at the extremity. They are
generally met with along sandy pathways and roads, flitting along in front
of one, settling on the ground and rising again, so that they are easily
captured with a net. They make shallow burrows on the roadside in which
they place flies, which they capture with their powerful jaws.
Nearly all our species have been described by Smith in the British
Museum Catalogue Hymenoptera 1856, and the Annals and Magazine of
Natural History 1873. Under 20 species are recorded from Australia.
Bembex tridentifera was described by Smith from Moreton Bay,
Queensland, but it has a wide range southwards to Victoria. It measures just
under ¾ of an inch in length; is of a general black colour; the face yellow
with a black trident-like mark above and two black spots below the
antennae; the legs yellow lightly marked with black; the upper surface of
the thorax spotted and barred with yellow, and the abdomen beautifully
banded with irregular white bands on the 2nd to 4th segments, with the first
and last only marked on the sides. B. vespiformis ranges from West
Australia to S. Australia, is somewhat smaller than the last, and viewed

from above is black, with very faint markings on the thorax, and a broad
white band on either side of the first segment of the abdomen almost
meeting on the back.

DIPLOPTERA.

The true wasps have the antennae generally elbowed and thickened
toward the tips, and the eyes notched. They have the wings folded like a fan
in repose, but can fly well, and have legs and feet adapted for walking.
Some species are solitary in their habits, and consist of males and females
only; others live in large communities, and, like the ants, comprise males,
females, and workers, the latter aborted females.

Family 19. Solitary Wasps.
EUMENIDAE.

This group is well represented in Australia; they are well known to
residents in the country from their habit of constructing clay nests under the
shelter of the verandah or the eaves of the houses. They usually appear in
pairs, and rapidly build up the structure, flying backward and forward with
their earthen loads; from this habit they get the name of “Mud Daubers” in
America, and “Mason Wasps” in this country. A number of our species are
described and figured in Saussure’s “Monograph des Guepes Solitaires”
published in 1851.
The Genus Eumenes contains a number of very handsome insects that
are easily recognised from the basal portion of the abdomen forming a more
or less slender stalk, and the apical portion rounded at the junction and
tapering to a sharp point at the tip. They build clay nests containing a
number of cells, and store them with caterpillars, which they do not appear
to be able to paralyse in the same manner as the large sand wasps, for they
are capable of movement after they are enclosed in the cell. By some
wonderful instinct, the female wasp does not deposit her egg haphazard
among the wriggling grubs that would easily damage it, but suspends it by a
fine stalk to the roof of the cell in such a manner, that when the little wasp
larva hatches out, it can safely reach down and feed upon the nearest
caterpillar, until it has finished the last bit, when it spins a thin parchment
cocoon and pupates in the cavity which before was its larder.

Eumenes bicincta has a wide range over Australia; it measures about 1
inch in length; the stalk is not quite so long as the base of the abdomen, and
is of a uniform deep orange yellow colour, with the top of the head, centre
of thorax, and broad band in the middle of the abdomen black. Eumenes
latreillei, a larger species, has the stalk of the abdomen shorter and
thickened, with the basal half of the body from the stalk black. Eumenes
servillei, the smallest of the three, is more slender in shape, has more black
upon the thorax, and the stalked portion of the body is variegated with
black. Eumenes arcuatus is a more northern species common in
Queensland; it measures over 1 inch in length, and is the only one with
blackish wings; it has a very long slender stalked abdomen. It is black,
mottled on the head and thorax with yellow; and the abdominal segments
are barred on either side with yellow, which appear to form regular slender
bands across, but do not actually meet in the centre.
Two of our handsomest mason wasps belonging to the Genus Abispa
measure 1 inch in length, but are so stout in form that they appear much
larger; they are black and deep orange yellow, with dull yellow wings
tipped with black, and the stout broad thorax fits close against the base of
the abdomen. Abispa splendida has the front half of the first abdominal
segment black, with the hind portion yellow, while in Abispa ephippium the
whole of the first abdominal segment is yellow. They both build very large,
solid, clay nests generally containing two rows of cells, about 6 in number,
above each other, with thick partitions between them; the outer surface is
rounded on the sides; each cell is stored with caterpillars upon which the
larva feeds, and finally pupates in a reddish brown parchment-like cocoon.
The Genus Rhynchium comprises about six described species, handsome
insects not unlike the former in general form, but with the abdomen more
tapering. Rhynchium mirabile measures ¾ of an inch in length; it is of a
general black colour, the head marked with, and collar of thorax, yellow;
and the hind margin of the abdominal segments is ringed with slender bands
of orange yellow. Rhynchium superbum is a smaller insect of similar form
and colour, with the basal half of the abdomen black and the hind portion
rich yellow. Both these species come from Queensland.
The Genus Odynerus contains a great number of small thickset wasps,
that make clay nests of various shapes, sometimes very delicate in structure,
forming a finger-shaped row of clay cells or rounded cup-shaped chambers;

while some species make use of a hole in the wood or wall and simply coat
it over with clay. Australia is rich in species, some of which have a very
wide range. Odynerus bicolor, one of our commonest species, is black, with
the collar of the thorax, legs, and all the abdomen except the basal segment,
dull reddish yellow. Odynerus nigro-cinctus is of a general dark orange
yellow colour, with the head and centre of abdomen black. The closely
allied species forming the Genus Alastor differ slightly in the venation of
the wings, but their habits are identical; about 30 species have been
described from Australia, chiefly by Saussure, some of which are figured in
colours in his Monograph. These wasps may be captured round water-holes
in the summer months, and may sometimes be found resting upon grass
stalks in the early morning.

Family 20. Social or Paper-nest Wasps.
VESPIDAE.

These typical wasps are found all over the world, and next to the bees
have probably received more attention from the casual observer than most
of the other groups. Each community consists of males, females, and
workers, and though the structure of their nests differs considerably in the
various groups, the social economy is the same. The female first starting the
nest constructs a stout stalk at the apex attached to a twig or roof, and
constructs a six-sided cell from which the whole mushroom-shaped nest is
built. In each little cell she deposits an egg from which the legless white
grub emerges, attaches itself to the roof of the cell and hangs head
downward, being fed by the mother wasp until full grown with food chiefly
composed of masticated spiders, when it pupates under a silken cover spun
over the apex of the cell. As soon as it emerges it sets to work to help on the
nest, so that the community rapidly increases in numbers. The nest of
Polistes tasmaniensis sometimes measures six inches in diameter. Some
confusion as to the identity of this species and P. variabilis seems to exist,
but from Saussure’s description, our common species appears to be P.
tasmaniensis.

Plate XV.—HYMENOPTERA.
Family Vespidae.

1 & 5. Nests of Polistes tasmaniensis.
2. Icaria gregaria (Sauss.).
3. Slender nest typical of Genus Icaria.
4. Polistes tasmaniensis (Sauss.).

(Original photo. Burton.)]

Plate XV.—HYMENOPTERA.

The widespread Genus Vespa, though it is recorded from as far down as
Java, is unknown in Australia. We have however allied species belonging to
the genera Icaria and Polistes. Those of the genus Icaria are the smaller
wasps, the largest well under ½ an inch in length; most of them are reddish
brown, or mottled with black and yellow; the abdomen is contracted into a
stalk at the base, then becomes rounded, with the apical segments small and

telescopic, so that when retracted it looks as if it were damaged. They all
form similar nests commencing with the usual stalk, but, unlike the larger
Polistes, the cells follow on in rows, forming finger-like nests. Icaria
gregaria, our commonest species, forms these slender nests up to six inches
in length. It is a dull reddish brown wasp mottled with black on the thorax
and legs, with the apex of the abdomen lightest in colour.
Some of the members of the Genus Polistes grow to a considerable size,
and armed with a powerful sting are very formidable insects; several of the
largest form small stalked nests on the under-side of fallen logs; when
hunting for insects and turning over dead wood one is liable to disturb a
family party and find it wise to beat a hasty retreat. They differ from the
previous group in having no stalk to the abdomen, which is very slender at
the base, rounded to the middle and tapers to a pointed apex. Polistes
tasmaniensis, our most sociable species, is very fond of building her large
nest (previously noticed) under one’s verandah, or the porch over the door,
and is quite ready to attack any one when disturbed. It is one of the smallest
species, measuring under ¾ of an inch in length; is of a general dark brown
colour marked with reddish brown; the abdomen is irregularly banded, with
the first basal band finest. Polistes tepidus, one of our largest wasps, is
almost black, with face, tips of legs, and thorax marked with dark orange
yellow, and the abdomen banded with rusty red. Polistes humilis is of an
almost uniform yellowish brown tint, with the face marked with black. In
the Queensland Museum there are some very large paper-nests of some
undetermined wasps that have a regular comb-like structure containing
thousands of cells, and which are several feet in length.

Family 21. Shining Wasps.
MASARIDAE.

These curious wasps stand quite alone as the last group of the true
Vespidae, and are a comparatively small family, comprising several
distinctive genera containing altogether sixty species found in the
Mediterranean region, South and North America, and Australia.
They are wasp-like in waist, with the antennae thickened toward the tips
or clubbed; the wings contain two sub-marginal cells; and the feet are
furnished with curious toothed or rather hooked claws. The European

species are known to build nests in the ground, forming a tunnel ending in a
clay cell in which the larvae live and are fed by the mother in the same
manner as the true wasps forming the papery nests; others construct clay
chambers attached to twigs.
Shuckard when he formed the typical Australian Genus Paragia named
it “in allusion to its deceptive habit, which is precisely that of a Vespa.”
Saussure wrote a monograph on the Masaridae forming the third part of the
Vespidae published in 1856; Smith has also contributed to our knowledge of
Australian species in the British Museum Catalogue 1857, and subsequently
in several papers in the Entomological Society of London between 1864–
1869.
Seventeen species have been described in the Genus Paragia, but
nothing has been recorded about their habits or life history: several are
described from Tasmania and New South Wales, but all the specimens in
my collection come from the northern part of Australia.
Paragia decipiens was described and figured by Shuckard in the
Transactions of the Entomological Society, 1837; it measures under ¾ of an
inch in length, and is of a general black colour, with the front and sides of
the thorax spotted with yellow, and the whole of the smooth rounded
abdomen of the same bright colour except the base, which is black; the
wings are smoky brown, with the nervures black. Paragia bicolor is a larger
insect measuring nearly 1 inch in length; the head and thorax are black, and
the abdomen bright metallic blue; the under surface and sides of the first
three segments, and the base of the thorax, are marked with bright yellow.

Family 22. Bees.
ANTHOPHILA or APIDAE.

The Australian region is rich in bees peculiar to the country; and while
we have representatives of many of the foreign groups, yet several well-
known genera, such as Apis, Bombus, Eucera, Colletes and Osmia, though
ranging over the greater part of the world, are unknown in Australia.
The classification of the bees is still somewhat unsatisfactory. Latreille
termed them Mellifera, honey gatherers, or Anthophila, lovers of flowers:
Westwood and others, while keeping this as a group name, subdivided them

into two large families, Andrenidae, short-tongued bees, and Apidae, long-
tongued bees, dividing the last family into five smaller groups based upon
their different structure and habits. The European bees have been since
placed under six headings; while in Dalla Torre’s Catalogue dealing with
the bees of the whole world, there are no less than fourteen sub-families.
Most of our species have been described by Smith, in the British Museum
Catalogue, Hymenoptera 1853; others in the Transactions of the
Entomological Society 1862–68, and New Species, British Museum 1879.
Cockerell (Ann. & Mag. Nat. History 1905) described a number of new
species of our bees examined by him in the British Museum Collections,
and added some interesting information on species already described; as
many of these specimens were collected by Turner, Walker, and myself and
sent to the British Museum, the Australian localities are given.
None of the short-tongued bees store up honey, but form cells or burrows
in the ground, walls, cavities in rocks, or the stems of plants, in which they
form a row of cells or little chambers each containing an egg and sufficient
bee bread for the development of the larva. Some of these bees are parasitic,
and live at the expense of the industrious species, crawling into the open
nests and laying their eggs upon the food supply of the rightful occupant;
these are popularly known as “cuckoo bees.”
The members of the Genus Prosopis are handsome, shining black or
steel blue bees, marked with bright yellow upon the face and thorax. With
the additions that Cockerell has made to the list, nearly fifty species are
described from Australia, and a number are common in the vicinity of
Sydney. Prosopis vidua, our largest species, but considerably smaller than
the honey bee, is found upon the crimson flowers of the bottlebrush
(Callistemon). It has the head and thorax black, with a yellow spot on the
face and the base of each fore wing; the abdomen is bright metallic blue. A
smaller undetermined species may be often noticed hovering round and
entering holes in the soft sandstone rocks where it appears to nest. Prosopis
metallica, a shining black species, smaller than P. vidua, with face and
shoulders broadly marked with yellow, was bred out of a row of half a
dozen brown papery cocoons placed in an empty burrow formed in the
branch of a wattle tree by the larva of some longicorn beetle.
Lamprocolletes plumosus and several other species of the genus frequent
the flowers of the Leptospermum. It is a handsome dark brown bee, under

½ an inch in length. The abdomen has a metallic sheen, and the head and
thorax are clothed with fine down.
Hylaeoides concinnus is a very remarkable looking black bee, with
clouded smoky wings, marked with bright red on the face, and with bands
of the same colour on the base and tip of the abdomen. I have usually
captured this bee upon bushes; it bears such a decided superficial
resemblance to a small clay nesting (Odynerus) wasp, that this may be a
case of protective mimicry. The Genus Paracolletes has been added to by
Cockerell, who describes twelve new species in his recent papers.
Paracolletes crassipes was described by Smith from W. Australia, but it is
common on low scrub in the early part of the year on the Blue Mountains
N.S.W. It is a handsome black bee about ½ an inch in length, with the head
and thorax thickly clothed with pale buff hairs, and the abdominal segments
banded on the upper surface with dull brown.
Gastropsis (Oestropsis) pubescens is nearly as large as a honey bee, with
curious thickened antennae, slender at the basal joint. It is somewhat
flattened on the upper surface and clothed all over with a dense coat of pale
buff coloured hairs, only showing indistinct brown bars on the abdomen. I
know nothing about the habits of this curious bee; it has been described
from Western and South Australia.
The Genus Halictus is represented by about thirty described species;
nothing has been recorded about the habits of our species, but most of the
European form galleries in the ground connected with a large excavation or
chamber in which the larvae are placed in cells. Halictus floralis is a small
bee with a reddish brown body; the front of the head, antennae, legs, front
and middle of thorax are light yellow. H. bicingulatus is black with the legs
reddish brown, and the segmental divisions of the abdomen light coloured.
They are found on grass and field flowers. Nomia australica, under ½ an
inch in length, is common on the flowers of the Leptospermum; it is a dull,
metallic blue bee with antennae, labrum, legs, and extreme tip of abdomen
reddish brown. The latter has a greenish sheen, and is somewhat heart
shaped, terminating in a fine point. Cockerell has added six new species to
our list, most of which are described from Queensland.
Exoneura froggatti is a little bee not much over ¼ of an inch in length,
black with smoky rings, reddish legs and a curiously sack-shaped reddish

brown abdomen, broadest near the apex, but contracted to a point at the tip.
I have frequently cut them out of small burrows in the dead stems of wattle
trees. Exoneura bicolor is a slightly larger species, with a darker, broader
abdomen, and it comes from Queensland. Cockerell has added three more
new species, all from the neighbourhood of Sydney. The great Carpenter
Bees of the Genus Xylocopa are represented by four species, which are
more common in Queensland and the northern parts of Australia; but one
species at least, Xylocopa aestuans, ranges southwards. It is of the typical
broad form with dark coloured wings; the upper surface of the thorax is
clothed with yellow, other portions with black hairs. Xylocopa bryorum is a
larger species measuring about 1 inch in length, with a wing expanse of
nearly two; the whole of the upper surface is thickly clothed with golden
yellow hairs, the brown beneath giving it a greenish tint. The wings are
light brown with black nervures, and the hairs on the legs and under-surface
are dark brown to black.
The closely allied Carpenter Bees of the Genus Lestis are peculiar to
Australia. The male of Lestis bombylans measures over ½ an inch in length,
and is of a rich metallic green, with the front of the face striped with white;
the thorax and base of abdomen are clothed with golden hairs, those on the
front of the thorax forming a double bar; the hairs on the front pair of legs
yellow, those on the hind pair black; the wings are brown with faint
iridescence. The female has the face silvery, but no yellow down upon the
thorax; the abdomen is deep purple; and the wings almost opaque, varying
from dark brown to rich metallic violet colour in different lights. The
second species, Lestis aerata, is slightly larger, with the stripe on the face of
the male yellow, and all the legs fringed with yellow pubescence, while the
female is of a uniform brassy green, with wings light coloured, more like
those of the males, and only showing a slight iridescence. Both species have
a wide range; those about Sydney form their nests in the dead flower stalks
of the grass trees (Xanthorrhoea). It begins by boring a circular hole 3½
lines in diameter towards the centre, then turns downward, excavating all
the pith to a depth of about 4 inches, and then works out about the same
distance above the opening, so that the full length of the chamber is 8
inches, with an average of ½ an inch in diameter. This is divided off into a
row of cells, each about ½ an inch in length, with a ball of bee bread and an
egg deposited in the far end; each cell is separated by a stout wad of
triturated pith. I have never found the centre of the chamber in front of the

opening closed up with cells, a space always being left unoccupied on both
sides. The larvae are of the usual cylindrical form, attenuated at the
extremities, and of a dull white colour, about ½ an inch in length, and can
be found in all stages of development in November. The pretty banded bees,
formerly known under the name of Anthophora, but now placed in the
Genus Podalirius, are world wide in their range. All our species have the
head and thorax clothed with a dense coat of buff or pale yellow hairs, and
the body banded with black and blue of various tints. Podalirius emendatus,
our largest species, is found on the northern rivers of N.S. Wales and is
common in Queensland; it has the head and thorax covered with rusty red
pubescence, and the low abdominal bands broad. P. cingulatus is slightly
smaller, with the pubescence pale buff, the abdominal bands much the
same; P. pulcher, much smaller, with the pubescence darker, is our
commonest species about Sydney. P. aeruginosus has the whole of the
abdomen as well as the head and thorax thickly clothed with a dull greenish
yellow pubescence. My specimens of this species come from Mackay,
Queensland. Five new species are added to this genus by Cockerell.
The Genus Crocisa contains a few very handsome moderate sized bees
of a uniform black colour with smoky rings, and brightly marked bodies.
Crocisa albo-maculata, our largest species, has the face, upper and under
surface, and legs thickly marked and spotted with white pubescence. It is a
somewhat rare insect about Sydney. C. lamprosoma is a smaller bee with
the marks and spots pale blue, those upon the abdomen forming a more
regular pattern of four well defined rows. In C. nitidula the pubescence
forms rich metallic blue spots and blotches, most brilliant on the upper
surface of the abdomen, where they run right round the basal segment and
form a regular row of short bands on either side but not meeting on the
dorsal surface. It is found in New South Wales and Queensland.

Plate XVI.—HYMENOPTERA.
Family Apidae.

1. Xylocopa aestuans (Linn.). ♂.
1. Xylocopa aestuans (Linn.). ♀.
2. Lestis aeratus (Smith). ♀.
2. Lestis aeratus (Smith). ♂.
5. Crocisa nitidula (Fabr.).
6. Crocisa lamprosoma (Boisd.).
7. Sarapoda bombiformis (Smith).
8. Megachile pictiventris (Smith).
9. Megachile blackburni (Froggatt).

Family Andrenidae.
3. Hyleoides concinna (Fabr.). ♀.
10. Paracolletes crassipes (Smith).

Family Eumenidae.
4. Abispa splendida (Guérin).
11. Odynerus nigro-cinctus (Saussure).
12. Rhynchium mirabile (Saussure).
14. Eumenes arcuatus (Fabr.).

Family Sphegidae.
13. Ammophila impatiens (Smith).
Family Philanthidae.
15. Cerceris sp.
Family Vespidae.
16. Polistes tepidus (Fabr.).
(Original photo. Burton.)

Plate XVI.—HYMENOPTERA.

The great Genus Megachile contains the leaf-cutting bees, so called from
the curious habit they have of cutting circular pieces out of the leaves of
growing plants with which they line their nests; these are sometimes built in
excavations in old walls, or dead wood, or simply constructed like a cigar
under stones. About 30 species have been described from Australia; the two
largest are Megachile monstrosa, figured in Brenchley’s “Cruise of the
Curaçoa,” published in 1873; and M. blackburni, described by me from
specimens obtained from Central Australia by the Elder Exploring
Expedition. Megachile mystacea, a medium sized species found in
Queensland and Northern Australia, is also recorded from India; it is black,
with the head and face clothed with silvery hairs, and the whole of the

abdomen covered with rich reddish brown pubescence; while M.
pictiventris has the hind margin of the thorax clothed with silvery hairs, the
apical half of the under-surface with reddish brown hairs which extend to
form a fringe round the extremity. M. chrysopyga is a native of Tasmania
and Victoria. I found a nest of this species under a stone in the latter State,
which could be lifted up bodily without breaking. It was about the shape
and length of an ordinary cigar, and consisted of about nine cells containing
the larvae. These cells, like a series of shallow thimbles, were enfolded in
the outer shell of looser leaf.
The Genus Coelioxys comprises a number of curious bees that in general
appearance are so very like the “leaf cutters,” that a French naturalist
having bred one out of a Megachile’s nest described it as the male form of
the species. They are now known to be parasitic in the nests of these bees in
Europe, so that the similarity in form may be of great protective value to
them. They differ chiefly in the form of the abdomen, which in the males is
produced into forked spines at the extremity, and in the females into a sharp
point.
I have two undetermined species in my collection from Queensland
obtained some years ago, but until last year the presence of this group had
not been recorded from Australia. Cockerell recorded (1905) two species
from this country; Coelioxys albolineata, measuring about ⅓ of an inch in
length, comes from Queensland, and is of the usually grey and brown tints.
The last group we have to deal with are the Australian stingless honey
bees, belonging to the Genus Trigona, which range all over Australia. They
collect quantities of dark coloured somewhat acid flavoured honey, which
they store up in little jug-shaped cells of dark brown wax, forming an
irregular comb attached to the walls of the cavity in which they have
constructed their hive by a network of irregular rods of wax. They generally
choose a cavity in the heart of a large gum-tree with a small opening from
the outside, and before commencing to make their comb they plaster up all
the cracks and inequalities of the chamber with the sticky sap or gum of the
Turpentine Tree (Syncarpia). This chamber is usually about the size of a
man’s head, and the comb as a rule contains not more than a pint or two of
honey. This is the typical nest found in N.S. Wales, but in the tropical
scrubs of North Queensland many of them form a small funnel or spout
projecting round the opening, composed of a waxy-substance an inch or

more in length. As the green tree ants often capture these bees and are
always swarming over the tree trunks, this is probably a necessary
protection. The honey gatherers of Trigona carbonaria, our common
species, are black, thickset little bees measuring about ⅙ of an inch in
length. They are fearless little creatures when at work, and will allow
themselves to be picked off the flowers without any attempt to fly. Several
species have been recently added to our fauna, and though Dalla-Torre in
his Catalogue places the members of the genus Trigona in the Melipona,
which until then had only contained the allied stingless bees of South
America and the tropics, Cockerell retains them in the old genus, describing
a new species from Port Essington, and recording a species known in
Ceylon (Trigona canifrons) also from the north coast of Australia.

