50 Transactions. — Zoology. 



thickness of the abdomen is more than l^in. The insect has 

 thus much the appearance of an old leather bag or bottle, with 

 one end flattened and a seam running round the middle of it. 

 Tlie skin is much wrinkled, but it is not easy to make out 

 regular segments. The antennae are short and tapering, and 

 seem to have only ten subequal joints, but possibly the last 

 joint may be broken off in all the specimens seen. The feet 

 are rather long and, for the size of the insect, slender : on the 

 trochanter is a iongish seta ; there seem to be no digitules, or 

 at least only a short one on the claw. In all the specimens 

 observed the feet are claisped round the twig, as if the insects 

 were afraid of falling off. Eostrum and mentum wanting. At 

 the posterior extremity there is a rather large simple anal 

 orifice, the skin round it being much wrinkled. The epidermis 

 is closely marked with great numbers of minute pits, and 

 there are some short hairs. 



Amongst the specimens observed is one which resembles 

 the rest in colour and in general form when viewed from above, 

 but it has not an inflated abdomen, and the general appearance 

 is smoother. I have been inclined to consider it as the second 

 stage of the female, but it is destitute of a rostrum, and pro- 

 bably, therefore, is an adult female in its earlier state, before 

 gestation. In this specimen there is a very small quantity of 

 whitish cotton imder the anal region ; and along the margin, 

 just below what I have called a seam on the edge, are ten small 

 circular specks of white (five on each side), which may mark 

 the position of spiracles. 



Hab. In Australia, on Acacia ancnra. My specimens 

 were sent by the late Mr. Crawford in 1887 : he informed me 

 that they were forwarded some years earlier to the Museum 

 at Adelaide by a shepherd from the interior, but the exact 

 locality was unknown : I gathered, however, that it was some- 

 where in the direction of Cooper's Creek. The original dis- 

 coverer havmg died soon afterwards, the insect could not again 

 be traced. Mr. Crawford also stated that the largest specimen 

 sent to me (lin. long) was " a Lilliputian compared with some 

 that our Museum authorities have in spirits." If this is so the 

 species must indeed be a gigantic one, far surpassing any- 

 thing hitherto known. 



I have been obliged to attach this insect to Ctelostoma ; yet 

 I do so in son:ie doubt, having as yet had only a few specimens, 

 and some of those not entirely perfect. I look upon the 

 practice of erecting species (and sometimes even genera) upon 

 insufficient, or single, or perhaps mutilated specimens, as re- 

 prehensible in the highest degree, and, indeed, very little less 

 than an insult to readers and students. In the present case 

 the specific name here adopted, which simply expresses the 

 huge bulk of the insect, will be applicable to it under whatever 