Order V.—COLEOPTERA.
Beetles.

This group is the best known of all the orders, for nearly every
entomologist starts collecting as a “beetle hunter.” They are the most
frequently observed because they are found everywhere; there is hardly a
log or stone that does not shelter some beetle; they infest all kinds of
timber, damage the living trees in the forest, devour foodstuffs, stored grain,
skins, furs and drugs; others are attracted to all kinds of decaying animal or
vegetable matter; while hundreds either in the larval or perfect state are to
be found all through the year upon the flowers, foliage, or bark of trees and
plants.
Thus they are readily collected, and when obtained are much more easy
to look after and keep than the more delicate insects, on account of their
stout horny structure.
Beetles are typical insects in that the head, thorax, and abdomen are very
well defined, and can be readily distinguished from each other; the insect is
more or less protected with a stout horny integument. But the joints are
flexible, so that though the parts fit close and the body appears ensheathed
in regular armour plate, most of the species are very active. They are all
furnished with cutting, biting, or chewing jaws, and are therefore called
mandibulate insects; and with very few exceptions have well developed
eyes and antennae, the latter produced into all kinds of curious shapes in
some groups, but usually slender, filiform and many jointed. The thorax
consists of one solid segment, the three portions, so apparent in some
insects, being soldered together to form one uniform mass when viewed
from above. The large abdomen is said to contain ten distinct segments on
dissection, but when viewed from the under-surface generally only five can
be seen. Instead of the thin flying, or membranous fore-wings of other
insects, the first pair in the beetles are transformed into two horny plates
completely covering the dorsal surface of the abdomen and called the
elytra. When at rest they fit close together over the back, but can be readily
opened out in flight. Though of little use in flying, they probably assist a
large heavy beetle in balancing or steering through the air, and always cover
the two large pointed membranous hind flying wings, which when not in

use are folded up beneath them. In some beetles the elytra are not divided,
but form a solid shield; and the hind wings are wanting, or if they exist are
simple pads. The various families have the head, mouth parts, and legs
admirably adapted to their different habits and diet.
Their larvae are also as variable in form as the perfect insects; many are
active, slender grubs with three pairs of legs, and large powerful jaws, as in
the carnivorous species; elongate cylindrical jointed creatures with scaly
heads, or short and wrinkled grubs like the wood borers; others quite slug-
like feed upon the surface of the foliage; and a few are clothed with fine
hairs.

Fig. 54.—Diagram of a Water-Beetle, showing the Dorsal
surface.
1, Labrum; 2, clypeus; 3, head; 4, prothorax; 5, maxillary
palpus; 6, antennae; 7, eyes; 8, elytron; 9, wings; 10,
scutellum; 11, abdominal segments; 12, scutellum of the
metathorax; 13, claws of the feet or the fore leg; 14, tarsus;
15, tibia; 16, femur; 17, middle leg; 18, spines or spurs on
tibia; 19, tarsus; 20, hind leg.
(Redrawn from Westwood [Griffiths’ Animal Kingdom].)

In the pupal state, for all beetles undergo a complete metamorphosis,
they are inactive, mummy-like creatures showing the outlines of the future
beetle, with the wings, antennae, and legs closely folded down, and the
whole enveloped in a thin membrane. Some form regular cocoons from the
material among which they feed; others seal up at both ends the cavity in
which they have been feeding before they pupate; but many do not even
take this precaution.
The classification of the Coleoptera has been undertaken by many
entomologists. In Gemminger and Harold’s great Catalogue of the
Coleoptera, seventy-five families were enumerated; Sharp has recently
adopted eighty, but when it comes to the larger sub-divisions none of them
agree. Westwood in his Classification has an alarming array of sections,
tribes, stirps, and sub-families: Kirby gives fourteen sections in his Text
Book; while Sharp simplifies the matter by forming six series, some of
them on the old lines, but his third series is apparently more of a dumping
ground than anything else for those that will not fit into the other five, for it
includes such dissimilar families as the Staphylinidae, Buprestidae,
Coccinellidae and many others.
As Masters’ Catalogue of the Described Coleoptera of Australia is the
list used by all Australian collectors, I shall follow his grouping of the
families (originally based on that of Gemminger and Harold), defining the
groups of each important or distinct family, though through want of space
many of them can be only briefly noticed.
There have been so many describers of Australian beetles, that their
names alone would take some enumerating; so that I propose to omit them
here and notice them later on when dealing with the families upon which
they have worked. Australia is rich in large and handsome specimens,
which attracted the attention of the colonists at a very early date in the
history of the country, and quite a number of collections were made and the
specimens forwarded to England. Most of the exploring expeditions that
traversed the back country had a collector of some sort on their staff, and it
was usually beetles that formed the bulk of the entomological specimens
obtained. Again the Scientific Exploring Ships, fitted out by our own and
foreign countries, that visited the different ports, collected many zoological
specimens, so that many of our larger beetles were known and described

many years ago. Over 7,200 are listed in Masters’ Catalogue, and since its
publication some thousands have been added to our list.

Family 1. Tiger Beetles.
CICINDELIDAE.

This family is well represented in Australia by about forty-five species,
chiefly described by Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871), and later on
(Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 1887–8); and Count Castelnau (Trans. Royal Soc.
Victoria). The typical Tiger Beetles are slender graceful insects, with broad
short heads, furnished with large projecting eyes, and great powerful jaws;
the thorax is produced into a cylindrical neck; and the short rounded elytra
cover large wings.

Fig. 55.—Megacephala cylindrica
(Macleay).
The Metallic Green Tiger Beetle.
(Original photo. Burton.)

The larvae are elongated creatures, with large curving jaws; they live in
burrows in the ground, generally in the vicinity of a waterhole or creek
where there is a sandy shore; here they remain hidden during the day, and
come out at night to capture and devour the less powerful insects they come
across. One of our largest and most handsome species is Megacephala
cylindrica, found in the western country, where it hides deep down in the
cracks of the soil; it lives chiefly upon ants. It measures over ¾ of an inch

in length, and is of a rich metallic green colour: the mouth, antennae and
legs are brownish yellow. A second species, M. frenchi, has been recently
described by Sloane, and ranges from North West Queensland into Western
Australia. The Genus Tetracha contains a number of handsome, shorter,
broad-bodied Tiger Beetles with green metallic tints and reddish brown or
yellow legs, and similar coloured markings on the wing covers. They form
burrows, like their larvae, along the sandy margins of rivers and water-
holes, coming out and running along the water’s edge at twilight, and often
flying into the lamp at night. Tetracha australis has a wide range from the
Murray river to the interior; I have dug them out of the sand round an
artesian bore near the Queensland border. It is smaller than the previously
described one, which it somewhat resembles in general colour, but can be
easily distinguished by the larger jaws, shorter body, and the elytra tipped
with yellow near the apex.
T. australasiae and T. hopei are smaller species, dull green, marked with
reddish brown on the wing covers; they are found in North West Australia,
while several other species are recorded from Queensland.
The Cicindela are not common about Sydney; two species, however, are
to be found; Cicindela ypsilon, about ½ an inch long, is so named from the
dark markings on the cream-coloured wing cases resembling the Greek E;
they are to be found running about on the seashore in hundreds in
midsummer, and can easily be caught by throwing a handful of sand over
them: though so numerous, I have never been able to find their larvae. In
captivity one ate raw beef quite readily, burying its jaw in the strange food
and sucking up the juice.
C. circumcincta is a smooth, dark green beetle with the outer edges of
the wing covers marked with yellow; it is sometimes taken about Sydney,
but is not very common.
The smallest Australian species is C. tenuicollis, described by Macleay
from specimens I collected on a sandy flat near the Barrier Ranges in N.W.
Australia; it is a rich, metallic red insect with slender legs and small thorax.
On a sandy road near Cairns, N. Queensland, several small species were so
plentiful that they often flew up in clouds, and I have taken scores in half an
hour with a butterfly net.

The tropical Genus Distypsidera is represented by about a dozen species,
chiefly confined to North Queensland, where they hunt over the stems of
trees; when approached they run round the trunk to keep out of sight; they
are broader and more thickset than the Cicindela, and their eyes are very
large and prominent; D. flavicans is the only one that comes down as far as
Northern N.S. Wales.
The researches of Hacker in North Queensland have added several new
and interesting species of Tiger Beetles from the Coen River, some of
which are closely allied to New Guinea forms.

Family 2. Carnivorous Ground Beetles.
CARABIDAE.

These are broader and thicker set than the Cicindelidae, varying in size
from several inches to a line in length; the head is smaller than the thorax;
and most of them are black or reddish brown, while others are richly
marked with metallic tints.
They are most numerous in open forest country, hiding under logs or
stones during the day and hunting over the ground at night: when camped in
the bush, where logs are plentiful, the entomologist can often trap many
interesting species by sinking empty tins into the soil, into which they
readily tumble.
The larvae are slender creatures with three pairs of simple legs; their
bodies are protected with stout horny plates, and the head is furnished with
large powerful jaws; they are found in the same situations as the adult
beetles, and devour all kinds of insects that they can capture; the larger ones
even eat small frogs. This family has been divided into a great number of
sub-families which it is hardly necessary to enumerate here.
Australia is very rich in Carabidae; over 1,600 species have been
described. Chaudoir described many in Russian and Belgian; Newman,
Westwood, Pascoe, Hope, and Bates in English; Castelnau, Macleay, and
Sloane in Australian scientific journals; so that the literature dealing with
these beetles is very scattered, but the references can be found in Masters’
Catalogue.

Calosoma schayeri is our type of this cosmopolitan genus. They live in
cavities in cultivated fields, and are very useful insects where numerous, for
they devour the larvae and pupae of many species of cut-worms. It
measures about 1 inch in length, has a small head, narrow rounded thorax,
and very broad, short, rounded abdomen; the whole is bright metallic green.
It has a wide range over Australia, and may sometimes be even taken in the
Sydney streets.
The Genus Pamborus contains many distinctive black beetles, some of
which are marked with coppery green tints; they measure up to 1 inch in
length, and are broad in proportion. When captured, many of them
discharge an acrid fluid or gas that stains the fingers reddish brown.
Pamborus viridis is black, with the wing covers thickly ridged with
parallel punctured striae marked with green.
P. alternans is a larger beetle, 1¼ inches long, with the same small head,
and rounded thorax tapering and narrow behind; the coppery-tinted elytra
have very broad parallel ridges.

Figs. 56–59.—Typical Carabidae.
56. Helluo costatus (Bonelli). The Desert-Carab.
58. Hyperion schroetteri (Schreib.). The Forest-
Carab.
57. Trichosternus renardi (Chaud.). The Scrub-
Carab.
59. Catadromus australis (Casteln.). The Swamp-
Carab.

(Original photo. Burton.)

Drypta australis is a small beetle about 5 lines in length; it has a pointed
head, large projecting eyes, and the thorax forms a cylindrical neck hardly
broader than the head; the wing covers do not quite cover the tip of the
abdomen. In general colour it is yellowish brown, with the antennae, legs, a
broad stripe down the centre and the edges of the wing covers dark purple
to black; the wing covers are very finely striated and punctured. They live
on the edges of swamps, and sometimes fly into the lamp at night.
A beetle with a very wide range is Helluo costatus; it is a medium sized
brown beetle; the head and thorax are about the same length, the latter
rounded on either side in front but narrowed behind; the wing covers are
flattened, broadly ridged, and not reaching to the tip of the abdomen.

Fig. 60.—Pheropsophus verticalis (Dejean).
The Yellow Bombardier Beetle which discharges
an acrid gas when disturbed.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Our Common “Bombardier Beetle,” Pheropsophus verticalis, is another
widely distributed species; it measures over ½ an inch in length, and is of a
general dark brown tint, with the head, antennae, and thorax dull yellow;
the wing covers, which do not reach to the tip of the abdomen, are blotched
on either side and the tip with the same colour. It can be found in any damp
spot under stones or logs; and as soon as disturbed, it discharges a small
cloud of vapour with a distinct report, and which feels quite warm to the
fingers.
The Genus Scopodes contains a number of tiny beetles that are common
on the plains and about crabholes and swamps.
Scopodes sigillatus has the wing covers roughened, and measures about
2 lines in length; with its large projecting eyes it might be mistaken for a
small Tiger Beetle.
We now come to a group, Pseudomorphides, comprising a number of
genera that live under the loose bark on tree trunks; they have adapted
themselves to their confined hiding places, so that they have become
flattened and rounded, and even remarkable in colouration; and so, unless a

collector carefully examines them, he would never at first sight think of
including them among the Carabidae.
The Genus Silphomorpha, in which over 40 species have been described,
are yellow and black, or yellow and brown beetles up to ½ an inch in
length; all their parts fit close together into a convex or oval form very like
some of the water-beetles.
Silphomorpha colymbetoides and S. nitiduloides are found about Sydney.
The first has the head and thorax reddish brown, the elytra pale yellow
broadly blotched in the centre with black: the second, much larger (¼ of an
inch in length) is blackish, and the centre only of each wing cover blotched
with dull yellow.
The members of the Genus Adelotopus are mostly black, narrow, and
shield-shaped, with the tips of the wing covers truncated; while in
Philophloeus, though very thin and flattened, they have the head and thorax
well divided from the broad abdomen; and are dull yellow, striped, and
barred with darker brown.
Turning from these we come to the giant of all our carabs, Hyperion
schroetteri, which lives in cavities in tree trunks, where it is often found by
splitters in the red gum forests in Victoria and N.S. Wales. I have taken it at
night round the camp fire on the Murray frontage. It is shining black, and
measures 2½ inches in length, but being narrow in proportion it appears
much longer than it really is; while with its large elongate head and
immense jaws it is a very formidable-looking creature.
The next in order is a large and interesting group, the Scaritides, which
are not only wingless, but have the wing covers soldered together into one
solid armour plate; their legs are adapted for digging, and many of them
live in underground tunnels of considerable length. In most species the
head, armed with large powerful jaws, fits close into the thorax, so that they
move together; and in some groups the insect appears to be formed only of
two parts, for the head and thorax taken together are as long and broad as
the abdomen. After a heavy fall of rain in the interior, some species may be
found in numbers under logs and stones, driven out of their holes and deep
burrows. They are much sought after by collectors; and Macleay,
Blackburn, and Sloane have described a number of curious species.

Eutoma tinctilatum, found about Sydney, and typical of the elongate
slender Scaritides, was described by Newman many years ago, and figured
by Westwood in his “Arcana Entomologica 1841”; it is a shining black
beetle about 8 lines in length.
Carenum bonelli, the commonest Sydney species of this genus, measures
about ¾ of an inch and is broad in proportion; it is black, with bright
metallic green tints on thorax and elytra.
The members of the Genus Philoscaphus are short and broad, with the
elytra covered with rows of warts.
P. tuberculatus has a wide range over the western country; it measures
over 1 inch in length; is black; the head and thorax are broader than the
body; the latter oval, with the elytra finely rugose.

Fig. 61.—Euryscaphus lobicollis (Sloane).
The Great Ground Scaritid Beetle, found in the
interior.
The Genus Euryscaphus contains the giants of
the group.

Euryscaphus titanus, a shining black beetle, is nearly 2 inches in length,
and measures ¾ of an inch across the elytra; while E. lobicollis, a smaller
beetle, has the body still broader in proportion to its size; both these and

several other fine species are not uncommon on the Western Australian
goldfields about Kalgoorlie.
The allied Clivinides, recently monographed by Sloane (Proc. Linn. Soc.
N.S.W. 1896) are like elongate miniature Carenums furnished with dilated
fore-legs adapted for digging; they are generally taken along the edges of
swamps and watercourses under logs or the debris on the soft mud. They
are world wide in their distribution, and are most plentiful in the warmer
portions of the globe: Australia is rich in species: Sloane lists 55 species in
his paper.
Clivina basalis has a wide range over S. Australia, Victoria, and N.S.
Wales; it measures ¼ inch; is black, with the basal portion of the elytra and
the legs red.
C. australasiae, slightly larger, is all black; it has a similar range, and is
also recorded from New Zealand and Lord Howe Island.
The next group comprise the typical Chlaenius; they are rather long-
legged beetles with a small head and somewhat heart-shaped thorax
forming a slight neck behind, and with a broad, oval, convex abdomen.
They are active beetles, generally found under stones or wood near water-
holes; many of them have a greenish dull metallic tint. Chlaenius
puncticeps is black, with the legs and an irregular blotch at the apical half of
each wing cover dull yellow. C. maculifer, from Queensland, is smaller; C.
laeteviridis is dull green with the edges of the wing covers yellow; C.
marginatus is a larger and brighter green beetle with the wing covers
marked with yellow in a similar manner.
Promecoderus concolor, typical of the genus, is a shining black beetle
about ½ inch in length, of a curious cylindrical shape with the head turned
down in front. These beetles are found all over the interior in dry country
under stones or logs. The allied Genus Parroa was formed by Castelnau for
several curious beetles taken in the interior near the Paroo River. Parroa
noctis, from Kalgoorlie, W.A., measures over 1 inch in length, and is a
rounded solid-looking black beetle. The bulk of the species once included in
the Genus Harpalus is now divided up into a number of groups; most of the
small black carabs running about in the suburban gardens in the early
summer belong to this division.

The Feronides comprise a number of our largest carabs: Catadromus
australis measures nearly 2 inches in length, is broad in proportion; it is
shining black with the wing covers broadly ridged, and their margins and
the hind portion of the thorax richly marked with bright metallic green. C.
lacordairei is smaller, and similar in general form, with the thorax smaller
and the metallic colouration on the thorax running right round to the hind
margin of the head. Both these beetles are found along the edges of swamps
and lagoons in the Murray country living under dead logs, where their black
banded larvae may also be found, sometimes feasting on small frogs.
All the beetles known under the Genera Homalosoma and Trichisternus
have been placed in the new Genus Castelnaudia by the Russian
entomologist Tschitscherini, as both the former names were preoccupied.
This group contains many large handsome beetles, chiefly confined to our
coastal forest country, where they live under dead logs.
Castelnaudia renardi is one of the common species in the Tweed River
scrubs; it measures 1½ inches in length; is black with the parallel striae on
the elytra widely apart; the head very large, is turned down and furnished
with long powerful jaws.
C. imperiale, from Southern Queensland, is a very handsome species; it
is about the same size as the former but has the thorax and elytra more
flattened; and the head, thorax, and margins of the wing covers are rich
metallic green.
In November I took several specimens on the top of Mt. Tambourine, S.
Queensland, under deeply buried logs by the roadside, where they live in
broad excavated galleries; in two nests I found three larvae and eggs. The
former, probably by their size only a few weeks old, were elongate,
flattened, light brown to ochreous coloured creatures, with the head and
dorsal surface of segments chocolate brown. The head is broader than long,
flattened, and furnished with long curved brown jaws, and has also a stout
incurved tooth near the base of each jaw. They were very active creatures
and lived for over a month in captivity. The eggs were dull yellow, ⅜ of an
inch long, broadly rounded, and were enclosed in a thin clay shell like the
rind of an orange.
The Genus Notonomus has been recently revised by Sloane (Pro. Linn.
Soc. N.S.W. 1902); in this paper he enumerated 72 species, a number of

them previously undescribed. These beetles are apterous, and confined to
the coastal forests of Eastern Australia. Sloane says: “From the Grampians
in Western Victoria, along the coast of Eastern Australia as far north as the
Burnett River in Queensland, and many species are very restricted in their
range.”
Notonomus australasiae is one of the commonest species around
Sydney; it measures under ¾ of an inch in length, and is of a uniform black
colour; the broad thorax is arcuate behind the head, swelling out and
broadly rounded on the sides; it has a rich blue metallic tint, and a distinct
medium suture; the wing covers are distinctly striated, forming broad
parallel ridges.
Passing over a number of more or less important genera we finish with
the Genus Bembidium, which contains a number of small active beetles
generally found along the edges of swamps.
B. ocellatum is a shining black beetle under ⅙ of an inch in length, with
a broad head, and the thorax rounded on the hind margin.

Family 3. Water Beetles.
DYTISCIDAE.

This group contains the first division of the Water Beetles; these have the
antennae bare and filiform; short palpi and undivided eyes; the legs fringed
with hairs, the front pair not longer than the hind pair, adapted for
swimming. They live in the water both in the larval and beetle stage; the
former are slender, elongate creatures, with a body consisting of twelve
segments; the head is broad and furnished with powerful hollow jaws; they
are very voracious creatures, devouring all sorts of aquatic insects, and even
the smaller and weaker of their own species. When full grown they pupate
in cells which they form in the soft mud.
These beetles are perfectly at home in the water, and breathe by coming
to the surface; turning head downwards, and with the tip of the wing covers
slightly raised, they draw in a supply of air which occupies a cavity on the
back, and when the elytra are closed down, the beetle can remain under
water until the supply is exhausted. Many species can be easily captured in
the water with a small hand-net; on a warm summer night numbers leave

the water and come flying in to the lighted lamps. Many are very small, few
over ½ an inch in length; they are quite as numerous in the colder waters of
the globe as in the tropics, and many species have a very wide distribution.
We have representatives of most of the typical genera; our species have
been described by Clark (Journal of Entomology 1862), and Sharp (Trans.
Dublin Soc. 1882).
The members of the Genus Bidessus are small, brown, boat-shaped
beetles not much over ½ an inch in length; about 18 species are listed in
Masters’ Catalogue; Bidessus bistrigatus has the head marked with black
and the wing covers clouded with dark brown; it has a wide range over
Australia. Antiphorus gilberti is more than twice the size, has the wing
covers mottled, and is common in the waters of Victoria and South
Australia. Macroporus howetti is dark brown, more shining and slightly
larger, the dark markings forming two irregular black bands connected by a
dorsal stripe. Hydroporus collaris, from the north-west coast of Australia,
measures under 2 lines in length; it is all black with the dorsal surface
convex and finely rugose. Platynectis 10-punctata was described by
Fabricius at a very early date from Australia; it is common along the edges
of the Murray lagoons, where it is to be found in the soft mud under the
water-weeds. It is a smooth, shining black beetle, with very convex wing
covers. Rhantus pubescens is an oval beetle, under ½ an inch in length, of a
dull brown colour, with the whole of the wing covers granulated with black.
Colymbetes lanceolatus is a more elongate insect of a similar brown colour,
the back of the head and wing covers marked with irregular parallel black
lines, thickest in the middle. Copelatus acuductus is a larger shining black
beetle, typical of the genus, of which about twenty species are described
from this country.
Cybister tripunctatus is one of our largest species; it measures over 1
inch, and is broad and flattened in proportion; it is of a blackish or dark
olive colour, margined right round from the front of the head to the tips of
the wing covers with a dull yellow stripe. As children we often pulled these
beetles out of the water hanging on to the bait used for catching crayfish,
and we called them “clocks,” why I do not know. This species has a very
wide range over Australia, and it is recorded from Lord Howe Island. It was
once known under the name of C. gayndahensis. A second species has been
described by Blackburn under the name of C. granulatus from the Northern

Territory of South Australia. Eretes australis is another widely distributed
species; it measures about ½ an inch; is broad and flattened, and is of a
general yellowish brown tint, marked with black between the eyes, and the
wing covers are finely punctured with close black spots.

Family 4. Whirligig Beetles.
GYRINIDAE.

This family, small in number of species, is well known to all lovers of
Nature, for it contains the water beetles that float about in shoals on the
margin of any quiet stream or waterhole, or dart about like bits of silver,
twisting and turning round in most remarkable gyrations, from which they
take the popular name of Whirligig Beetles.
They are distinguished from the last family (which they resemble in the
earlier stages of their development) in having very short antennae; the fore-
legs much longer than the two hind pairs; and in having the eyes on either
side divided, thus having two eyes looking down into the water and two
above, so that they can see both sides at the same time, an admirable
adaptation of vision for beetles living so much on the surface of the water
and liable to be attacked from above or below. The tip of the body is not
covered by the elytra, and when diving downward they carry a bubble of air
attached to the extremity. These beetles are well represented in Australia,
and have been described by Clark previously mentioned, Regimbart
(Annals Soc. Ent. France 1882), Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871),
and Boisduval in the “Entomology of the voyage de l’Astrolabe.” Our
common species about Sydney, Macrogyrus canaliculatus, is of the usual
boat-shaped form, silvery black, with the wing covers finely striated; it
measures about ½ an inch in length. M. oblongus is a somewhat smaller
species not so broad in form; is browner, and the wing covers are very
slightly striated; it is also found in the vicinity of Sydney. M. paradoxus
was described and figured by Regimbart from Australia with no exact
locality, but I have collected it on the North West coast of Australia, and
seen others from Southern Queensland, so that it has a wide range. It is not
much over ¼ of an inch in length; is dark olive; the outer margin is dull
yellow, and it has a few fine striae on either side of the elytra. I have found
the pupae of one species, probably M. oblongus, in clay cells attached to a

bit of board on the bank of a waterhole in the western country of N.S.
Wales.

Family 5. Clubbed-horned Water Beetles.
HYDROPHILIDAE.

This family is also known under the Group Palpicorna in reference to
the clubbed antennae, and made to include a second family, which are very
closely allied but are terrestial in their habits.
These beetles have five jointed tarsi; short clubbed antennae, with the
palpi slender and much longer than the antennae. Most of the beetles are
vegetarian in their diet, though many of them in the earlier stages of their
existence are carnivorous.
These are the largest of the Water Beetles; and the typical species are
ovate and very convex in form; the thorax very broad; the tibiae slightly
spined on the edges, terminating in a stouter spine at the apex; the tarsi
ciliated. They are poor swimmers when compared with the two last groups.
Most of our species have been described by Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc.
N.S.W. 1871), and Blackburn (Pro. Linn. Soc. 1888). Hydrophilus
latipalpus is of the usual boat-shaped form; shining black; and the wing
covers are very finely marked with punctured parallel striae. It measures
nearly 1½ inches, and is found about Sydney. H. albipes is a much smaller
beetle of similar form and colour; it is found in the Murray River districts.

Family 6. Rove Beetles.
STAPHYLINIDAE.

These peculiar beetles can be readily distinguished from most of the
other families by their abbreviated elytra, which do not protect more than a
third of the abdomen leaving the hind portion quite bare; while the well
developed hind wings are tucked away out of sight under them, but can be
quickly extended and used for flight. The apical segments of the abdomen
are very flexible, and most species have the habit of turning up the tip of the
body when running along; others have the power of discharging a strong
scent, in some cases with quite a pleasant odour.

They are slender elongate insects with stout jaws, and the antennae
thickened or clubbed at the extremities; the tarsal joints are variable in
number. Rove Beetles are found in many different situations, but chiefly
upon the ground in the vicinity of manure, decaying vegetable matter, dead
animals, and even on the seashore hiding under stones and seaweed, though
most of them only seek these places to devour other small creatures, for
they are carnivorous in their habits. Some of the foreign species are found
living in the nests of ants, but I do not think any with this peculiarity have
been recorded from Australia.
The principal writers on our Staphylinidae are Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc.
N.S.W. 1871), and Fauvel in his work on “Les Staphylinides de l’Australie
et de la Polynesie” (1878). In 1886 Olliff commenced his revision of the
Staphylinidae of Australia (Proc. Linn. Soc.), but this only ran into the third
part and was never finished. Others have been described by Blackburn
(Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1887). About 400 species have been recorded from
this country representing most of the typical sub-families.
The Genus Aleochara contains a number of small short black beetles
with thickened antennae; those in Homalota are even smaller but more
slender; several species are found under cowdung.
Quedius luridipennis measures over ⅓ of an inch in length; the shining
black head and thorax are almost globular, the latter the larger; the broad
flattened fore wings are red; the margins of the abdomen are flanged and
slightly spined, and the tip fringed with three tufts of bristles.
The Devil’s Coach-horse, Creophilus erythrocephalus, is our largest
common species and has a very wide range; it measures over ¾ of an inch
in length and is very broad in proportion; its general colour is black with the
head bright red, the eyes and a rounded spot between them black; the elytra
have a metallic purple tint. It can be often found in stables, or hunting round
dead animals in the bush; when disturbed it cocks up its head, turning up
the tip of its body at the same time in a very comical manner, from which
habit the allied European species has probably derived the above popular
name.
Actinus macleayi is slightly longer but more slender, and is our most
beautiful species of this somewhat dull coloured family; the head and
thorax are rich metallic coppery green, the elytra deep metallic purple; the

basal portion of the abdomen is black, and the tip, antennae, and legs bright
yellow. It is a native of the tropical scrubs of North Queensland; in the
neighbourhood of Cairns I captured specimens in tins I had baited with bits
of meat and had sunk in the ground to trap Carabidae, and into which they
had been attracted by the food.
Xantholinus erythrocephalus lives in the stems of rotting grass trees,
where the beetles can be collected in all stages of development; the beetle
measures over ½ an inch in length; is of a much more elongate form; black;
the elytra dull red, and the tip of the abdomen yellow.
Paederus cruenticollis is one of our commonest species, and is often
found under stones in the bush; it is a very distinctly marked little beetle
about ¼ of an inch in length, slender in form with long thickened antennae;
black, with the thorax and centre of the abdomen red, and the elytra deep
metallic blue.
Sartellus signatus is a curious little yellow beetle quite unlike the typical
Rove Beetle; it is short and rounded in form, with the fore wings much
longer than usual; is of a uniform light yellow colour, with a curious reddish
brown mark in the centre of each elytron. It is common on our sandy
beaches, where it hides under the seaweed and rubbish and feeds chiefly
upon dead barnacles.

Family 7. Ant Beetles.
PSELAPHIDAE

This group includes a number of small beetles that have the elytra
usually not covering more than half of the abdominal segments; the
antennae thickened toward the tips; maxillary palpi large, and the tarsi three
jointed. The ordinary collector is very apt to pass over these small creatures,
but many interesting forms are found in this country by sifting rubbish, or
examining debris along the water’s edge, which can be gathered up in a
stout bag and afterwards shaken over a sheet of white paper. I have captured
them along the edges of lagoons in summer time by pouring buckets of
water over the dry cracked mud, and as they were drowned out gathering
them into small tubes. They can also be taken with a sweeping net when on
the wing; in Europe many species are found in ants’ nests. Westwood
believes that they feed chiefly upon Acari and other small creatures.

Large numbers have been described from this country, chiefly through
the researches of the Rev. R. L. King (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1865).
Messrs. Sharp, Westwood, Schaufers and Blackburn added to this number;
while in 1900 Raffray published his Monograph on the family (Pro. Linn.
Soc. N.S.W. 1900), in which he described 45 new species, and brings the
number known up to 200.
Pselaphus lineatus, a reddish beetle, measures 1½ lines in length, and is
found about Sydney; it has a wide range over N.S. Wales, Victoria, and
South Australia.
Lea (Pro. Royal Soc. Victoria 1905) records four species of the Genus
Articerus found in ants’ nests, all of which appear to have a wide range; A.
curvicornis, originally described by Westwood from ants’ nests in
Melbourne, is also found in Tasmania, S. Australia and N.S. Wales.

Family 8. Comb-horned Beetles.
PAUSSIDAE.

These are remarkable looking beetles, easily distinguished by their broad
flattened toothed antennae curving round on either side. The head is short
and angular on the sides; the thorax flattened; and the elongate elytra
truncate at the apex and not quite covering the tip of the abdomen. Most of
the species are of moderate size, and reddish brown in colour; they are
confined chiefly to Africa, the East Indies, and Australia. Most of the
African species are said to dwell in ants’ nests, but though I have had
several records of species being found under stones in ants’ nests, most of
ours are found under logs, bark, or crawling about on the grass or ground.
This family attracted the notice of entomologists at a very early date;
Latreille formed the family to contain the two genera Paussus and
Cerapterus, which he called Paussili, afterwards changed by Leach to
Paussides. Donovan described the first species from this country in 1815.
Westwood has written a great deal about them; he monographed the family
(Proc. Linn. Soc. 1849–1850); in his “Arcana Entomologica” he described a
great many from Australia and other countries; others in the “Annals of
Natural History,” 1851; and again figured others in his “Theosaurus
Entomologica,” Oxen. 1874. Macleay added 32 new species (Trans. Ent.
Soc. N.S.W. 1873), all belonging to the Genus Arthropterus; while

Blackburn placed 3 more to the list 1891–1892, one of them in the typical
Genus Paussus.
Arthropterus brevis is one of our smallest species; it measures slightly
over ¼ of an inch in length; the antennae are rather short and broad; the
thorax broad and rounded on the sides; the elytra expanded slightly to the
truncate tips, leaving the apical portion of the abdomen exposed. This is our
commonest species, and can be sometimes obtained in numbers near
Sydney under the papery bark of the ti-trees.
A. humeralis comes from the Wellington district, and measures under ¾
of an inch; the antennae are large; the head angular; the body long, narrow,
and rounded to the extremity, with the elytra short and truncate above the
tip of the abdomen. General colour dark reddish brown, lightly clothed with
short scattered brown hairs.

Family 9. Ant Beetles.
SCYDMAENIDAE.

The members of this family are minute creatures of which little is
known. Sharp says: “Allied to the Silphidae, with the hind coxae separated,
and the facets of the eyes coarser; tarsi five jointed; the number of
abdominal segments visible six.”
It is owing to the Rev. R. L. King that we first knew anything about this
group in Australia; he described about 15 species (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W.
1864); to which 2 more have been added by Macleay and Sharp.
Heterognathus carinatus was described by King from the nest of small
black ants found in the neighbourhood of Parramatta; Lea has lately
recorded it from the nests of ants (Iridomyrmex nitidus) taken in the Mallee
country of North Western Victoria. He says: “It can be distinguished from
all its congeners by the prothorax having a short longitudinal carina at the
base, on each side of which is a transverse impression.”

Family 10. Burying Beetles.
SILPHIDAE.

The typical European species are popularly known as Burying Beetles
from the curious habit they have of excavating the ground beneath any
small dead bird or animal they find, and finally burying it under the soil.
This family contains a number of interesting beetles both large and small;
the antennae are thickened or clubbed; the tarsi 4 or 5 jointed; and the
whole dorsal surface flattened. They are poorly represented in this country,
but there are several large distinctive species found about dead animals or
decaying vegetable matter. A large number of blind Silphids are found in
the caves of Europe and America, but I have never found any as Australian
cave fauna.
Thirteen species have been described from this country by a number of
different writers, chief of which is Blackburn (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A.
1891–94).
Necrodes osculans comes from Queensland; I found it common about
Cairns, feeding amongst decaying matter in the scrub. It measures over 1
inch; is a broad flattened beetle of a general black colour; the elytra mottled
with dull orange, ribbed, and truncate at the extremity, showing the tip of
the abdomen. The head is small, turned down in front, but furnished with
large clubbed antennae; the thorax is finely punctured and rounded in front.
Ptomaphila lachrymosa is a dull reddish brown beetle, with the centre of
the head and thorax black, the head small and somewhat hidden by the large
flattened thorax; the elytra round, somewhat depressed; both marked with
irregular parallel black ribs and bosses; they feed about dead animals.
Length about 1 inch.
In the following family, Trichopterygidae, only two species are
described, one from Tasmania, and the other from West Australia. They are
minute beetles with fringed wings, the middle joints of the antennae
smallest.

Family 11. Round Fungus Beetles.
SCAPHIDIDAE.

The members of this family are small, broad, short insects that live in
fungus, and are very active. Macleay described several species from

Gayndah (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871): Reitter and other foreign writers
have added to the list.
Scaphidium punctipenne, though described from Queensland, is also
found in the neighbourhood of Sydney. It is a small rounded seed-shaped
insect, but with slender legs and slightly clubbed antennae; its upper surface
is deep orange yellow irregularly barred with black.

Family 12. Mimic Beetles.
HISTERIDAE.

When touched these beetles contract their legs and pretend to be dead,
from which habit they take their family name from Histris, the Latin for a
stage mimic. They are shining black, or metallic coloured beetles; many are
flattened and broad in shape, with the elytra truncate at the apex, leaving the
tip of the abdomen uncovered; the exposed integument is however very
much thickened, and all the parts fit close together; the antennae are thick,
clubbed at the apex; the legs short and stout. Most of the flattened forms are
found under bark, others in or under dead animal matter; both the beetles
and their larvae are carnivorous.
This family is well represented here: Macleay described some from
Gayndah; Marseul described others in the Annals Museo Genevre 1879, and
the Annals Ent. Belg. 1870; Schmidt in the Ent. Nachr. 1892; and a few are
described by other writers.
Hololepta sidnensis, one of our commonest species, can be collected in
early summer by chopping up the dead grass tree stems; but I have never
been able to find the larvae. It measures ½ an inch, and is shining black; it
is very much flattened and broad in proportion to its length; two stout horns
project in front of the eyes, coming together at the tips; the thorax is slightly
impressed in the centre, and punctured on the sides; the elytra is smooth and
shining, but the exposed abdominal plates are spotted with large punctures.
Many of this genus are found under bark or crawling about on tree trunks.
Platysoma strongulatum is a broadly flattened black insect about ⅙ of an
inch long; the head is small; the thorax truncate; the elytra smooth in the
centre, with four distinct striae on each side, straight at the apex, with the
tip of the abdomen turning downwards. This is another common Sydney

species found at the base of the flower stalks of the “grass trees”
(Xanthorrhoea).
Saprinus laetus, typical of another group, is a short, thickset, rounded,
oval beetle, ¼ of an inch in length, with the upper surface convex; the head
is small, shining green; the thorax broad, bright metallic pale copper; and
the short truncate elytra and exposed tip of the abdomen deep metallic
green. This almost seed-shaped beetle is usually found under dead birds or
animals lying in the bush. It has a very wide range over Australia.

Family 13.
PHALACRIDAE.

Only one species of this family is listed in Masters’ Catalogue, described
by Erichson from Tasmania in 1842; but in Blackburn’s paper (Trans. Royal
Soc. S. Australia 1891) 16 new species are described from all parts of
Australia. They are short oval beetles, very small, the largest not much over
¹⁄₁₂ of an inch in length; black or brown in colour.
Litochrus palmerstoni is of a uniform ferruginous colour, with the apex
of the elytra pale testaceous; without the punctures of the other species; of
the typical oval form; and only ⅘ of a line in length and ¹⁄₂₄ of an inch in
width. This tiny creature comes from the Northern Territory of S. Australia.
This family is not an important one, but is well represented in Europe
and America, where the larvae live in flowers, boring their way down the
stems and pupating in earthen cocoons.

Family 14. Fruit Beetles.
NITIDULIDAE.

These are all small black or brownish beetles that breed and feed upon
decaying vegetable matter, and some are very partial to ripe fruit. Some
have well developed wing covers, but in others these are very short,
reminding one of the smaller Rove Beetles, but the club of each antennae
consists of three joints, and fewer abdominal segments are exposed to view.
About eighty species have been described from Australia, chiefly by Reitter
(Verh. Ver. Brünn, 1874–75, and other Journals); Murray in his Monograph

of the Family; Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871); and Blackburn
(Trans. Royal Soc. S. Australia 1891).
Brachypeplus binotatus is one of our commonest species, widely
distributed over Australia; it is a typical form of the family, about ⅕ of an
inch in length; of a general dark brown colour, with reddish brown antennae
and legs; the abbreviated wing covers leaving the abdominal segments
exposed, the latter marked with deep orange yellow. Olliff (Agricultural
Gazette N.S. Wales 1893) describes and figures this beetle and its larva,
which he describes as feeding upon the fungus on the damaged sugar cane.

Fig. 62.—Pochadius pilistriatus
(Macleay).
Living in the seed pods of the Kurrajong.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Genus Carpophilus contains 11 described species, most of which
have a wide range over Australia; two are well known about Sydney from
their habit of crawling into damaged fruit and feeding round the stone,
causing it to decay very rapidly; they are also said to cluster round the fruit
stalks, and by gnawing the base cause the fruit to drop. Carpophilus
pilipennis is a small reddish brown boat-shaped beetle, with the wing
covers cut off at the hind margin, exposing the tip of the abdomen; it
measures 1½ lines in length. C. aterrimus is a somewhat larger flatter
species of a uniform black colour, with the whole of the upper surface
finely punctured; the legs and antennae are reddish brown. The abdomen is
not so pointed as in the first species and much more of it is exposed on the

dorsal surface. A curious little species, Pocadius pilistriatus, about ⅙ of an
inch in length, is an elongate rounded brown beetle clothed with fine hairs.
It feeds and breeds in the seed cases of the Kurrajong; the larvae are reddish
brown grubs, elongate in form; they have three jointed antennae, and short
black jaws, with well developed legs, and the tip of the abdomen bears two
pairs of spines, the first pair erect, the second at the extremity but turning
upwards.

Family 15.
TROGOSITIDAE.

These are beetles of moderate size with five jointed tarsi, the first so
small that unless closely examined it is not noticeable. They are found
chiefly under dead bark or wood, but are carnivorous in their habits, and
very dissimilar in form.

Fig. 63.—Lophocateres pusillus.
A tiny introduced Beetle belonging to the
Family Trogositidae that attacks
dried fruit.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The cosmopolitan “Cadelle,” Trogosita mauritanica, frequently found in
bagged wheat, where the larvae gnaw out the embryo of the grain, is world
wide in its range. It is a flattened, shining, black beetle; it was once placed
among the Heteromera; and at first sight might be taken for a flattened
carab.

The Genus Leperina contains a number of curious, elongate beetles
flattened on the under surface; the dorsal surface is convex, and rounded at
the extremities, with the integument covered with mottled grey, brown, and
black tufts of scales imitating moss, and probably of a protective character,
for they are generally found clinging to bark. Leperina decorata was
described by Erichson from Tasmania in 1842, but it has a wide range over
the mainland. It measures from ¼ to ½ an inch in length; its ground colour
is light chestnut brown mottled with black; the sides of the thorax deeply
blotched with creamy white, and the back marked with indistinct patches of
whitish scales.

Figs. 64 and 65.—Life History of the Cadelle.
64. Trogosita mauritanica (Linn.).
65. „ „ Larva.

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Pascoe described some of ours (Annals of Nat. Hist. 1872), and the
Journal of Entomology 1860. Macleay described others in 1871; Reitter in
1876–77; Olliff (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1886); and later Blackburn (Trans.
Royal Soc. S.A. 1891).

Family 16.
COLYDIDAE.

These are small, reddish brown or black beetles, elongate in form, with
four jointed tarsi, the coxae of the two pairs of fore-legs globular, and those

of the hind legs transverse. They are usually found under dead or decaying
bark, or among rotten wood. Several members of the Genus Bothrideres are
found about Sydney; they have the thorax flattened and the elytra ribbed.
About 70 species of this family have been described from this country,
chiefly by Macleay 1871; Pascoe in the Journal of Entomology 1860;
Reitter in 1877 in several German journals; and later by Blackburn 1891;
and Olliff in the Memoirs of the Australian Museum 1889 on species from
Lord Howe Island.

Family 17.
RHYSODIDAE.

This family consists of only a few known species; Olliff has described
one species, Rhysodes lignarius (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1885), a pitchy
black shining beetle about ⅓ of an inch in length; it was found in rotten
wood at Yass, N.S.W.

Family 18. Bark Beetles.
CUCUJIDAE.

The members of this group are very curious beetles, most of our species
being found under dead bark on the trunks of the smooth gums; both the
beetles and their larvae have adapted their form in such a remarkable
manner to their surroundings that they are often as flat and thin as a bit of
paper, while others living in more roomy quarters are quite normal in shape.
Hectarthrum brevifossum is a slender, somewhat cylindrical, shining
black beetle, with thickened antennae composed of eleven bead-shaped
joints; the head is depressed in front, with the thorax more elongated, and
the slender ribbed elytra rounded at the tips.
Platisus integricollis is a reddish brown beetle, the basal joints of the
antennae elongated and the apical ones bead-shaped; the head is angular,
buried in the short broad thorax; the body is flattened, with the elytra
slightly ridged round the edges. The larva is as flat as a knife blade, with a
large head armed with stout jaws; the thoracic segments are furnished with
short thick legs; it has seven simple flattened abdominal segments, with an

eighth spade-shaped one, on which is a four-pronged trident-like process
standing up at the apex, and a small spine at either side. The insects both in
the beetle and the larval stage are often to be found under the same bit of
bark.
Brontes lucius, found in the same situations, is a darker reddish insect
with the antennae very long and slender; the front of the thorax is spined on
the sides; the elytra slightly convex, elongated and rounded at the
extremities. B. militaris can be easily distinguished from the last species by
its darker colour, more flattened smooth elytra, with two oval light brown
blotches on the basal half of the wing covers. About 60 species are
described from Australia; among the chief writers are Grouvelle (Bull. Soc.
Ent. France 1877); and other Journals 1876–1883, &c.; Olliff (Proc. Linn.
Soc. N.S.W. 1885); Reitter 1878, and Blackburn 1892.

Family 19.
CRYPTOPHAGIDAE.

In Masters’ Catalogue only one species (Cnecosa fulvida) is recorded,
described by Pascoe in the “Journal of Entomology” 1865, from Sydney.
Since then Blackburn has described 12 more species (Trans. Royal Soc. of
S.A. 1887). They are all minute beetles which feed upon mould. In Europe
the larvae of several genera live in the nests of bumble bees, and the perfect
insects in flowers.

Families 20–21.
LATHRIDIDAE and MYCETOPHAGIDAE.

These are composed of minute beetles found on fungus. Macleay in 1871
described some; Blackburn others (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1887–1891);
most of these were found in fungi or under bark. They are very small, the
largest about ⅒ of an inch in length. In Europe the larvae of some species
are covered with curious hairs, and the perfect beetles of others live in ants’
nests; but nothing is known about the habits of our species.

Family 22. Bacon Beetles.
DERMESTIDAE.

This is a well-known group, for the hairy larvae do a great deal of
mischief to sheepskins by gnawing holes in them when they are piled on
each other; getting into bacon and other animal foods; even gnawing holes
in bones. The beetles have somewhat short antennae clubbed at the tips;
five jointed tarsi; the coxae of the fore-legs conical, the hind ones
cylindrical.
The typical Genus Dermestes contains 5 species found in Australia; most
of them have been introduced from other parts of the world, and several
have penetrated far into the interior.
Dermestes cadaverinus measures over ⅓ of an inch; the upper surface is
clothed with pale pubescence, and the under-surface thickly clothed with
white hairs. Its general form is elongate; the head is tucked under the front
edge of the thorax, which forms a slight hood.
D. vulpinus is slightly larger; has the same elongate form; is black, with
the dorsal surface covered with short brown hairs, and the under surface
with more buff coloured pubescence. Both these species have a very wide
range, and can be found under dead animals in the bush, in sheepskins,
bacon, &c., and I have even taken larvae in bags of grain. Under favourable
conditions these beetles increase in countless numbers; quite recently, Mrs.
Black, writing from N. Queensland, says that toward the end of the drought
when the country was covered with bones and dead stock, whenever the
station hands camped to eat their dinners, these beetles would swarm out in
thousands from under logs and stones to pick up the bits of food scattered
about. Gilbert in Gould’s “Birds of Australia,” records a similar instance on
the Hautmann’s-Abrolhos Islands off the coast of W. Australia, a great
nesting place for the Noddy Tern, where immense numbers of the young
birds are killed by the lizards, which only eat the brain and marrow. The
remains cumbering the ground were food for Dermestes lardarius, which
swarm over the islands in immense numbers.
This is the common European Bacon Beetle, and is listed in Masters’
Catalogue as found in Australia, but I have never seen an Australian
specimen of this very distinct beetle, and think Gilbert may have mistaken
the species.
The members of the Genus Trogoderma are small, broad, and rather
flattened black beetles, generally found under bark on tree trunks in the

dead pupae of moths upon which they feed.
Trogoderma froggatti is short and broad; it measures under ⅙ of an inch;
is a shining black beetle, with the elytra clothed with dark scattered hairs; it
was bred from larvae taken close to Sydney. T. apicipenne is slightly larger,
and darker black, very thickly clothed with black hairs; a dull red blotch on
either side of the apical half of the elytra gives it a very distinctive
character. These beetles and their hairy larvae feed upon the remains of
dead caterpillars under the dead bark, pupae and other organic matter.
The Anthrenus are known as “Museum beetles,” for they are the greatest
pests that curators of Museums have to deal with; their small hairy larvae
attack every kind of specimen, and are most destructive to pinned insect
collections, though the adult beetles are generally found in the gardens
frequenting flowers.
Anthrenus varius is our greatest pest; it is an introduced species, variable
in size, the largest measuring about 1½ lines; it is almost round, with the
small head furnished with clubbed antennae tucked down when at rest or
disturbed; the ground colour is black, but it is so thickly clothed with grey
and brown pubescence that it has a mottled buff appearance. Blackburn
states that this is the species that has been confounded with A. museorum,
which he says is not found in Australia. A. nigricans is about the same size;
black, with a delicate fascia of fine white hairs which give it a very
distinctive character.
About 44 species of Dermestidae are recorded from Australia: Fabricius
and Linneaus described the earlier ones: Macleay others from Gayndah
1871. Reitter described more in several German publications: and
Blackburn all the later ones (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1891).

Family 23. Pill Beetles.
BYRRHIDAE.

These are small beetles, found under stones. They take their popular
name from their rounded form, which is more noticeable from the fact that
their legs and antennae are retractile. Thirteen species are described from
this country.

Microchaetes sphaericus, described by Hope from W. Australia, is also
found in N.S. Wales; it is a small, rounded, black beetle, under 2 lines in
length; is very rugose on the upper surface, which is covered with tufts of
brown scales which give it a curious roughened appearance and a brown
tint.

Family 24.
GEORYSSIDAE.

This family is a small obscure group. They are small beetles with short
clubbed antennae, inhabiting damp wet ground. Only a dozen are described
from all parts of the world, two of which are peculiar to Australia. King
described one from Parramatta under the name of Georyssus australis:
Macleay the second from Gayndah, Queensland.

Family 25.
PARNIDAE.

These are aquatic beetles living under stones or close to water; they are
thickly clothed with fine silky hairs like a waterproof coat; their antennae
are thickened, and sometimes very short. Six species were described by
King (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1864); and two others by Messrs. Blackburn
and Lea (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1894–95). Most of these belong to the
typical Genus Elmis, the members of which are found clinging to stones
under water.

Plate XVII.—COLEOPTERA.
Family Lucanidae.
9. Lamprima latreillei (W. S. Macleay).
11. Cladognathus arfakanus (Lansb.).

Family Cetonidae.
4. Trichaulax macleayi (Kratz).
7. Eupoecila inscripta (Janson).
8. Chlorobapta besti (Westwood).
10. Diaphonia olliffiana (Janson).

Family Rhipidophoridae.

2. Pelecotomoides conicollis (Castelnau).
Family Scarabaeidae.
1. Bolboceras proboscidium (Schreibers).
3. Onthophagus australis (Guérin).
5. Trox dohrni (Harold).

Family Tenebrionidae.
6. Zopherosis georgii (White).
(Original photo. Burton.)]

Plate XVII.—COLEOPTERA.

Family 26.
HETEROCERIDAE.

This group contains a number of small beetles that are semi-aquatic in
their habits; these are also clothed with fine hairs, and have short clubbed
antennae with the two basal joints enlarged. They are found burrowing in
mud or wet sand close to water. Only seven species are recorded from this
country, most of them belonging to the Genus Heterocerus; Westwood
described two (Proc. Ent. Soc. London 1874): Macleay another from
Gayndah 1871: and Blackburn four others (Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A. 1887–91).

Family 27. Stag Beetles.
LUCANIDAE.

This is the first group of the Lamellicorn beetles, which are defined by
the structure of their short antennae composed of 9–10 joints ending in a
three-jointed lamellated club. In the Stag Beetles the antennae are ten-
jointed, and in the typical forms have the mandibles, especially in the
males, produced in front of the eyes like horns. Australia is rich in these
beetles, both in number and beauty of form and colouration. The chief
writers upon them are Macleay (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1885); and
Westwood (Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1885–63–71).
Rhyssonotus nebulosus is a dark brown beetle mottled with black upon
the dorsal surface; the small narrow head is furnished with projecting horns
with several distinct points; the thorax is broad, curiously divided into
rounded areas interspersed with depressed punctured patches; the body is
rather short; the wing covers very indistinctly ribbed and mottled with
black. It measures slightly over 1 inch in length, and has a wide range over
N.S. Wales and Southern Queensland. I have bred this beetle from the
fleshy white grub of the usual Lamellicorn Beetle type taken under rotten
logs.
In the Genus Lamprima we have 12 described species of our beautiful
“Gold Beetles,” which in the larval state live in rotten wood, from which
the beetles emerge and crawl up the twigs of the young gum saplings; in
favourable localities they can often be taken in great numbers while mating.
They are all rich metallic green, gold, blue, or coppery in tint; the horns,
projecting and turning up in front, are clothed with fine hairs along the
inner margin; the thorax is very convex, rounded on the sides; the fore-legs
very robust; the body not twice the length of the thorax, and rounded at the

apex. Many species are so variable that it is probable that when carefully
studied the number of species will be much reduced.
Lamprima latreillei is our commonest species; it measures 1¼ inches in
length; the head is rich coppery red, the rest metallic green; the thorax
deeply and coarsely punctured. It is however a very variable species both in
size and colouration; in a large series we can find them all shades to
metallic blue; with stout horns or long horns; and ranging from the
dimensions given to ½ an inch smaller.
L. rutilans is the southern form found in Victoria: M. insularis is only
found in Lord Howe Island. Phalacrognathus muelleri, one of the largest
and most beautiful of all our beetles, was named by Macleay after Baron
von Mueller, from specimens obtained from Cairns, North Queensland; it
could be best described as a giant gold beetle, 2 inches long; of a brilliant
green and coppery red tint. The male has the horns greatly produced in front
of the head.
Lissapterus howittanus measures nearly 1½ inches, and is broad in
proportion; the abdomen is shorter than the head and thorax combined; the
horns curve round in front and are thickened and serrate at the base; the
rugose head forms a ridge in front, fitting closely into the punctured thorax.
The female is about 1 inch in length; has the head more flattened, and
furnished with short, stout, toothed mandibles. This curious beetle is
peculiar to Victoria.
The Genus Ceratognathus contains 7 species of our smallest Stag
Beetles, none of which measure ½ an inch; they are black or brown; the
mandibles of the male are produced into short curved horns with a square
flange on the outer basal margins. I obtained the larvae of the species
named after me by Blackburn in considerable numbers in the outer bark of
Eucalyptus robusta. The larva is a white, shining, semitransparent grub with
a slender abdomen; the pale brownish head is round and slightly elongate,
with stout three-toothed mandibles; with long slender legs; and with the
dorsal surface of the body clothed with fine ferruginous spines interspersed
with hairs.
Figulus regularis is a small, shining, elongate black beetle measuring
slightly over ½ an inch; it has short angular mandibles, finely punctured

thorax, and striated elytra. It has a wide range over Australia, and is very
common under decaying logs.
The Passalides are a group of what might be called flattened hornless
Stag Beetles (some of very large size), that are found under rotting logs.
Aulacocyclus kaupi, measuring 1¼ inches, is shining black; has short
curved mandibles in front; the head is excavated in the centre, with a short,
bent, finger-like horn curving forward above the hollow; the thorax is
broad; and the elytra ribbed. The larva is dull white, long, slender, and
somewhat cylindrical; it has a small head, and very long legs furnished with
sickle-shaped claws. When full grown, they pupate in elongate, oval,
smooth, brown cocoons of earth and woody matter.
Kaup in 1871 published a Monograph of the Passalidae, in which many
of our species are described.

Family 28. Digger and Chafer Beetles.
SCARABAEIDAE.

The group contains an immense number of handsome beetles, among
which are some of the giants of the beetle world, though there are also
many tiny ones; most of them in the earlier stages of their lives are thick,
fleshy, white grubs that live in the ground or decaying woody matter, and
sometimes do a great deal of damage to the roots of grass and cultivated
crops. Though these beetles vary much in form and size, they have the
antennae always produced at the tip into a laminate or pectinate club, which
when expanded forms a comb or brush-like process.
Kirby divides this family into eleven sub-families; Westwood into ten;
while Sharp reduces them to five, which is quite sufficient for our purpose.
The first comprise the Coprides, or true Dung-burying Beetles; they feed
upon animal droppings, boring vertical shafts beneath fresh dung, and
carrying portions several inches under ground; on this they not only feed,
but also deposit their eggs in rounded balls of the same material. In the
more tropical parts they are also attracted to dead animals, which they feed
on in the same manner. They have a shovel-like rim round the front of the
head, often ornamented above with spines or horns both on the head and

thorax, particularly in the male sex; and their legs are admirably adapted for
digging.
The Sacred Beetle, worshipped and carved on the monuments by the
ancient Egyptians, Ateuchus sacer, is typical of the group.
Cephalodesmius armiger is a black beetle, about ⅓ of an inch in length;
it has a small head produced in front along the outer margin into four spines
or horns standing out straight in front, the two middle ones longest; the
thorax is finely punctured; and the wing covers are slightly striated.
Temnoplectron rotundum, about the same length, is a shining black
beetle; the head is flattened and turned down; the whole of the dorsal
surface is smooth, and the wing covers are oval toward the apex.
The Genus Onthophagus contains most of our typical Dung Beetles;
over 60 species have been described, chiefly by Macleay, 1864–1887–1888,
and Harold 1869.
Onthophagus pentacanthus is ¾ inch in length; the male has a large
slender horn rising up from the centre of the head; a curved shorter one on
either side; and a short two-pronged process in the centre of the thorax,
which is finely granulated above, and clothed with reddish hairs on the
under side.
O. kershawi has the head armed with a similar horn but without the side
ones on the thorax; the central ones are longer and more slender than those
on the process of the previous species. O. cuniculus, one of our commonest
species, is only about ¼ inch long; the head and thorax are bright metallic
green; the central portion of the latter is produced (in the male) into a
conical point; the wing covers are shining black and rugose. Another
common species, O. granulatus, is slightly smaller; it has the dorsal surface
flattened; the head and thorax dull metallic blue; and the wing covers are
mottled, light chocolate brown and finely granulated; the whole insect is
covered with short reddish hairs, lightest on the dorsal surface. O.
rufosignatus, which I once took in numbers busily engaged burying a dead
wallaby in N.W. Australia, is slightly over ¼ inch in length; it is black with
the centre of the thorax and sides of the elytra richly blotched with red.
The members of the Genus Bolboceras are even more remarkable in
regard to the peculiar forms into which the head and thorax are produced in

many species; most of them are reddish brown, and thickly clothed with
coarse reddish hairs on the under surface. In structure they are somewhat
similar to the former species. They are commonly taken at night flying to
the lamp or camp fire.
Bolboceras sloanei is a broad hemispherical beetle, just under 1 inch in
length; the male has a great horn standing up in the middle of the head, and
a shorter one on either side of the thorax, with an excavation above and
below them; the female is about the same size without any appendages, and
the front of the thorax is hollowed out and the hind portion very rugose. B.
proboscidium is common in the southern districts; it is smaller than the last
species; of a darker reddish tint. The male has the front of the head
produced into a lance-shaped process, standing out straight; this tapers
toward the tip, which turns down like a hook, and has a short blunt spine on
the upper surface. The female has a small truncate head, quite unlike the
male. About 30 species were described in Masters’ Catalogue; Blackburn in
his Monograph of the group lists 43 species (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1904).

Fig. 66.—Phyllotocus macleayi
(Fischer).
The Honey Beetle, common on flowers
in summer time.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Members of the Genus Trox feed chiefly on decaying animal matter, and
are to be found under dead animals, and a few in caves among the
accumulated dung of bats; they are curious dull brown insects, convex and

rounded on the upper surface; the head is so small and retractile that it
appears to be wanting. Trox dohrni, from Central Australia, one of our
largest species, is just under 1 inch; is almost black, covered with a regular
armour plate of shining black bosses and ridges all over the dorsal surface.
T. australasiae, our common species, is about half the length, and is dull
brown, with the bosses on the elytra more regular and ridged.

The Melolonthides are mostly small beetles with the tip of the abdomen
not always covered; they feed chiefly upon the foliage of plants. The Genus
Phyllotocus contains about 27 described species of small reddish brown
beetles with long black or yellow legs: some species are very abundant
about Sydney, swarming over the flowers of native scrubs; they even come
to the garden plants to feed upon the honey.

Fig. 67.—Diphucephala aurulenta
(Kirby).
The Metallic Green Wattle Beetle. In
Tasmania it damages young apples by
eating off the skin.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Phyllotocus macleayi has even been found swarming round bee-hives,
probably attracted by the smell of the honey. It is a smooth, shining,
yellowish brown beetle about ⅓ of an inch in length, with the apical portion
of the wing covers blackened. P. marginatus is smaller than the last, and of
the usual dull reddish colour; the head, centre of thorax, and stripe down the
centre of the wing covers black; the whole lightly clothed with fine hairs.
Diphucephala aurulenta, typical of another group of bright, metallic
coloured, broad bodied beetles, measures ¼ of an inch in length, and has the
dorsal surface of a rich reddish-copper tint, thickly and coarsely punctured;

the under surface and legs are deep green, clothed with fine grey hairs. It is
common upon the foliage of the black wattle about Sydney. D. rufipes, a
smaller beetle, is coppery green with reddish legs; is not uncommon about
Sydney. D. colaspidoides, a southern species, is metallic green; the thorax
smooth; the elytra deeply and thickly marked with punctured striae.
Maechidius tibialis, representing another group, is a flattened, reddish
brown beetle over ⅓ of an inch; the head is produced into two shell-like
flanges in front of the eyes; the thorax is finely punctured; and the elytra
ribbed, with closely punctured striae. I have found both the beetle and its
larva, a soft white grub, in numbers in the open galleries of the termitaria
built by our common White Ant (Termes lacteus) in the Shoalhaven district,
N.S.W., where they seemed to live in harmony with the swarms of White
Ants.
Xylonychus eucalypti is a large cockchafer-like beetle about 1 inch long;
it is of a delicate pale grass-green colour; its under surface and legs darker
and thickly clothed with fine hairs. This beetle feeds about Sydney upon the
foliage of the Swamp Mahogany (Eucalyptus robusta), and is not
uncommon in early summer. The members of the Genus Liparetrus are
small, dark reddish brown, or almost black beetles, often thickly clothed
with fine hairs; the wing covers are generally shorter than the abdomen.
Many species swarm over the tops of the young gum trees devouring the
foliage. Nearly 100 species of this extensive group have been described
from Australia, chiefly by Macleay and Blackburn (Proc. Linn. Soc. of N.S.
Wales, 1886–1888).
Liparetrus marginipennis, common about Sydney, is black; it measures
under ⅓ of an inch; the elytra, except the basal edges, are dark reddish
brown; the whole insect is thickly clothed with light brown hairs that form a
fringe round it. L. hispidus is a smaller dark brown beetle, thickly clothed
with dull yellow hairs.
Lepidoderma albo-hirtum is a large cockchafer; it measures 1¼ inches;
all the dorsal surface of the head and thorax and both dorsal and ventral
portions of abdomen are reddish brown; ventral surface of head, thorax and
legs black. The whole of the upper and portion of the under surface are so
thickly clothed with fine pale scales that it has a uniform grey tint. The
larva, a large white grub, is a well-known pest to the Queensland sugar
planters, for it eats off the roots of the growing cane; they are so numerous

in some districts that as much as a shilling a pint is paid for these sugar cane
grubs.

The Rutelides comprise a number of large beetles, popularly called
Cockchafers; some species swarm out in immense numbers, stripping the
foliage off the native bush and sometimes attacking the shade-trees in the
gardens. Most of their larvae are large, white, subterranean grubs, either
feeding on roots of grass and plants, or living in or under decaying logs. Dr.
Ohaus has just published a “Revision des Anoplognathides” 1904, in which
he describes 72 species included in 13 genera. Repsimus aeneus has a dark
blue to coppery tint; the tip of the abdomen is reddish, and the hind legs are
thickened. They are found clinging to low bushes, and are common about
Sydney.

Figs. 68. and 69.—Life History of the Shining Cockchafer.
68. Anoplognathus porosus (Dalm). 69. Larva. 69a. Pupa.

Calloodes grayanus is a very handsome bright green beetle with the
outer margins of the thorax and wing covers edged with yellow; it measures
1¼ inches long; is found in Queensland, but seldom in numbers. The two
beautiful, little, metallic gold coloured species placed by Macleay in this
genus have been removed by Ohaus into Anoplognathus, which now
contains 41 species. Among these are our large reddish brown cockchafers.
A. viridaeneus, the “King-beetle,” is our largest cockchafer; it measures 1½
inches and is broad in proportion; has a general bright metallic reddish
golden sheen; and the tip of the abdomen is deep green. It is usually found
clinging to the foliage of the smaller gum trees in early summer. A.
velutinus takes its name from the velvety patches of curious little white
scales scattered all over its dull brown coat; it is found about Sydney, but is
not plentiful.

Fig. 70.—Pentodon australis
(Blackburn).
The larva and adult feed upon grass roots
and sometimes damage growing corn.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

A. porosus is a light brown beetle; the wing covers are marked with tiny
dark spots that form irregular, short, parallel lines; the head and thorax are
shining; it is ¾ of an inch in length. It, and A. analis, a large reddish shining
beetle furnished with a tuft of hairs at the tip of the abdomen, are two of our
commonest species; their larvae have been found destroying strawberry
plants by eating off their roots; and they are frequently met with when
digging over the garden in early summer.
Anoplostethus opalinus, just under 1 inch in length, is a very beautiful
pale opaline green beetle, and is peculiar to Western Australia.

Figs. 71 and 72.—Life History of the Queensland “Elephant Beetle.”
71. Xylotrupes australicus (Thorn), Larva. 72. Xylotrupes australicus,
Male Beetle.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Dynastides contain the giants of the family, and in several genera
the males have the head and thorax greatly enlarged and produced into blunt
spines and horns; while the female has them of the usual rounded form.
Oryctes barbarossa is one of our largest black lamellicorns; it comes from
N. Australia. Pentadon australis is a shining black beetle about ¾ of an inch
in length, which has been found damaging young maize plants about
Sydney. The Queensland Elephant Beetle, Xylotrupes australicus, in the
larval state feeds upon decaying vegetable matter, from which the beetles
emerge and climb up the first tree to hand, and upon which they cling
during the day, but come buzzing round to the lamps at night. The male
measures 2 inches in length; is of a uniform black colour; the head curves
out in front into a double-pronged horn; and the front of the thorax is
produced into a second swollen one curving downward over the horns on
the head, arcuate and toothed on either side of the tip. The female as usual
in this group is smaller, and the head and thorax are of the ordinary rounded
structure.

The Cetonides comprise the beautiful “Rose Chafers,” with their shorter,
broader, flattened bodies, small heads, and the angular thorax broadest
behind. Australia is rich in these flower-haunting beetles, and some species
are very abundant in the summer months. A great number were at one time
placed in the Genus Schizorrhina, but in 1880 Kraatz in a paper on the
revision of the family (Deutsche Ent. Zeit. xxiv.) divided them into a great
many new genera, in some cases with very little reason.

Fig. 73.—Merimna atrata (Lap. et
Gory).
A Buprestid Beetle that has the curious
habit of flying into the fire.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The members of the Genus Lomaptera are chiefly found in the more
tropical parts of this continent, and are easily distinguished from the other
groups by the shape of the thorax, the hind margin produced into an angular
wedge into the centre of the elytra; while in the other typical Rose Chafers
the thorax is truncate, and a wedge-shaped piece separated from the thorax
occupies the centre of the back. Lomaptera wallacei is of the usual flattened
form; uniform rich shining green; and measures just an inch in length. It is
found upon flowers in the tropical scrubs of North Queensland. L.
duboulayi, about the same size, is of a duller green tint, with the outer
margin of the head, thorax, elytra and under-surface dull yellow: L.
cinnamea, slightly smaller, is of a uniform shining reddish brown colour.

Dilochrosis atripennis is one of our largest typical cetonids; it measures
over 1½ inches in length and is broad in proportion; it is shining black, with
the sides of the thorax and elytra, except a stripe down the centre (broadest
in front), rich reddish brown. It is not uncommon about Cairns, N.
Queensland, and ranges down, according to Masters, to the extreme north
of N.S. Wales. The Fiddler, Eupoecila australasiae, about ¾ of an inch in
length, is black and reddish brown, marked upon the thorax and elytra with
green stripes, forming a fanciful resemblance to a lyre upon the back, from
which it takes its popular name. The larvae of this and the following
species, (thick fleshy white grubs) feed in the rotting trunks of dead grass
trees, forming stout oval cocoons in the larval stage; and the beetles are
very abundant upon the Angophora flowers in the early summer.

Fig. 74.—Cisseis leucosticta (Kirby).
A Leaf-eating Flower Beetle, common on
the Black Wattle.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Micropoecila cincta is another common species about Sydney; is slightly
smaller; of a general black colour, the outer edges of the thorax and wing
covers broadly margined with reddish yellow; and its life history and habits
are identical with the “Fiddler.”
Polystigma punctata is one of our smaller common species; is of a dull
yellow colour irregularly but finely spotted all over the upper surface with
black dots. A second species, described under the name of P. octopunctata,

is I think only a variety; my specimens all come from the Shoalhaven,
N.S.W. Cacochroa gymnopleura, about the same size, is black, rather
downy on the under surface; and is remarkable for having a variety as
common as itself, with reddish brown thorax and elytra.
The members of the Genus Trichaulax are remarkable for having the
elytra deeply furrowed, and these depressions filled with close short hairs.
They are all large fine beetles over an inch in length; Trichaulax philipsii,
taken about Sydney on the flowers of the blood-wood late in the summer, is
marked with grey hairs. T. marginipennis is common to N.S. Wales and
Queensland; it has bright reddish hairs completely clothing the tips of the
wing covers and abdomen.
Diaphonia dorsalis is a large common species, of a general black colour,
with the upper surface of the thorax and elytra yellowish brown variably
marked with black in the centre. It often comes flying about the garden with
a loud hum, and even sometimes comes in through the open window.
D. olliffiana is a very rare species about the same size, with the upper
surface reddish brown and the wing covers irregularly marked with black
blotches. All the specimens known, about half a dozen in number, come
from the same locality, Colo Vale, N.S.W., and nothing is known about their
habits. Glycyphana brunnipes is common on the flowering scrub about
Sydney, and has a wide range round the coast of Australia; it measures
about ⅓ of an inch, and varies from dull brown to green in colour,
irregularly spotted and marked.

Family 29. Jewel Beetles.
BUPRESTIDAE.

This is one of our largest and most typical groups of the Coleoptera,
containing a great number of large beetles rich with metallic tints, chiefly
found upon flowering shrubs, and most plentiful on the coastal districts of
Victoria, New South Wales, and West Australia. They are elongate in form,
with the head short, fitting closely into the broader thorax, and furnished
with large eyes and slender, slightly serrate antennae. The abdomen is long
with closely fitting wing covers, and well-developed wings which enable
them to fly well, though they usually drop to the ground when disturbed.
The larva is a slender flattened white grub with small black jaws and head;

the thoracic segments are very broad behind and rounded to the much
narrower abdominal segments. They are wood borers, feeding in the
sapwood under the bark, and finally burrowing into the solid timber where
they pupate; some of the smaller ones feed in dead wood; and a few form
regular galls upon the roots or branchlets of shrubs.

Plate XVIII.—COLEOPTERA.
Family Buprestidae.
1. Stigmodera fortnumi (Hope).
2. Stigmodera macularia (Donov.).
3. Stigmodera pascoci (Saunders).
4. Stigmodera thoracica (Saunders).
5. Cyria imperialis (Donov.).
6. Stigmodera variabilis (Donov.).
7. Calodema regalis (Lap. et Gory).
8. Chalcophora vittata (Waterhouse).
9. Julodimorpha bakewelli (White).

(Original photo. Burton.)]

Plate XVIII.—COLEOPTERA.

The Banksia beetle, Cyria imperialis, has a wide range and is common
about Sydney upon the foliage of the stunted honeysuckle bushes
(Banksia); the larvae feed in the stems. It measures 1½ inches in length; is
of a uniform shining black colour, richly marked on the upper surface with
bright yellow forming four irregular bands across the elytra, and the under
surface is lightly clothed with grey hairs. The Genus Diadoxus contains two
very distinct species, the larvae of which feed chiefly on the stems of our
native cypress pines, and sometimes attack and destroy introduced pine
trees. Diadoxus scalaris, very variable in size, measuring from ¾ to 1¼
inches, is a slender pale yellow beetle, with the hind margin of the head and
thorax marked with black, and the wing covers so thickly mottled with

reddish brown that the yellow only forms a row of blotches down the back.
It has a wide range from N.S. Wales to West Australia. Diadoxus erythrurus
known in the west as the “pine scrub beetle,” is a much smaller insect
slightly over ½ an inch; the head and thorax are almost black; the wing
covers are dark, the basal portion has a double blotch of yellow on each side
followed by a row on either side of three spots; the under surface has a
greenish tint when alive. The larvae of this species first feed round the stem
under the bark, cutting the sap wood, and where the infested tree is small,
cause it to snap off.
The large rich metallic green or coppery Chalcophora are more tropical
beetles, the largest of which are restricted to Queensland and North
Australia; Masters lists 24 species in his catalogue, chiefly described by
Saunders (Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1872), and Waterhouse in the same
Journal three years later.
Chalcophora vittata measures nearly 1¾ inches in length, and is broad in
proportion; its general colour is deep metallic green, with the head and
thorax shaded with rich coppery tints; the elytra are finely ribbed and are
powdered with a yellow pubescence lining the parallel striae, and also
forming two spots on the sides. Chalcophora farinosa is a smaller and more
slender species with a narrow thorax, and pointed wing covers; in the
neighbourhood of Cairns, N.Q., I used to take them in the early morning
resting on the wild banana leaves.
Nascio parryi is a small black beetle with a long thorax of a uniform
width; the wing covers are short in proportion, and curiously marked with
reddish orange. It is generally found upon the foliage of eucalypts, but
nothing is known about its life history. The members of the Genus
Melobasis, of which about 30 have been described, are small, brilliantly
coloured metallic green and gold beetles. Melobasis splendida, not much
over ¼ of an inch in length, is bright green, the thorax and elytra marbled
with dull purple. The larvae feed in the dead branches of Acacia longifolia.
Julodimorpha bakewelli is found in South and Western Australia; it is a
large handsome beetle with a deep coppery red thorax and deep yellow
wing covers. It is elongate, but more cylindrical in form than the
Stigmodera.

The typical Australian Genus Stigmodera contains about 240 described
species which are found in open scrubby country where flowering shrubs
are abundant; the extensive scrubs round Sydney, and similar class of
country on the west coast of the continent are the head quarters of most of
the larger species. Stigmodera tibialis measures 2 inches in length, and is
broad in proportion; the head, thorax and under surface black, with the wing
covers reddish chestnut with two irregular bands of dull orange yellow
across the apical half. S. heros is half an inch longer, one of the giants of the
group; it has the under surface dark bronzy brown, the dorsal surface deep
dull red; the thorax finely punctured, and the elytra coarsely striated. Both
these beetles range from South to Western Australia. S. pascoei is a
handsome rare species from Western Australia, measuring under 1 inches in
length; it is of a rich yellow tint with the upper surface of the head, thorax,
and legs rich metallic coppery red, and the apical third of the finely striated
elytra black with a fiery red sheen. S. thoracica, slightly smaller, is black on
the under surface except the sides of the thorax and tip of abdomen; the
dorsal surface is yellow, except the head, a band through the centre of the
thorax, and the tip of the wing covers which are bluish black. S. fortnumi is
one of the few large species found in the interior; it measures 1¾ inches in
length, and is broad in proportion; the under surface is rich metallic green
marked with yellow; the upper surface yellow with the greater part of the
thorax and three broad bands across the elytra deep metallic blue.
Stigmodera grandis sometimes measures 2 inches, and is the largest
species found about Sydney; its general colour is dark bronzy brown with
the outer edges of the thorax and elytra margined with yellow. The common
jewel beetle, Stigmodera variabilis, is very abundant when the Angophora
is in bloom; its general colour on the under surface, head and thorax is
bronzy black, with the edge of the latter and the wing covers bright yellow;
the markings upon the latter are most variable; specimens are sometimes
thickly barred with black, others without a spot upon them, so that it is
difficult to get two alike. S. macularia is purple to black, with the wing
covers bright yellow deeply pitted all over with purple dots. S. jacquinoti
might be easily mistaken for the last, which it resembles both in size and
markings, but the tips of the wing covers are produced into sharp spines;
and the markings are coarser; it is a much rarer beetle than the former,
which is one of the commonest large species. S. gratiosa is the type of a
group from W. Australia, all of a rich metallic green tint with deeply

punctured wing covers; it has the head and thorax bronzy green and very
finely punctured, with the elytra green and very coarsely punctured; its
length is about ½ an inch, and it is short and broad in proportion. This
brilliant little beetle is plentiful in some districts, and specimens set in gold
are often used for earrings and brooches, for which its solid integument
makes it adaptable.
Calodema regalis from the scrubs of Southern Queensland and the
extreme north of N.S. Wales, is possibly our most beautiful beetle in shape,
size, and colour. Measuring nearly 2 inches in length and broad in
proportion, the whole of the under surface, head and thorax are rich metallic
green, with two conspicuous blotches of dark red on the dorsal surface of
the thorax; the wing covers are bright yellow, almost smooth, slightly
spined at the tips, with a very fine pencil of green down the sides of the
inner edges.
The members of the Genera Ethon and Paracephala form galls; the first
are short, thickset beetles of a dull coppery tint, with wavy markings on the
wing covers. Ethon corpulentus and E. marmoreum make rounded galls
upon the roots of Dillwynia cricifolia, sometimes as many as twenty on one
plant clustering round the base of the stem. E. affinis forms galls upon the
stems of Pultenea stipularis. Paracephala cyaneipennis forms galls on the
branches of the stunted Casuarina (C. distyla), growing about Sydney. It is a
slender dull metallic green beetle about ⅓ of an inch in length. The Genus
Cisseis contains a number of very pretty little metallic tinted beetles, the
larvae of which feed in the wood of Acacias and other small shrubs, and the
perfect beetles feed upon the foliage. Cisseis 12-maculata, a pretty deep
blue-black beetle covered with large white spots, is found on the grass tree;
C. leucosticta, C. similis, and C. maculata upon the black wattle.

Family 30. False Click Beetles.
EUCNEMIDAE.

The beetles in this group form a sort of connecting link between the
Flower Beetles and the Clicks: many of them are very like the latter, but
they cannot jump; they have a large terminal joint in the palpus, and the
antennae when resting are hidden in the grooves along the under side of the
thorax.

Sixteen species are listed in Masters’ Catalogue, all of which, with one
exception, are described in Bonvouloir’s Monograph of the family (Annals
of the Soc. Entom. France 1871–7).

Family 31. Click Beetles.
ELATERIDAE.

These beetles are found in many different situations, upon flowers,
hidden under bark, or in cracks on the tree trunks. They are well known
from their habit of flying in to the lamp at night, and falling on their backs
go skipping all over the table. They are elongate in form, with slender
serrate antennae, and a small head deeply sunk into the thorax, which is
rounded in front, truncate on the hind margin and with a slight spine on the
edge; while on the under side the thorax is furnished with a process that fits
into a groove in the first segment of the abdomen, which enables it to get
enough leverage, by pressing the head down when on its back, to jump a
considerable distance upward. The larvae are slender, cylindrical, shining
brown grubs popularly known as “Wire Worms,” and some European
species are said to do considerable damage by eating off the roots of grass
and crops.
About 350 species have been described from Australia, most of them
dull brown or black in colour, though a few are brightly tinted or marked.
Agrypnus mastersi measures 1 inch, and is of a uniform brown colour
clothed with fine buff down; it ranges from Queensland to Western
Australia. The Genus Lacon contains a great number of short, broad, dull
brown clicks usually found under bark or stones. Lacon caliginosus, half an
inch in length, is dull brown; it ranges from Tasmania to Queensland. Alaus
gibboni comes from the Richmond River; it measures 1¾ inches, and is
broad in proportion; its true colour is black, but it is so thickly clothed with
fine short grey down that it is almost a dull white. A. sericeus is a smaller
beetle clothed with an admixture of buff and chocolate down; I have found
them pupating in decaying bark on dead trees on the Richmond River.
Tetralobus cunninghami is typical of a group of the large cylindrical
“clicks,” in which the male has feather-like antennae, and the thorax is
rounded. It is 1½ inches long, dark brown, with the under surface of the
thorax clothed with reddish hairs. These large clicks are generally found in

the interior on the trunks of trees. The Genus Monocrepidius contains a
number of slender black or brown insects usually living on flowers or
foliage. Ophidius histrio, 1 inch long, is black, richly marked with dark
yellow lines forming four parallel bars down the thorax, and a more
irregular lance-shaped pattern on the wing covers; this is another fine
species from the Northern Rivers, N.S.W. Anilicus semiflavus is found on
the Angophora flowers about Sydney; it is ½ an inch long, black, with the
basal half of the elytra bright red.

Family 32. Feather Horns.
RHIPIDOCERIDAE.

This is not a big family; the species are confined to the warmer parts of
the world, and are chiefly distinguished by the peculiar structure between
the tarsal claws, and the beautiful feathery antennae of the males.
Rhipidocera mystacina, our typical form, is ¾ of an inch in length, elongate
in form, with narrow sloping thorax and large feather-like antennae; the
general colour is black, with the sides of the thorax and whole of the wing
covers thickly spotted with white downy dots. I have often taken this insect
in numbers in the North-West of Victoria.

Family 33. Fire-Fly Beetles.
MALACODERMIDAE.

The members of this family have a softer integument than most beetles.
They do not all emit light; the true “fire-flies” and “glow-worms” belong to
the sub-family Lampyrides.
The Genus Metriorrhynchus contains about 50 small, elongate, flattened
beetles of a dull red colour marked with black; the wing covers are deeply
ribbed but soft and flabby. The larvae are curious, smoky black creatures
with blunt spines along the sides of the body, and live under stones or logs.
M. rufipennis, one of the largest, is ¾ of an inch in length; the head and
thorax are black and roughened; the wing covers are light red, deeply ribbed
and reticulated: Waterhouse figured and described many of these (Trans.
Entom. Soc. 1877). Our true fire-flies belong to the Genera Luciola and
Atyphella. On these Olliff has written an interesting paper entitled “New

Species of Lampyridae with notes on the Mount Wilson Fire-fly” (Pro.
Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1889). Our fire-flies are small, light brown beetles,
which during the day cling to the foliage, flying about at night, emitting a
bright flash of phosphorescent light from the tip of the abdomen as they
move their wings. Several species are found on the Blue Mountains and in
the tropical scrubs of North Queensland; they are very brilliant after night-
fall: Luciola flavicollis, ¾ of an inch, is our common species. The Soldier
Beetles, chiefly belonging to the Genera Telephorus and Selenurus, are
common upon low bushes and flowering shrubs. Telephorus pulchellus, ½
an inch in length, is a slender, dull orange coloured beetle; the dorsal
surface is shining blue black except the apical half of the thorax, which is
bright yellow. This beetle sometimes appears in great numbers; I have seen
the Melaleuca scrub on the Blue Mountains black with them.

Family 34. Hunting Beetles.
CLERIDAE.

There are many handsome little beetles in this family which spend their
time hunting over logs, tree trunks, or in flowers to catch smaller insects
which they devour; most of them lay their eggs in the bodies of the pupae of
wood moths and other insects. A freshly fallen tree is a good locality to look
for Clerids, as they find many small beetles attracted by the withering bark:
in Europe the larvae of several groups infest the nests of wild bees.
Natalis porcata, 1 inch in length, is black covered with a whitish down,
and is found under the dead bark on tree trunks; it is probably parasitic
upon the grubs of longicorn beetles (Phoracantha). Cleromorpha
novemguttatus measures only ⅕ of an inch; it is rich metallic blue, lightly
clothed with black hairs, and the elytra spotted on either side with white
dots: it is common in the flowers of the Angophora in early summer. The
Genus Aulicus contains a number of bright metallic green or blue beetles
which live on flowering shrubs; about 20 species are described, chiefly by
Cheverolet (Memoirs of the Cleridae 1878). Aulicus instabilis, one of the
smallest, is only ¼ of an inch in length; it has a wide range over Australia.
Trogodendron fasciculatum is another widely distributed species, and may
be often seen flying about in the height of summer; if captured it bites most
viciously. I have on several occasions pulled its body off, leaving the head

with the jaws buried in my finger: it is parasitic on the pupae of our large
wood moths. It is variable in size, about 1 inch in length, thickset and broad
in proportion; is dark brown, with bright yellow antennae, and broad black
fasciae at the base and apical half of the elytra. Zenithicola obesus, ⅓ of an
inch in length, is like the last in general form, but with dull yellow thorax
and shining black elytra marked with white: Z. australis, a slightly larger
species, has a black thorax. The members of the Genus Eleale are elongate,
dark metallic green or blue beetles clothed with fine hairs and deeply
punctured wing covers; they also live among flowers. Tarsostenus zonatus
is typical of the small, slender, cylindrical clerids that infest the gall-making
coccids, and are often bred from these galls. It has a bright reddish brown
head and thorax, and green wing covers barred across the centre with white.
Lemidia hilaris, ⅙ of an inch long, is a short broad beetle of a shining black
tint, with the basal half of the elytra red. The Red-legged Ham Beetle,
Necrobia rufipes, an introduced species, is found all over the world. In the
interior it swarms under dead animals, feeding upon fresh bones; and is also
often found about cheese and other preserved foods in the pantry.

Family 35. Anobiums.
PTINIDAE.

These beetles are small insects, with the head hidden under the thorax;
they have filiform, pectinate or slightly clubbed antennae; and several
species are world wide in their range, for as they live in all kinds of dried
food stuffs they are easily introduced into new countries. Gibbium scotius is
a curious little beetle hardly over ¹⁄₁₂ of an inch in length, with a bright
shining brown body, and the legs and antennae covered with yellow scales;
it feeds upon feathers, and is often found in birds’ nests. Anobium paniceum
is known as the “Biscuit Weevil,” but feeds upon all kinds of things; I have
found it in boots, seeds, drugs, botanical specimens, and it is said to have
been found burrowing through sheet lead. The Cigarette Beetle, Lasioderma
serricorne, is another little brown beetle common in Sydney in waste
tobacco. Olliff has described a number of Australian species (Proc. Linn.
Soc. N.S.W. 1886); and Westwood others (Ent. Soc. 1869), among which
are several members of the Genus Ectrephes, which live in ants’ nests.

Fig. 75.—Sitodrepa (Anobium) panicea
(Fabr.).
The omniverous drug-store beetle
(Introduced).
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Family 36. Powderpost Beetles.
CIOIDAE.

Fig. 76.—Lyctus brunneus (Douglas).
The Beetle so destructive to Rattan
furniture.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Though small in size and number of species, these are very important
beetles on account of the damage they do to rattan furniture and sapwood in
unseasoned timber. Lyctus brunneus, a small elongated, reddish brown

beetle about ⅙ of an inch in length, lives and breeds in wood, and is only
too common about Sydney. A second species has been described from
South Australia by Blackburn.

Family 37. Auger Beetles.
BOSTRYCHIDAE.

Fig. 77.—Bostrychopsis jesuita (Fabr.).
The Auger Beetle which attacks dead or dying trees. Orange tree stem in which a number have been
feeding.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

These beetles are easily recognised by their curious cowled thorax, with
the head turned down beneath, and the last 3 joints of the antennae forming
a well-defined club; the body is long and cylindrical, adapted for burrowing
in dead wood. Specimens of these beetles can generally be found upon
fallen trees or freshly-cut timber. Bostrychopsis jesuita, one of the largest of
the group, about ½ an inch in length, is black, cylindrical, with the rounded
thorax rugose in front, and the tip of the wing covers truncate. Bostrychus
gibbicollis, about ⅓ of an inch, is dark reddish brown, with a spined thorax
and the tips of the wing covers produced into blunt teeth. B. cylindricus,
about the same size and similar colour, has elytra furnished with three
curled spines on each side. It has been found damaging wine casks. In the
Genera Apate and Rhizopertha, also found in dead timber, we have a typical

form in Apate collaris, measuring ¼ of an inch in length, with a dull yellow
thorax, dark brown wing covers spined at the tips.

Fig. 78.—Bostrychus cylindricus (Macleay).
The Wine-cask borer.
(“Agricultural Gazette.” N.S.W.)

Family 38. Mealworm Beetles.
TENEBRIONIDAE.

This is a very large family of beetles, generally dull brown or black in
colour, but varying much in shape; many of the more typical forms are
found under logs and stones, and might easily be mistaken at first sight for
carnivorous carab beetles until the mouth parts and head are noticed. They
have somewhat thickened antennae placed on the sides of the head; some
have wings, others are wingless; most of them are slow, heavy beetles, very
easily captured. The larvae are usually slender shining cylindrical brown
worm-like creatures living in rotten wood, of which the introduced
Mealworm is a typical example. Our species have been described by a great
many English and foreign writers, chief among which are Pascoe, in the
Journal of Entomology 1869, and Annals of Natural History 1869–80; Hope
in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1842–48; Bates
in the same journal 1873; and later on in the Proceedings of the Australian
Societies by Macleay and Blackburn. Carter has within this last year
described a number of new species (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1905–6).
The Ironbark Beetle, Zopherosis georgii, is found in the northern scrubs
of N.S. Wales, generally climbing on tree trunks; it is an elongated,
flattened, dull brown beetle, slightly over 1 inch in length; the antennae
thickened, and the whole of the upper surface covered with rounded
irregular knobs; it is not unlike a caricature of a large click beetle.

The members of the Genus Pterohelaeus are smooth, shining, tortoise-
shaped black beetles, found under dead bark on the trunks of trees. P.
piceus, common in S. Australia and N.S. Wales, is just under 1 inch in
length, but broad in proportion.

Fig. 79.—Helaeus subserratus
(Blackburn).
The Tortoise Beetle.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Helaeus subserratus, from Western Australia, is typical of a very curious
group not only wingless, but having the elytra and abdominal segments
soldered together into a broad flattened box with a wide thin flange running
right round, continued round the thorax, and overlapping in front of the
head, which latter is turned down and is thus situated in a regular frame;
this one is dark brown, with the outer flange lighter coloured; it measures
1⅓ inches in length, and is broad and rounded in form. These beetles are
usually found in the driest parts of the interior, where they live under stones
or logs among the dust, and in spite of their size, remain so motionless that
they can be very easily overlooked.
Saragus floccosus, found on tree trunks in the north of N.S.W., is a
smaller tortoise-shaped insect, under ¾ of an inch; is convex and keeled
down the centre of the thorax; and the elytra have a more narrow flange
running right round but curving in and rounded on either side of the head.
When alive, it has the whole of the upper surface covered with loose

flocculent matter like soft sawdust, evidently as a protective covering, but
this is easily brushed off when dead. Hypaulax tenuistriata is one of the
common large black beetles found under dead bark; it measures about 1
inch in length; the head is small, projecting; the thorax broad, rounded,
shining; and the broad wing covers are distinctly ribbed with punctured
striae.
Chartopteryx childreni is one of our most remarkable and rare species; it
is 1 inch long; the only specimen I have seen alive, I caught alighting on a
tree trunk at Mosman, near Sydney; it is elongate, broad, oval in form, with
the head and thorax turned down, and the convex, shining, black elytra
deeply punctured and clothed with dull yellow moss-like material; the head
and thorax are ornamented with fine white hairs, forming an elongated
mark on either side of the latter and two parallel lines down the centre of
the head and thorax.
Blepegenes aruspex is a shining coppery black coloured beetle
measuring ¾ of an inch; it is slender in form, remarkably like a carab, with
a small thorax that is produced into a spine on either side; the elytra are
deeply ribbed; it is found under logs in the Illawarra district, N.S.W.
Cardiothorax howitti is also found under logs; it is an elongate beetle,
black with a dull purple tint on the thorax, which is flattened and almost
round, a regular rim running round the margin; it is arcuate behind the head,
and produced into a spine on the hind margins; the wing covers are
elongated to the apex, and ribbed. The members of the extensive Genus
Adelium are found under logs; some species are quite common, clustering
together in considerable numbers; they are all black or coppery tinted.
These beetles are about ¾ of an inch in length; the thorax is roughened, and
the wing covers more or less striated.
The Genus Chalcopterus, which now includes most of those described as
Amarygmus, are black or brightly metallic coloured beetles; the head and
thorax are small and curve downward; the wing covers are large, convex,
and pointed at the tips. They are found crawling about on tree trunks, or
hidden under dead bark, and give out a very pungent offensive odour when
handled. Chalcopterus variabilis measures ½ an inch in length; its head and
thorax are black, the elytra rich coppery red, and it is common about the
Sydney scrubs.

The common Mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, has a world-wide range; it
was introduced into Australia at a very early date, and not long ago a packet
of seeds imported from England was found on examination by one of the
inspectors of the Agricultural Department N.S.W. to be full of the shining
wireworm-like larvae of these beetles. It is a common beetle in stables and
produce stores.

Family 39.
CISTELIDAE.

These are delicate, elongate, long-legged beetles, with weak integument,
and are closely allied to the Tenebrionidae, only differing from them in
having comb-like or pectinate claws on the tarsi; and their larvae are like
wireworms. The Genus Atractus comprises a number of slender beetles of
bright metallic tints common upon the flowering shrubs in summer;
Atractus viridis, ½ an inch in length, is bright metallic green, with the
thorax and shoulders tinted with coppery red, the wing covers deeply
marked with punctured striae. A. virescens is a smaller species with a more
dull metallic coppery tint. The members of the Genus Allecula are larger
beetles, with long slender legs and antennae, shining brown or black in
colour, with finely striated elytra; the larvae are slender, dark, shining
brown wireworms living in decaying wood. Allecula subsulcata is slightly
over ½ an inch in length, of a uniform black colour, with the last three joints
of the antennae and the last two of the tarsi pale ferruginous. The larvae
breed in the rotten stems of dead grass trees, and the beetles are generally
found hiding among the foliage.

Family 40.
LAGRIIDAE.

This is another small group containing few species, but Lagria grandis is
one of our very common beetles, and can be collected on low scrub
anywhere about Sydney. The larvae are to be found under logs or among
damp leaves on the ground, and are thickset, black, shining creatures.
covered with short reddish hair on the upper surface; short antennae
standing out in front; and the tip of the abdomen is produced into a pair of
pointed spines. The beetle is light reddish brown, closely covered with fine

confluent punctures and short scattered brown hairs. It is slightly over ½ an
inch in length, with a small head, slender, narrow thorax, and with the front
of the wing covers forming a broad shoulder in front.

Family 41.
ANTHICIDAE.

These are small ant-like beetles, with the head having a regular neck and
the thorax narrow and elongate; most of them are found among rubbish
upon the ground, or along the edges of creeks and watercourses. It is chiefly
owing to the researches of King, who collected and described a great
number of the species found about Sydney (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1869),
that we know much about this family.

Family 42.
PYROCHROIDAE.

This is a small group containing some beetles with the head attached to
the thorax by a neck, and with the wing covers much broader than the
thorax: Lemodes coccinea is a pretty little bright red beetle with black legs
and antennae, the latter tipped with white; it measures slightly over ¼ of an
inch in length; is common under logs in the Illawarra district. Another
species, L. splendens, has recently been described by Lea (Pro. Linn. Soc.
N.S.W. 1906) from specimens obtained by me at Noundoc, N.S. Wales.

Family 43. Pintails.
MORDELLIDAE.

This group, in which the Rhipidophoridae are now included, are very
distinctive beetles; they have the head tucked down in front; the thorax
large, broad, and rounded at the base, with the hind margins angular and
fitting closely into the wing covers, which taper down to the apex; the end
of the abdomen forms a stout spine-shaped tip extending beyond the wings.
They are very active little beetles; several species are very numerous and
swarm over the flowers of the low scrub. Mordella leucosticta, ½ an inch in
length, is black; the whole of the upper surface is thickly spotted and

marked with dull white, and the legs and under surface are also mottled. M.
limbata is a much smaller black beetle ⅙ of an inch in length, and has a
pale silvery sheen: Tomoxia flavicans, from the northern rivers, is a shorter
broader insect. Pelectomoides conicollis is 1¼ inches in length; is of a
uniform dull brown colour, with pectinate antennae; the head is small,
turned down, and the thorax is broad and rounded. This fine beetle is found
about Sydney. Lea has described and listed the members of this family
(Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1902).

Family 44. Oil and Blister Beetles.
CANTHARIDAE.

The true Blister Beetle is a slender insect with soft integument, and a
small head produced into a neck behind; the thorax is small in proportion to
the slender rounded abdomen and wing covers. A number of species have
been described from this country by different writers, among whom
Fairmaire has been chief (Stett. Ent. Zeit. 1880). Most of them belong to the
Genus Zonitis, of which about 40 species have been described. Zonitis
bipartita, under ½ an inch in length, has the head, thorax, base of the wing
covers, and under surface of abdomen orange yellow, with the abdomen and
rest of the elytra dark shining blue: Z. brevicornis is a very similar insect,
but has the whole of the wing covers deep metallic blue.
The true Oil Beetles are more rare; unable to fly, they are found crawling
about on the ground with the body distended and the wing covers
overlapping each other at the base. Nothing is recorded about the larvae of
our species of this family, but in other countries they are known to feed
upon the eggs of locusts; others attach themselves to bees, and are thus
carried into their nests, where they devour the eggs and afterwards the
honey.
The Oedemeridae are somewhat similar looking insects to the Blister
Beetle; Ananca puncta is found in the northern parts of N.S. Wales; it is a
very slender long-legged beetle over ½ an inch in length, of a general dull
yellow colour, with the head, thorax, and legs mottled with dull blue, and
the whole of the elongated wing covers dull blue except a dorsal stripe of
the prevailing yellow which widens out towards the apex.

Family 45. Woodborers.
SCOLYTIDAE.

Fig. 80.—Hylesinus fici (Lea).
The Fig-branch Beetle, better known
under the name of H. porcatus
(Chap.).
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

This is a group the members of which are allied to the Weevils, but differ
in having a short broad snout with clubbed antennae, and the tibiae toothed
on the outer edge. Only a few species have been described from this
country, but several of them are well-known pests, and like the smaller
species of the Auger Beetles are usually attracted to dying trees. In the
Genus Hylesinus we have one, H. porcatus, which attacks the terminal buds
of both the wild and cultivated figs. It is a short thickset black beetle, about
2 lines in length, with the head turned down to the fore-legs, and the
clubbed antennae 5 jointed; the head and thorax are rugose, and the wing
covers finely striated; the whole insect is lightly clothed with fine hairs. The
Ambrosia Beetle, Xyleborus solidus, is a common beetle in the bush, and
has lately turned its attention to fruit trees; boring into the branch and then
gnawing a chamber right round under the bark, she deposits her eggs at the
end of the burrow, at the same time killing the branch and causing it to snap
off. This beetle is about ⅛ of an inch in length, of a uniform black colour,
with the legs and antennae reddish brown. It is stout and cylindrical in

form; the head is turned down in front and hidden from above; the rounded
thorax is nearly as large as the body, covered with short rasp-like points in
front; the wing covers are flattened and squared off at the tips.

Fig. 81.—Xyleborus solidus (Eichhoff).
The Scolytid Beetle that damages the
Apple tree Branches.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Family 46. Slender Weevils.
BRENTHIDAE.

These are remarkable looking beetles, very long and slender in form,
with the snout never turned down but standing out straight in front of the
head; the antennae not elbowed, but composed of a number of bead-like
joints attached near the tip on either side; and the jaws situated at the
extremity of the snout. In many of the larger forms the males are much
bigger than the females, and have the snout much longer; they are chiefly
found in the tropical scrubs, two small species however coming from the
south. Trachelizus howetti, a shining reddish brown beetle about ¼ of an
inch in length, has the antennae thickened to the tips; and Cordus hospes, a
larger beetle of a somewhat darker colour, is found under dead bark on the

tree trunks, and also sometimes in ants’ nests. Ectocemus pterygorrhinus
comes from North Queensland, and is common on the low scrub about
Cairns where timber has been felled; it is somewhat short and thickset; the
male is about 1¼ inches in length, with the tip of the rostrum produced into
an angulate process, and very long cylindrical antennae. The general colour
is dark reddish brown, with the wing covers ornamented with four parallel
rows of shining dull yellow bars. Ithystenus hollandiae, also from Cairns, is
found in similar situations; it is very long and slender, 1½ inches long,
blackish brown, with two parallel light reddish brown lines down the centre
of the wing covers, and the extremities produced into a tooth at either side.
Homocerus fossulatus, found under rotten bark, is of a general dull brown
colour; is thickened and flattened, with the wing covers much roughened.
The male measures about 1¾ inches in length, but the female is much
smaller. Mesetia amoena is a very pretty, slender, bright reddish yellow
beetle, with the head, legs, and sides of the thorax black, and a dark
medium stripe down the thorax and elytron. It is about 1 inch in length, and
is common in the scrubs about the Richmond River N.S.W.

Family 47. Carnivorous Weevils.
ANTHRIBIDAE.

These beetles are allied to, but very distinct from, the true weevils, and
are usually found on the trunks of dead trees, where they hunt for and
devour the small wood-boring beetles that are attracted to the dead twigs, or
which breed out of fungus. They have a short blunt snout, and many have
long slender antennae which are not elbowed; they are most plentiful in the
northern scrubs and forests.
Ecelonerus albopictus is typical of those with short antennae clubbed at
the tips; it is a stout thickset dark brown beetle, thickly covered with
pubescence, and the whole of the under surface, front of thorax and middle
and tip of the body blotched with white pubescence. It measures over ½ an
inch in length, and is found in the northern parts of N.S. Wales.
Ancylotropis waterhousei is a good example of the long-horned forms; it
measures over ½ an inch in length, but looks shorter as its head and thorax
are curved downwards. It is a very slender beetle of a uniform brown tint,
but thickly clothed with buff and grey down; the thorax tapers to the front,

and the head is elongated but swells out again in front, and is furnished with
long slender antennae. Doticus pestilans is known as the “Dried Apple
Beetle,” from the habit that the beetle has of laying its eggs in any dried
immature apples that are left over the season upon the trees; in its native
state the larvae breed in the large wattle galls. It measures only about ⅓ of
an inch, and is a short, thickset beetle, with the head turned downward,
furnished with slender clubbed antennae. The general colour is reddish
brown; it has a raised ridge on either side of the wing covers; the fore-legs
are curiously prolonged with large tarsi, and it has a peculiar jumping habit.
Pascoe has described most of our beetles belonging to this group (Journal of
Entomology 1860, and Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1859).

Fig. 82.—Doticus pestilans (Olliff).
The Jumping Anthribid or “Dried-apple
Beetle.”
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Family 48. Weevils.
CURCULIONIDAE.

The Weevils or Snout Beetles are one of the largest and best defined
groups of the Coleoptera, and though they comprise a great number of very
different looking beetles in shape, they all have the front of the head
produced into a more or less elongated snout with the jaws placed at the tip,
and with the distinctly elbowed antennae standing out on either side of the
snout, forming a regular angle. Most of them are provided with well
developed wings, the elytra being usually very solid; and the whole insect is
encased in thick armour plate integument. The majority are slow, sluggish
beetles, that trust as a rule more to their shape and protective colouration
harmonising with their surroundings, than to their activity. They feed
chiefly upon foliage and bark, and when at rest cling to the twigs or stalks
of their food plants, falling at the least alarm to the ground, where they
remain perfectly motionless, with their legs and antennae tightly closed
until the danger has passed.
Those living in the dry western country are represented by curious
wingless forms with very short stout snouts, and are usually found under

logs and stones in open grass lands; while in the tropical scrubs they are
chiefly arboreal, and frequently richly coloured. They are all vegetarian in
their habits both in the larval and perfect states; some infest seeds, others
destroy the buds, foliage or roots of plants and do a great deal of damage to
farms and gardeners’ crops. About 1200 described species are listed in
Masters’ Catalogue, and a great number of new species have been added
during the last few years by Messrs. Blackburn and Lea in the Proceedings
of the Linnean Society of N.S. Wales, and Transactions of the Royal Society
of S. Australia. Pascoe, one of the most prolific writers on this family,
described a great many between the years 1869–1883 (Journ. Linn. Soc. &
Ann. Nat. Hist.). They have been divided into a number of sub-families,
among which only the most important can be noticed here.
The remarkable Long-necked Weevil, Rhadinosomus lacordairei,
measures under ½ an inch in length; is of a uniform dull reddish brown tint
with a silvery white spot on either side of the rounded elytra, which are
produced into a spine on each side. It breeds in the cavity in the large
Brachyscelid galls, feeding on the woody tissue; Lea says that in Tasmania
it is a pest to strawberry growers.
The members of the Genus Myllocerus are dainty little oval weevils
found resting upon grass stalks or among the foliage of small shrubs
peculiar to North Queensland and North West Australia. Myllocerus
carinatus is about ⅓ of an inch in length, and is finely striated and densely
clothed with metallic green scales. Catasarcus spinipennis is another West
Australian insect of a brownish buff tint, with the abdomen broadly
rounded; and the hind portions of the elytra covered with sharp spines.
About 40 species of this genus are described, all of which with one
exception are confined to West Australia. Cherrus ebeninus is one of the
large stout black weevils common in the bush around Sydney, where it is
usually found clinging to the twigs of the blood-wood, Eucalyptus
corymbosa. It is black, with broad rugose thorax and ribbed wing covers.

Figs. 83 and84.—Wattle Weevils.
83. Rhinotia hœmoptera (Kirby).
The Red Weevil.
84. Leptops tribulus (Fabr.). The
Wattle “Pig-beetle.”

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Genus Leptops contains a large number of very characteristic beetles
feeding upon the foliage of wattles and other scrub trees. They are usually
grey, buff, or dark brown insects with thickened snouts and broad bodies.
The Apple-root Borer, Leptops hopei, is sometimes a pest to the orchardist,
damaging the roots of his apple trees; the beetle emerging from the soil
crawls up the tree trunk, and laying her eggs upon the leaf, turns the edges
over and gums them together with a sticky secretion; the young grubs hatch
and crawl down to the roots. L. tribulus, often called by the Sydney boys
the “Wattle Pig,” feeds upon the foliage of the black wattle; it is a much
larger species, about 1 inch in length; dark brown to black in colour; the
broad rounded body covered with short blunt spines, thickest towards the
apex. The Grey-banded Leaf Weevil, Ethemaia sellata, described from S.
Australia, has a wide range over the interior. The larvae are pale green
legless creatures about ⅓ of an inch in length, lightly clothed with short

hairs; they remain buried in the soil, coming out at night to feed upon
plants, but if disturbed by a light they will drop to the ground and bury
themselves very quickly. The beetle is ⅓ of an inch in length, dark brown,
shaded with grey, which forms an irregular pattern on the thorax, legs, and
elytra; rugose, deeply pitted; and the whole surface is clothed with white
and brown scales.
The Amycterinae are a large group of weevils with such short thick
snouts that they are quite unlike the typical forms generally found in open
forest country among grass or hiding under logs or stones; they are
wingless, the elytra soldered together forming a very thick solid
integument. Macleay described a great number (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W.
1865). Psalidura elongata, common in the interior, measures slightly over 1
inch in length; is of a uniform black colour with a reddish brown tint; the
short head and flattened thorax are finely granulated, with the elytron
closely ribbed and punctured. Talaurinus tuberculatus, about ⅔ of an inch
in length, is black, very coarsely granulated on the thorax, with the whole of
the flattened elytron thickly covered with blunt tubercules. Nearly 90
species or this genus have been described, chiefly by Macleay, ranging all
over Australia. Amycterus draco is one of the most remarkable armour
plated species in the interior; it is black, with a small deeply ribbed head
and angulated thorax; and the broad, somewhat elongated elytron is turned
down at the extremity and covered with rows of raised bosses.
Acantholophus echinatus, as the generic name implies, represents a group
containing a number of species covered with spines that extend even over
the upper surface of the head and thorax. The Genus Cubicorrhynchus
contains the smaller ground beetles, almost cylindrical, with short rounded
head and thorax: they dwell under stones, and when exposed lie quite
motionless as if dead, their dull brown tints matching the ground. C.
morosus, about ⅓ of an inch in length, is of the usual form and colour, with
a very wide range, and often very numerous in grass lands.
The Gonipterinae comprise a number of diverse forms found upon
foliage clinging to the twigs. The Genus Oxyops contains a number of stout
moderate-sized beetles which are remarkable for the curious habits of their
legless slug-like larvae, which, covering themselves with a slimy secretion,
crawl about over the surface of the eucalyptus leaves, feeding upon the
epidermis and covering their backs with their excrement; when full grown

they pupate on the ground among the rubbish beneath their food plant.
Oxyops concreta has a narrow short head with the thorax broadest behind;
the elytra broadly swollen, rounded, deeply striated, and clothed with fine
scales. Bryachus squamicollis has a wide range over Australia, and is
usually found clinging to the twigs of stunted gum trees; it measures about
½ an inch in length; is of a uniform dark chocolate brown, but thickly
mottled all over with fine grey and black scales. This beetle forms rounded
cells of a brown gummy substance (very much like large Lecanium scales)
which are attached to the twigs, in each of which she places three eggs;
from these emerge pale yellow oval larvae; when full grown the larva is an
oval smooth rounded grub of a purplish tint, legless, flattened on the ventral
surface, and with the head hidden from above, like a “pear-slug” larva;
when adult it falls or crawls to the ground, and pupates among the rubbish.
Mr. Gurney first discovered the curious egg-capsules on trees in the Bogan
River district N.S.W. Gonipterus gibberus is a small reddish-brown beetle
with a white blotch on either side of the elytra; it has an elongated head and
thorax, and is usually found clinging tightly to the tip of a eucalyptus twig.
Aterpus cultratus, typical of the next group, measures ⅓ of an inch in
length; the dorsal surface is flattened; is of a general dull brown tint, with
the head, front of the thorax and tip of the abdomen buff. Usually found
under dead bark on tree trunks, its larva forms a loose cocoon of bits of
bark on the stems of Melaleuca bushes. Lixus mastersi, the weed weevil, is
very common in neglected gardens, as its larvae feed in the roots of
Amaranthus and Chenopodium, causing them to swell out into cylindrical
galls; the beetle is ⅓ of an inch in length, slender and cylindrical in form, of
a light brown tint, but when freshly emerged is covered with a yellow mealy
pubescence which soon rubs off.
The “Botany Bay Diamond Beetle,” as Donovan described it,
Chrysolophus spectabilis, is one of our commonest and at the same time
one of the most beautiful of our weevils. It has a very wide range all over
Australia, and is found wherever the black wattle thrives, but also feeds
upon many other species. It is very variable in size, measuring to 1 inch in
length; is of a uniform black tint, but so thickly covered with patches of
bright metallic green scales, that in freshly emerged specimens it seems
more green than black. It deposits its eggs about the butt of the wattle tree
buried in the bark; the stout fleshy grubs form irregular tunnels in the wood.

The Elephant Beetle, Orthorrhinus cylindrirostris, whose stout fleshy
grubs do a good deal of damage to citrus trees, has a very wide range over
Australia: it is a dark brown weevil, covered on the dorsal surface with fine
buff and grey scales; the thorax is covered with irregular bosses which form
ridges on the elytra. It measures about ½ an inch in length, and has a long
slender snout turned down in front, and very long fore-legs terminating in
large feathered tarsi; in its native state it feeds upon gum trees. O. klugi is a
much smaller species that feeds and breeds in wattles, but is also known as
an orchard pest, infesting the canes of vines, and also eating the leaf buds.

Fig. 85.—Chrysolophus spectabilis (Fabr.).
The Botany Bay Diamond Beetle.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Eurhamphus fasciculatus is one of our largest and most remarkable
looking weevils; it measures 2½ inches in length, and is of a general black
tint, but the greater portion is finely clothed with grey and rusty red scales,
which give it a uniform buff tint; it is further clothed with tufts of long soft
reddish brown hairs forming a raised ridge down either side of the thorax,
and are scattered in rows on the elytra intermixed with small tufts of long
grey hairs, giving it a very remarkable spiny appearance. It is a rare insect
as a rule, ranging from Pine Mountain, Queensland, to the Clarence River,
N.S. Wales; but many years ago Masters when collecting in the north came
upon a large dead pine tree in the scrub literally covered with hundreds of
these great weevils boring into the dead timber with their long slender
snouts, making a distinct scratching sound. It is therefore probable that they

are confined to the strip of country where the Hoop or Maryborough Pine
grows, and breed on it.

Fig. 86.—Myrmacicelus formicarius (Chev.).
The Ant-like Weevil.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Tranes sparsus, ⅓ of an inch in length, is common among the coarse
palm-like foliage of the Currawong; it is of a uniform reddish brown tint
with a slender snout, rounded flattened thorax, and oval, flattened, finely
striated elytra. A smaller black species, T. xanthorrhoeae, is found in the
foliage of the grass trees. The Genus Belus contains a number of very
slender weevils with the snout standing out in front of the head, long
antennae, thickened thighs, and the slender elytra coming to a point at the
apex. They feed upon wattles, and are very active, flying about in the heat
of the day. Belus semipunctatus is about ¾ of an inch in length; of a
uniform dark reddish brown tint, with a broad white stripe down each side
of the thorax and down the centre of the back, with small spots on each
side. B. bidentatus is a stouter thickset beetle; and is of a darker brown
colour, with a rounded buff spot on either side of the wing covers. B.
plagiatus is a smaller almost black species, richly variegated with reddish
yellow spots and blotches; it comes from the more tropical scrubs of N.S.
Wales and Southern Queensland. Rhinotia hoemoptera, a very handsome
slender cylindrical weevil, is about ¾ of an inch in length, with the snout
furnished with thickened antennae turned down below the head; it is rich
black with bright brick red wing covers which have a fine dorsal black
stripe down the centre. The curious large-headed larvae feed in the stems of
the Sweet-scented Wattle, Acacia suaveolens. Eurhynchus acanthopterus is

the type of another group, which has a shorter snout, and the head broad
and rounded, fitting closely into the somewhat attenuated thorax; the body
is broadly oval, and the wing covers furnished with short conical spines in
the centre of the back. It measures about ½ an inch, and is of a uniform
reddish brown tint. The Ant Weevil, Myrmacicelus formicarius, usually
found crawling about on the trunks of wattle trees, is a shining black weevil
about ⅙ of an inch in length, and is as ant-looking as its names suggest. The
Genus Balaninus represents the tiny little rounded weevils with very long
slender snouts adapted for feeding upon seeds. B. amoenus is black spotted
with white; is almost oval in form, and about ⅙ of an inch in length. It feeds
upon the ripe fruit of the little yellow fig, Ficus rubiginosa.
The Genus Laemosaccus contains a number of short flattened weevils of
a general black or dark brown colour ornamented with white or buff down;
they are generally found feasting upon the bark of freshly fallen tree-trunks,
particularly wattle and eucalypts, in which they also bore holes and deposit
their eggs. Laemosaccus electilis measures ¼ of an inch in length; is black
with white pubescence on the under surface, and white markings on the tips
of the wing covers, which are finely striated. My specimens come from
Condobolin, N.S. Wales.
The members of the Genus Haplonyx contain a number of curious, short,
broadly rounded beetles generally found clinging to the twigs of eucalypts,
but their larvae breed in the fleshy galls of the Brachyscelid coccids, where
they destroy the gall makers and pupate in the cavity. Haplonyx centralis is
a typical dark brown species with a large white circle occupying the centre
of the back. Perissops ocellatus, about ½ an inch in length, comes from the
Tweed River N.S. Wales and Southern Queensland: it is of a general light
brown tint; is oval and rounded in form, with the wing covers marked with
buff, so that when viewed from behind it resembles a pair of eyes and nose
on a man’s face.

Figs. 87 and 88.—Kurrajong Weevils.
87.—Axionicus insignis (Pascoe).
The Mimic Bark-weevil.

88.—Tepperia sterculiae, (Lea).
The Seed-pod Weevil.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Axionicus insignis is always found upon the trunk of the Kurrajong tree
hidden in the crevices of the bark, where in spite of its size (¾ of an inch in
length) it is very difficult to detect, owing to the exact blending of its white
grey and brown markings with the tints of the bark. It lays its eggs in the
injured bark; the larvae are typical obese legless white grubs; they feed
between the bark and the wood often in such numbers as to kill large
branches. They pupate in regular oval cocoons formed of gnawed wood and
bark. Tepperia sterculiae breeds in the seed pods of the Kurrajong, and is a
smaller but somewhat similar tinted beetle clothed with brown and grey

scales, the latter forming a well defined patch toward the apex of the wing
covers. The two species of the Genus Enteles are smaller, smooth, shining,
black beetles, with the head and legs curving underneath the body; they are
both found in the semi-tropical scrubs of the north. Enteles vigorsi is
marked with two white transverse lines crossing the elytra; while E.
ocellatus has more parallel lines crossing the transverse ones, making an
eye-like pattern upon the back. The Grass-tree Weevil, Trigonotarsus
rugosus, is 1½ inches in length; is of a uniform black colour; and of the
typical Calandra or palm weevil shape, with a slender curved snout, and
small head sunk into the thorax, with the dorsal surface of the thorax and
elytra flattened. The obese white larva feeds in the roots of the grass-trees.
Allied to this are the two tiny cosmopolitan grain weevils, Calandra orizae
and C. granaria, which are destructive pests to all kinds of grain and other
food stuffs.

Family 49. Longicorns.
CERAMBYCIDAE.

The longicorn beetles from their number, variety, size, and the damage
they do to timber and plants, are well known beetles, and have always been
a favourite group with collectors. They are usually elongate in form, with
powerful gnawing jaws, and long slender many-jointed antennae standing
out in front of the head, the basal joint often half encircled by the large
compound eye; the elytron is always divided down the centre, and the large
hind wings well adapted for flight are folded beneath them; the legs are
strongly developed, well adapted either for running about or clinging to
their food plant.
They deposit their eggs in bark or timber; the larvae burrow into the
tissue beneath, upon which they feed; they often remain, long cylindrical or
flattened naked grubs, for several years before they pupate in the end of
their last gallery.
They are divided into three large sub-families by modern entomologists;
our species have been chiefly described by Newman in “The Entomologist”
1842; “Annals of Natural History” 1840; and a number of other Journals.
Pascoe contributed a great many papers to over half a dozen of the leading
entomological societies in England between 1857 and 1875. Hope, in the

Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London 1841, and other
Transactions, added largely to our list, while Messrs. Boisduval, Germer,
White, Saunders, and others described odd specimens. In our own Journals,
Macleay and Blackburn have also dealt with these beetles.
The Prioninae comprise a number of large broad thickset beetles with
the front coxae large and transverse, and the prothorax having well
developed side margins. The determination of several of our commonest
species was a matter of some doubt, so I submitted most of our common
forms to Professor Lamare of Brussels, who has identified them and
enabled me to speak with some authority.
Sceleocantha glabricollis is one of the shortest thickset forms; about 1¼
inches in length; of the usual uniform reddish brown tint; the small shining
thorax furnished with a fine spine on either side; and the broad rounded
elytron finely granulated. It is found along the southern coast of N.S. Wales.
The common large white grub which bores in the trunks of the honeysuckle
(Banksia serrata) growing along the coast of the south-east of N.S. Wales,
Victoria and Tasmania, is the larva of Paroplites australis described in 1842
by Erichson; in most of our Museum collections it is known as Macrotoma
servilis. It is variable in size, measuring to 2 inches in length, and is of a
dull dark brown tint, with a flattened rugose thorax with serrate edges.
Eurynassa australis is a large somewhat slender species 2¼ inches in
length; the broad flattened dull coloured thorax is marked in the centre with
two shining triangular patches pointing toward the head; the reddish brown
elytra are finely granulated. E. odewahni is a smaller species, with the
thorax more constricted, shining, rugose, and serrate on the margins; it is
found in the interior, and has an extended range westward from N.S. Wales
to W. Australia. Agrianome spinicollis comes from the north-east of N.S.
Wales; it is a broader more flattened form, about 2 inches in length; the
thorax is rounded and serrate on the sides; and the general colour is light
reddish brown. Iotherium metallicum hardly measures over ½ an inch; is of
a rich metallic purple tint; the thorax is produced into a broad spine on the
sides; and the wing covers are broadly round at the apex. The male is a
much smaller coppery tinted beetle, and was described under the name of
Phaolus macleayi; it is usually taken on grass stalks in open forest country.

Fig. 89.—Eurynassa odewahni (Pascoe).
The great brown Longicorn.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Cerambycinae comprise a much larger division of the longicorn
beetles, differing from the last group in having the first coxae not greatly
extended transversely; the thorax not margined, and the last joint of the
maxillary palpus usually broad. Pachydissus sericus is a slender silvery
dark brown beetle about 1¼ inches in length, with the tip of the wing covers
spined and the basal joint of the antennae thickened. It is generally found
clinging to the rough bark of tree trunks. They deposit their eggs in the bark
of Acacia longifolia; the larvae bore all through the trunk and larger
branches; they have a wide range over the southern half of Australia.

Fig. 90.—Pachydissus sericus
(Newman).
The Silvery Longicorn, breeding in the
stems of Acacia longifolia.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Genus Phoracantha contains a number of typical dark yellow or
mottled brown beetles which in the larval state feed between the bark and
sapwood of different gum trees when the trees are dead or dying; several
species are common in firewood blocks about Sydney. The beetles are
remarkable for long antennae fringed on the inner edge with fine hairs and
short spines at the joints, and a single large spine on the sides of the thorax.
Phoracantha recurva has a very wide range from the North-west coast to
Victoria; it measures under 1 inch in length; is of a general dull yellow tint,
with the apical half of the wing covers crossed with a broad band of reddish
brown. P. tricuspis is a much larger, darker reddish brown beetle with
mottled wing covers that lives in the timber of the ironbark gums. P.
semipunctata, smaller than the last, has a regular pattern of dark brown on
its back; it is common about Sydney N.S.W., and has a wide range over
Australia. Epithora dorsalis is remarkable for its very long fringed
antennae, and is easily distinguished by its uniform reddish tint marked
across the centre of the wing covers with a broad patch of dull yellow. It
also has a wide range over the continent, and is often taken about Sydney in

summer on flowering shrubs. Aphanasium australe is a slender, light
reddish brown beetle, under ¾ of an inch in length, the larvae of which feed
in the stems of the prickly Hakea bushes. Piesarthruis marginellus is a very
distinctive dull reddish brown insect with the centre of the wing covers pale
brown; the smaller more slender male is furnished with remarkable
feathered antennae. The larva breeds and pupates in the centre of the
branches of Acacia longifolia, and can be easily reared from infested wood,
though it is very rarely found on the food plant, for as soon as it emerges it
crawls up to the top of the tree and clings to the branchlets.
Strongylurus thoracicus is a handsome brown longicorn brightly marked
with white on the sides of the thorax. Its larva is very destructive in
gardens, cutting off large branches of white cedar and pittosporum bushes.
In the Genus Uracanthus the beetles are long and slender, with almost
cylindrical bodies, and the thorax contracted slightly behind the head.
Uracanthus triangularis in Victoria confines its attention almost exclusively
to the branches of the black wattle; but in N.S. Wales I have bred it from a
number of different shrubs. It measures about 1 inch in length; is of a
general uniform reddish brown colour, but so thickly clothed with fawn-
coloured pubescence that there is only an angular bare reddish patch on the
sides of the wing covers. U. cryptophagus, the largest known species, is
nearly twice the length, more cylindrical in form, and of a uniform buff tint.
In its native state it fed in the northern scrubs of N.S. Wales upon the wild
lemon, from which it migrated to the cultivated orange, and the larvae
burrowing through the branches did a great deal of mischief to the trees.
Syllitus grammicus is a slender reddish brown beetle with six parallel grey
lines running down the elytra, and is under ½ an inch in length. Lygesis
mendica breeds on the twigs of the black wattle in the neighbourhood of
Sydney. It measures under ½ an inch in length; is of a uniform reddish
brown colour, and has a slender head and long cylindrical thorax. The wing
covers are rounded at the tips, and the whole insect is clothed with stout
white hairs. Macrones rufus is a long, slender, bright reddish brown beetle
about 1¼ inches in length; the thorax is roughened into rounded bosses; the
body is narrow in the centre, but swells out into a rounded apex; the wing
covers narrow, and not reaching to the tip of the abdomen give it a very
wasp-like appearance. It is usually taken upon flowers in the summer
months.

Fig. 91.—Strongylurus thoracicus (Pascoe).
The Pittosporum tree borer, and larva.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 92.—Lygesis mendica (Pascoe).
The slender grey-haired Longicorn.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 93.—Uracanthus cryptophaga
(Olliff).
The great Orange-tree Borer.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Genus Hesthesis contains a number of brightly marked yellow and
brown beetles that mimic flower-wasps both in colour and shape, and are
found in similar situations upon flowering shrubs. The wing covers are
shortened into rounded pads only covering the shoulders, while the wings
are exposed. Hesthesis vigilans, under ¾ of an inch in length, is black,
mottled on the thorax, and barred with two bands of bright yellow on the
abdomen, and one on the front of the thorax. H. ferruginea, slightly larger,
is bright yellow banded with black; and H. cingulata, about the same size,
is black, blotched upon the thorax, and marked with three white bands on
the abdomen. Distichocera macleayi has the smaller male black with
feathered antennae, and deeply ribbed wing covers tapering to the apex. The
female, nearly 1½ inches in length, and broader and thickset in proportion,
has the dorsal surface clothed with rusty red pubescence. D. maculicollis is
a much smaller species, hardly over ½ an inch in length in the male, which
is of a dull black faintly marked with white; the larger female is rusty red
except a parallel stripe of black down the centre of the thorax. This species
breeds in the stems of Kunzea corifolia; commencing under the bark the
larva gnaws irregular passages backwards and forwards, finally hollowing
out several large parallel chambers toward the centre of the stem, in one of
which it pupates. Among the most beautiful of our flower haunting
longicorns are the members of the Genus Tragocerus, with stout angular

thorax and broad deeply ribbed wing covers almost truncated at the
extremities. T. lepidopterus is variable in size and colouration in the sexes,
the smaller male being darker coloured than the large reddish brown female,
which measures nearly 1¾ inches in length; both have the wing covers
mottled with little patches of grey hairs. T. spencei is a smaller species
without the white patches, but having dark wavy bands crossing the centre
of the back.
The members of the Genus Clytus are active little ant-like beetles,
common in the more tropical parts of Australia, running up and down on
freshly fallen tree trunks in the bright sunlight, or hunting over flowering
shrubs; some are richly marked with golden yellow or red on the rounded
thorax. Clytus curtisi, measuring under 1 inch in length, is black spotted and
mottled with white. One of our commonest and most widely distributed
flower haunting longicorns is Aridaeus thoracicus, a reddish yellow beetle
with short rounded thorax, and the wing covers crossed in the centre with
two black V-shaped bands. It is very variable in size, the largest measuring
nearly 1 inch in length. Purpuricenus quadrinotatus is a very handsome
black and bright red beetle about ¾ of an inch in length, with a short broad
almost globular thorax, and a short body round at the apex. It is common
along the Flinders River N. Queensland upon low scrub, and I have taken
them in all variations of red and black; usually the head and thorax are
black, with the wing covers red blotched with black; a variety with the
thorax red is described as a distinct species.
The Lamiinae comprise the third division which, usually stout and broad
in proportion, are found chiefly upon branches or twigs feeding upon bark;
and are frequently very numerous upon fallen timber in forest clearings.
They differ from the former group in having the front coxae round and
deeply embedded; the maxillary palpi pointed at the tips; and the fore tibiae
with a more or less distinct groove on the inner side.
Microtragus mormon is typical of several closely allied genera of short,
thickly coated longicorns, with the rounded slightly spined thorax and the
tapering body ridged or coarsely punctured; they are found upon logs or
tree trunks on the ground, and somewhat resemble the ground weevils. This
species comes from Kalgoorlie, W. Australia, but has a wide range over the
western country; it is of a dull reddish brown tint, and measures about 1
inch in length. Ceraegidion horrens, not uncommon in the Illawarra district

N.S.W., is a smaller darker coloured beetle covered with stout spines upon
the dorsal surface of the thorax and elytra. The Genus Monohammus
contains a number of very fine brown or mottled beetles with long stout
antennae; the small rounded thorax produced into a blunt spine on either
side; and the broad wing covers arcuate at the tips and sometimes spined on
the sides. M. holotephrus is of a uniform dull buff tint and measures over 1
inch in length; it comes from S. Australia and Queensland. M. ovinus is a
much smaller species with the thorax spined on the summit and sides; it is
of a pale brown tint finely mottled with grey. It has a wide range, being
recorded from Kalgoorlie W.A., N.S. Wales, Queensland, and S. Australia.

Fig. 94.—Batocera frenchi (Blackburn).
The great Fig-tree Longicorn.
(Original Photo. Burton.)

The tropical Genus Batocera, containing many of the largest and most
handsome of our longicorns, is well represented in our semi-tropical scrubs.
Batocera frenchi has a very wide range from the Northern Coast of N.S.
Wales to Cape York. The great white grubs burrow in the trunks of native
figs and other forest trees, and the collectors in Cairns, N. Queensland,
capture the beetles by cutting down fig trees and waiting for them at
twilight when they come to feed upon the bark. This species measures over

2 inches in length, has a spined rugose thorax, broad wing covers, and
immense stout spined curved antennae; its general colour is slate grey to
dark brown, with the elytra marked with irregular oval white spots. B.
sapho is a more reddish brown beetle, somewhat more slender, and with
fewer spots on the wing covers: it is found in the forests of Cape York, N.
Queensland. Rosenbergia megacephala is larger still, and is of a beautiful
creamy white tint, with the basal portions of the elytra finely spotted with
black; the thorax is deeply ridged and spined: it is found at Port Darwin
N.A., and Cairns, Queensland. Horace Brown informs me that this large
beetle frequents fig trees in the forests of N. Queensland, where they can
often be detected by the number of small branches scattered beneath, which
have been cut off by their powerful jaws. Thyada barbicornis is a very
handsome greyish brown mottled beetle with an oval blackish spot on each
side of the elytra, and the antennae are so thickly fringed with fine hairs that
it forms a regular brush toward the extremities; it measures under ¾ of an
inch in length, and is common on the foliage of native figs on the Tweed
River N.S.W.
The Genus Hebecerus contains a number of moderate-sized, grey or
brownish mottled beetles, many of which lay their eggs in the bark of the
wattle trees; the larvae feed and pupate in the tips of the dead twigs.
Hebecerus australis, a thickset greyish brown species about ½ an inch in
length, has a wide distribution over Australia, and has been described under
half a dozen synonyms: H. marginicollis is a smaller beetle, with the sides
of the thorax marked with buff. H. crocogaster is smaller still, of a similar
general tint, with the antennae barred with grey and brown.
The Genus Symphyletes contains a number of large and handsome
longicorns that are found clinging to twigs and branchlets; many of them in
the larval state burrow in the stems of wattles, gum trees and other smaller
shrubs. Symphyletes neglectus is an elongate dull brown beetle about 1 inch
in length; it girdles the branches of Acacia longifolia, laying its eggs under
the bark of the dying portion in which the little grub feeds in the early part
of its life. S. nigrovirens is a much smaller beetle, with the head, thorax, and
base of the elytra clothed with dull yellow hairs; the rest of the wing covers
is deep green striped with white on the sides. It feeds upon a number of
small shrubs, but its commonest food plant is the stunted prickly wattle
(Acacia juniperina). S. solandri, a larger beetle clothed with a dense coat of

fine buff hairs, breeds in the flower stalk of the grass tree, often cutting it
right through and causing the upper half, beneath which it pupates, to fall
off. S. vestigialis measures ¾ of an inch; it is brown, richly mottled with
buff and grey. It feeds upon wattles; it has a wide range over Southern
Australia.

Fig. 95.—Hebecerus marginicollis (Boisd.).
The White-cheeked Longicorn.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Genus Penthea comprises a number of more thickset beetles with
similar habits, and which have the upper surface of the thorax and wing
covers granulated or ribbed and these are either covered with a dense
pubescence or mottled all over in a very characteristic manner. Penthea
vermicularia, one of the commonest and with a very wide range, is black
with the antennae banded, and the elytra covered with irregular wavy white
markings. It is very variable in size, 1¼ inches to under ¾ of an inch in
length. P. saundersi, found in W. Australia, is much larger, of a more
shining dark chocolate brown tint, and more deeply impressed with well
defined spots, blotches and irregular buff coloured markings. P. sannio,
smaller than the last and with a more constricted thorax, has the whole of
the upper surface clothed with a creamy grey pubescence overlaid with
deep orange red, and irregular dark lines crossing the wing covers; this
beautiful beetle is a native of Queensland. Rhytiphora argus takes its name
from the dark brown eye-like spots all over its back showing through the
rich buff pubescence; it also ranges over a large part of Queensland.
Depsages granulosa resembles a Penthea in its robust form; it measures
over 1½ inches in length; is of a uniform dark dull brown tint, with the
elytra covered with fine granules or bosses. It is common about Sydney,

found clinging in summer time to the stems of gum saplings. Zygrita diva is
a handsome little dark orange yellow coloured beetle irregularly marked
and mottled with black. It is very common upon grass stalks in the open
forest country of North Australia.

Fig. 96.—Symphyletes vestigialis (Pascoe).
The Buff-painted Longicorn.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Family 50. Plant-eating Beetles.
CHRYSOMELIDAE.

These foliage-destroying beetles have a regular, thickened, more or less
oval or rounded form, with the thorax sometimes forming a neck; but in
other groups are rounded and fit closely into the head and abdomen. The
head, buried up to the eyes in the front of the thorax, is furnished with short
stout biting jaws, and slender filiform antennae composed of many short
segments; the tarsi are generally four jointed. They are as a rule small
insects, rarely measuring over ½ an inch in length; their prevailing colours
are red, yellow, or brown, marked with black or bright metallic tints. They
lay their eggs on the foliage or twigs of their food plants, upon which the
larvae feed when they emerge, and when full grown crawl down and pupate
in the soil beneath.
This is a very large family; about 18,000 species are described from all
parts of the world, and most of the typical groups are represented in this
country. We have had a number of workers on the Chrysomelids: Baly
(Ann. Nat. History 1862), (Jour. Linn. Soc. 1864), and (Trans. Ent. Soc. of

London 1877): Clark in the “Journal of Entomology” 1864: Marsham
(Trans. Linn. Society 1808): Chapius has described a number (Soc. Entom.
Belgium Vol. xvii.), and (Journal, Museum Godeffroy xiv.): while Lea
(Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1904) has monographed the Cryptocephalides;
and Blackburn revised the Genus Paropsis (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1896
and 1901), adding many new species.
The Sagrides are very distinctive beetles, with the thorax elongated in
front and broad behind; some of the more tropical forms are of rich metallic
tints, with the thighs of the hind legs greatly enlarged; and our beautiful
representative species, Sagra papuana, is known to collectors in the North
Queensland scrubs as the “Kangaroo Beetle.” It measures 1 inch in length,
and the swollen hind legs fringed with reddish hairs and a large angular
spine are fully another inch in length. It is a uniform deep metallic blue.
Carpophagus banksiae measures ½ an inch in length; is of a uniform dark
reddish brown, with the elytra irregularly striped and banded with dark
yellow; the thighs of the hind legs are thickened, and the under surface is
clothed with fine grey hairs. It has a wide range, and is found about Sydney
clinging to the low scrub. Mecynodera coxalgica is a larger, broader, dull
reddish brown insect, clothed with a lighter tinted pubescence, and is found
in similar localities.
The Cryptocephalides are a group of short, oval or truncate beetles, with
long slender antennae: the sexes often differ in size and markings; they are
usually found feeding upon the tender tips of the branches of wattle, young
gum, and other low shrubs. Elaphodes tiqrinus is a small, oval, reddish
brown beetle, thickly clothed with golden yellow pubescence forming a
mottled pattern over the elytra; it feeds upon the foliage of the black wattle.
The members of the Genus Ditropidus are small oval beetles, similar in
shape and habits, black and shining; over 100 species have been described
from Australia. The Genus Cadmus contains some very handsome ovate
insects, with long slender antennae; they chiefly frequent the young
eucalypts: the larvae have the curious habit of living in jug-shaped cocoons
fitting closely to the body, with the horny flat forehead closing the opening
at the apex; when moving along the fore-legs are extended like those of a
bag-moth. Cadmus rubiginosus, our largest common species, is under ½ an
inch in length; it is of a general reddish brown colour, with darker
markings. C. litigiosus is a smaller yellow beetle; the head and thorax are

black above, and the elytra yellow, finely punctured and spotted with black.
The Genus Cryptocephalus comprises a number of similar shaped beetles
with smaller wrinkled head and thorax, and the tip of the abdomen truncate.
Cryptocephalus scabrosus is black, very rugose on the upper surface, with
the tip of the elytra tinged with reddish brown: it measures about ¼ of an
inch, and is common about Sydney. C. viridinitens is slightly larger, of a
uniform dark metallic green on the upper surface.
The Eumolpides are represented by one of our most beautiful species,
Spilopyra sumptuosa, common on low scrub on the northern rivers of N.S.
Wales: it is about ½ an inch in length, and is of a fiery coppery red and deep
metallic tint, giving out beautiful shades of colour in a bright light.
The Genus Edusa contains a number of bright metallic coloured beetles
of oval form, which are chiefly found among the foliage of eucalypts.
Edusa distincta is of the usual bright coppery red tint, with greenish head
and thorax; it measures nearly ⅓ of an inch in length. Rhyparida didyma is
a dull yellow beetle, with a narrow parallel stripe of black down each side
of the elytra; it is of the usual elongate oval form with the head turned down
in front. They are found clinging to grass stalks; this and several other
species are common on the North West coast of Australia.
The Chrysomelides are one of the typical groups; many of them are rich
in bright metallic tints; are either rounded or oval in form; and their larvae
are active six legged grubs that crawl about the foliage. Aesernoides
nigrofasciatus is a handsome, broad, convex, black beetle, with the elytra
crossed with three broad irregular bands of dark orange yellow; it measures
nearly ½ an inch in length, and is common on several shrubs in the
Northern River scrubs. The Genus Phyllocharis contains a number of more
elongated beetles with thicker antennae; they are chiefly found upon grass.
Phyllocharis cyanicornis measures slightly over ⅓ of an inch in length; the
general colour is dark orange, with the antennae and legs black; and the
dorsal surface of the thorax and elytra are irregularly blotched with shining
blue-black. It has a wide range over Australia and Tasmania. P. cyanipes, a
larger species from N. Australia, has the head, thorax, blotch on each side of
base, and tips of elytra light yellow, with the rest of the wing covers shining
black. Lamprolina perplexa is a smaller, elongate, metallic, dull bronze
coloured beetle, with yellow head and thorax; it is common upon the foliage
of the native blackthorn, Busaria spiniferous.

The larvae of several species of the Genus Calomela feed upon the
foliage of the black wattles: they are short, squat grubs, with black heads
and small green oval bodies. Calomela paralis measures 2½ lines in length;
its general colour is dark orange yellow, with a broad parallel band of rich
metallic green occupying the centre of each wing cover and tapering down
to the tips; the elytra are deeply and finely punctured. Twenty-five species
are described from various parts of Australia, chiefly by Baly (Trans. Ent.
Soc. 1856–1863: and Ann. and Mag. N.H. 1862).
The Genus Paropsis is the most extensive and characteristic of all our
plant-eating beetles, and some of our common species are very plentiful
about Sydney. Marsham wrote a monograph of the species (Trans. Linn.
Soc. 1808), placing them in the Genus Notoclea; in Masters’ Catalogue 269
species are listed; since then, Blackburn has revised the Genus (Pro. Linn.
Soc. N.S.W. 1896–1901), and added a number of new species.
The beetles are found chiefly upon the foliage of young eucalypts, and
lay their yellow spindle-shaped eggs in a ring round the small twigs: the
young larvae when first hatched cluster together, but as they increase in size
they scatter all over the foliage upon which they feed. They are very active,
short, stout grubs, with three pairs of well developed legs; when full grown
they crawl down and pupate in the soil. The beetles are very convex and
broadly rounded; most of them are more or less yellow, brown, or black in
tint; some are very richly and delicately shaded with metallic tints, which
however unfortunately fade after death. Paropsis variolosa, one of our
largest species, measures ¾ of an inch in length, and is nearly as broad in
proportion; it is of a general yellowish brown tint mottled with lighter
yellow and closely punctured; the under surface except the legs is black. P.
alternata is a smaller, dark brown beetle, the elytra banded with parallel
lines of black and reddish brown: P. immaculata is about the same size; dull
reddish brown, with the outer half of the elytra darkest; it is usually found
feeding upon the foliage of the black wattle. P. liturata is slightly smaller
than the last, with the wing covers irregularly spotted with pale yellow. It is
common on the eucalypts about Sydney, and has a wide range over the
State. The small green larvae of P. pictipennis feed upon the foliage of
Leptospermum; the beetle is a small form, dull yellow marked with bright
spots, but fades into a dull brown when dead.

Fig. 97.—Calomela paralis (Lea).
The Green Striped Wattle Beetle.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Halticides are popularly known as “flea beetles,” as they have the
thighs of the hind legs swollen out into rounded lumps which enable them
to jump to a considerable distance: specimens are often found feeding upon
sedges about watercourses. Nisotra submetallica is a tiny, shining green
beetle, with a light reddish brown head and thorax; it is often a pest in the
herb bed, where it feeds upon mint. Arsipoda macleayi is a much larger,
deep metallic blue beetle with very large thighs; it has been found eating the
surface of vine leaves in the Gosford district N.S.W., and covering them all
over with brown blotches.
The Gallerucides comprise several very destructive garden pests,
among which is the well known Pumpkin Beetle, Aulacophora olivieri, a
reddish yellow and black beetle often called a “lady-bird,” and which in
many parts of Australia swarms over the young melons and cucumbers and
devours the flowers and foliage. Monolepta rosae is a delicate pale yellow
beetle, with the front half of the elytra shaded with rose red; it has a wide
range, and on the northern rivers congregates in great numbers at times,
eating up the young foliage of the citrus trees. The Fig-leaf Beetle,
Galleruca semipullata, lays its spindle-shaped eggs in patches on the leaves

of both the wild and cultivated figs, upon the surface of which the dirty
yellow coloured larvae feed, finally crawling down the trunks and pupating
in the ground. The beetle measures about ⅓ of an inch in length; is of a dull
ochreous yellow, with the outer margins of the broad elytra striped with dull
bluish black. Hoplostinus viridipennis is a much smaller, dull brownish
yellow beetle, with shorter, rounded, deep metallic green elytra. It feeds
upon the foliage of the nettle trees growing in the scrubs of the Northern
Rivers, N.S.W.

Fig. 98.—Paropsis immaculata
(Marsham).
A typical Leaf-eating Beetle.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 99.—Monolepta rosae (Blackburn).
The Painted Leaf Beetle.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Hispides are a very distinct group of the plant-eating beetles, whose
larvae are sometimes very destructive; they bore into the foliage or stalks of
plants, feeding in, and not upon the plant tissue. The beetles might be
divided into two sections; those that are short and broad shouldered like
Monochirus multispinosus, which measures ⅙ of an inch in length, is black
in colour, with the whole of the dorsal surface covered with short fine
spines, and is common upon grass blades on the South coast of N.S. Wales;
and the elongate almost cylindrical forms found on sedges belonging to the
Genus Euryspa. These beetles are remarkable for the situation of their
antennae, which are very close together at the base, and stand straight out in
front of the head. Brontispa froggatti, belonging to the latter section, is a
very serious pest on the cocoa nut palms in New Britain and Solomon
Islands.
The Cassidides are curious ladybird-like beetles of a general yellow or
light brown colour spotted or marked with black, with the outer margins of
the elytra spreading out into an encircling flange or rim. They are confined
to the more tropical forests of Queensland, but one species, Aspidomorpha
deusta, comes into the northern scrubs of N.S. Wales; it is of the usual
shape and mottled tints, measuring about ¼ of an inch in length.

Family 51. Fungus Beetles.

EROTYLIDAE.

The larvae of these beetles can be often found in numbers feeding in the
different kinds of woody fungi that grow upon tree trunks, old fences, and
fallen logs. If these infested fungi are collected and kept in a box the beetles
can be very easily bred out. They can be readily recognised by their
elongate, boat-shaped form, and clubbed antennae.
Episcaphula pictipennis, one of our commonest species, is black, but
thickly mottled with deep orange red forming three interrupted bands across
the elytra. It measures about ¼ of an inch. Thallis janthina is a smaller,
shining, blue black beetle, slightly roughened on the elytra; it breeds in the
large, spongy, white fungus growing on the tree trunks known as “punks.”

Family 52. Lady-bird Beetles.
COCCINELLIDAE.

These well-known beetles differ from the last family (which many of
them resemble in outward appearance) in having 3 jointed tarsi, and the
short usually 11 jointed antennae (occasionally 8–10) being slightly clubbed
at the tips. In their habits however they differ in being carnivorous both in
the larval and adult state, with the exception of the members of the Genus
Epilachna, which are phytophagus. They are all small rounded beetles; the
short head fits close into the thorax, which in turn rests against the front of
the elytra: most of them are yellow, spotted or marked with darker yellow,
metallic blue or black, and are slightly pubescent. These insects are well
known in our gardens to the children as “lady-birds,” and the quaint rhyme
of “Fly away lady-bird” is said to have originated in the hop fields of Kent:
after the hop picking, the dead plants, where the common English lady-bird
was abundant feeding upon the hop aphis, were burnt off, and this was a
warning by the children to them to fly away before the fires were started.
They have been closely studied by economic entomologists because they
are the natural enemies of so many aphis and scale insects.

Fig. 100.—Epilachna 28-punctata
(Fabr.).
The Spotted Leaf-eating Lady-bird.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Over 2,000 species have been described from all parts of the world, and
in the latest list given by Lea (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1901), 110 are
recorded from Australia. Mulsant published his great work (Species
Coleopteris Trimeres Securipalpes) in 1850: Crotch published his “Revision
of the Coccinellidae” in 1874; in both of these will be found descriptions of
Australian species. Blackburn (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1892) and Lea
previously quoted, added a number of new species to our fauna.

Fig. 101.—Epilachna guttatopustulata
(Fabr.).
The Potato-leaf Lady-bird.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 102.—Leis conformis (Boisd.)
The Common Spotted Lady-bird.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The Genus Epilachna contains all our plant-feeding lady-bird beetles,
two of which are common. The 28-spot lady-bird, Epilachna 28-punctata,
has a wide range extending from China and India to all parts of Australia; it
measures about ⅓ of an inch in length, is of a dull yellowish brown tint
marked with rounded black spots, and clothed with a fine pubescence.
Crotch says: “This species varies almost to infinity, and gradually runs into
the common 6-spotted type, so that I cannot give any structural
differences.” Its curious gregarious larvae are dull yellow covered with
black spined tubercles; about Sydney they are often found upon the foliage
of the trumpet flower (Datura stramonium), but in the north of N.S. Wales
often damage the foliage of potatoes. E. guttatopustulata ranges from
Tasmania to North Australia, and is a common insect in the Richmond
River scrubs, N.S.W.; it is a large beetle, easily recognised by the large,
rounded, yellowish red blotch on the sides of the elytra.

Fig. 103.—Thea galbula (Mulsant).
The Yellow-shouldered Lady-bird.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 104.—Verania frenata (Erichson).
The Striped Lady-bird.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

The typical Coccinella repanda measures ⅕ of an inch in length; it is a
little, rounded, bright yellow beetle, with the head and thorax blackish, the
elytra striped down the centre, and marked on either side with two irregular
black V-shaped blotches. It has a wide range over Australia, and feeds upon
all kinds of aphids, sometimes appearing in great numbers all over the
country. Leis conformis is a larger species, of a uniform bright orange
yellow, thickly spotted with black. It is a common garden insect, where the
clusters of its slender yellow eggs may be often noticed attached to the bark

of aphis infested trees; and its elongated, smoky tinted larvae, blotched on
the sides with orange, may be often watched feeding upon rose or peach
aphis. Thea galbula is a dainty little lady-bird, with the dorsal surface bright
pale yellow, marked with black in the centre of the thorax; the dorsal stripe
down the centre of the elytra connects two pairs of black blotches crossing
the centre and base. It measures about ⅙ of an inch in length, and is at times
common in our gardens. Verania frenata is ⅙ of an inch; it is yellow, with
the thorax black behind, and with three stripes of the same colour down the
elytra. It has a wide range from Tasmania to New Caledonia and the
Malayan Islands.
The Genus Orcus contains a number of metallic blue-black lady-birds
which feed chiefly upon scale insects; their larvae are grey and black
creatures with the dorsal surface covered with fine spines; several species
are common on scale infested citrus trees. Orcus chalybeus, measuring
about ⅛ of an inch in length, is of a uniform deep metallic steel blue. O.
australasiae is a larger species with two rounded yellow spots on each side
of the elytra. O. bilunulatus is a still larger insect, with only one yellow
blotch on either side of the front of the thorax.

Fig. 105.—Orcus chalybeus
(Boisd.).
The Steel-blue Lady-bird.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Fig. 106.—Orcus australasiae (Boisd.).
The Six-spot Blue Lady-bird.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)

Novius cardinalis is a tiny red and black lady-bird, very variable in its
black colouration; it was better known as Vedalia cardinalis, when it was
collected in great numbers and forwarded to America to destroy the Fluted
or Cottony-cushion Scale (Icerya purchasi), which had been introduced
from this country into California and damaged the orange trees. It has since
been introduced into other parts of the world, and is now cosmopolitan. The
Genus Rhizobius contains a number of small black beetles finely punctured
and clothed with pubescence, that gives them a rusty tint. Rhizobius
ventralis is very common in the bush upon young eucalypts that are infested
with Eriococcus coriaceous; it measures about ⅙ of an inch in length and is
very pubescent. Cryptolæmus montrouzieri, a great foe to all kinds of mealy
bugs, has been introduced into Hawaii with good results. The larvae are
flattened brown insects that cover themselves with short white overlapping
filaments, so that their identity is quite lost; they frequently swarm in
thousands upon the trunks of scale infested Auracaria pines, pupating in
such numbers that they form large white patches over the tree stems. The
beetle is ¼ of an inch in length; is of a uniform black tint, with the head,
thorax and tip of the elytra light yellow. The Genus Scymnus contains many
of our smallest species: Scymnus vagans is a minute black beetle only ¹⁄₂₄ of
an inch in length, which can be found on mite infested foliage. S. notiscens,
more than twice the size, is common both on wattles and orange trees; it can

be easily identified by the distinct reddish blotch in the centre of each wing
cover.

Order VI.—LEPIDOPTERA.
Butterflies and Moths.

Butterflies and moths are scale winged insects, and are among the giants
of the insect world; they can be defined as insects with two pairs of
membranous wings well adapted for extended flight, clothed with scales
overlapping each other like the slates on the roof of a house, flattened and
rounded on the surface of the wings, but more or less hair-like upon the
body. The head is usually provided with a tubular proboscis or mouth, that
can be curled up like a watch spring when at rest, and is admirably adapted
for sucking up the honey from flowers when expanded.
The caterpillars may be smooth and naked, or thickly clothed with spines
or hair; with few exceptions they feed upon the foliage or wood of plants:
after undergoing a series of moults they either spin a cocoon, bury
themselves in the ground, or (if wood borers) close themselves up in the
burrow where they undergo a complete metamorphosis. If the larva of a
butterfly, the caterpillar attaches itself to a twig by the tip of its tail and
casts the larval skin, which slips off, leaving the naked transformed pupa
simply enclosed in a stout, close-fitting pupal jacket. Some species of moths
appear in such numbers at times that they do a great deal of damage to plant
life, and are very serious pests.
Lepidoptera on account of their beauty and size have always been very
popular with entomologists, and large numbers have been collected from all
parts of the world, so that this is one of the best known orders. Sharp
estimates that 50,000 species are described, and every year adds to this long
list.
They are divided into two great groups, somewhat artificial, but
definable as Rhopalocera, butterflies; and Heterocera, moths.

RHOPALOCERA.
Butterflies.

The typical butterflies are usually slender-bodied insects, with filiform
and more or less clubbed antennae, delicate legs, and large richly tinted

wings; they fly about in the bright sunlight, visiting flowers and feasting
upon the nectar that they find in the blooms. They have large compound
eyes so that they can see very well; and the slender tubular mouth is very
highly developed in all butterflies. The eggs are laid upon the food plant:
the caterpillars are generally more or less elongated, and naked or covered
with scattered tubercles rather than hairy; when full grown they attach
themselves to the under side of a twig or leaf by the tip of the abdomen.
Some groups are furnished with a silken girdle round the middle attached at
each end to the leaf or twig; and another section roll themselves up in
leaves. They do not form a cocoon, but as the larval skin slips off, it reveals
the regular pupal form fitted with a skin-like jacket through which the
indistinct lines of the rudimentary wings, legs and antennae can be traced.
The pupa may remain in this quiescent state for several months before the
butterfly splits the skin and emerges, a perfect, fully developed insect.
As many of our butterflies have an extended range, some of them were
originally described from other countries, and when captured here were
named as new species; so that a good deal of confusion has existed in the
proper identification of some of our common species as to whether they
were Australian or only varieties of foreign species. In 1805 Donovan
figured some of our commonest species in his “Insects of New Holland.”
After Kirby’s “Catalogue of Rhopalocera” was published in 1871, Masters
compiled and issued a list of our Australian species. In 1878 Semper
published his list of Australian species; and in 1891 Miskin produced his
“Catalogue of the Australian Butterflies,” in which he included and
described some new species (No. 1, Annals of the Queensland Museum);
this remained our working list until Waterhouse published his “Catalogue of
the Rhopalocera of Australia” as No. 1 Memoir of the New South Wales
Naturalists’ Club 1903. In Waterhouse’s list a great many changes have
been made in the genera and species; a number of our well-known names
have vanished, with very little explanation; for example, Pieris teutonia,
our common white, appears under the name of Belenois java; this is
unavoidable to a certain extent in bringing Catalogues up to date, but is
very confusing to beginners in the work of classification.
For a list of the writers upon, and references to our butterflies, the
student is referred to Waterhouse’s Catalogue.

I am indebted to Messrs. Anderson and Spry for notes on the life
histories of some of the southern species described in their “Victorian
Butterflies” (Melbourne 1893).

Family 1. Brush-footed Butterflies.
NYMPHALIDAE.

This group comprises a number of large or medium sized butterflies that
are known as “Fritillaries,” “Emperors,” “Admirals,” and many other
popular names in England, and are generally brightly coloured; many have
a very wide range over the world. The fore-legs of both sexes are imperfect,
the male with one or two, the female with four or five tarsal joints. The
larvae are usually spiny, or clothed with hairy warts; and the pupae are
suspended by the tail. Sharp places them in eight sub-families, four of
which are well represented in Australia.
The Danainae are brightly coloured butterflies of a general reddish
brown tint with blackish markings; the larvae are smooth cylindrical
caterpillars with the tips of the body ornamented with a fleshy tail. The
Genus Danais contains six species, of which the best known in Eastern
Australia is the “Monarch” or “Brown Gypsy,” originally a North American
insect but now almost world wide in its range; it is known under at least
four names, and though usually figured as Danais archippus, its correct
name is Danais menippe. The handsome banded black and cream coloured
larva feeds upon the introduced “bladder-weed” (Gomphocarpus
fruticosus), and turns into a beautiful pale green pupa with metallic
markings. This large, deep reddish brown and black lined butterfly is too
well known to require description.

Plate XIX.—LEPIDOPTERA.
Family Pieridae.

1. Pieris teutonia (Fabr.). Eggs on foliage.
2. Pieris teutonia (Fabr.). Eggs enlarged.
3. Pieris teutonia (Fabr.). Caterpillar.
4. Pieris teutonia (Fabr.). Caterpillar (enlarged).
5. Pieris teutonia (Fabr.). Pupa (enlarged).
6. Pieris teutonia (Fabr.). Pupa on leaf.
7. Pieris teutonia (Fabr.). Showing upper surface.
8. Pieris teutonia (Fabr.). Showing under surface.

This butterfly is now known under the name of Belenois java (Sparrman).]

Plate XIX.—LEPIDOPTERA.

D. petilia, a much smaller butterfly, has broader white markings on the
tip of the fore wings and none round the edges of the hind pair. It has a wide
range over Australia, across Asia to Europe. The caterpillar is of a lavender