424 NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



Mr. G. H. Hardy exhibited three ichneumon parasites which prey upon 

 spiders, all appai-ently belonging to the same genus. They belong to the tribe 

 PimpUdes and one Queensland specimen was provisionally labelled by Mr. H. 

 Hacker, Entomologist of the Queensland Museum as "Eriostethns or near." The 

 specimens were as follows : — 1 d" and 1 ? from Tasmania, from which State 

 they have been bred from larvae attached externally on the abdomen of spiders; 

 two d" with their cocoons from Queensland, one bred from the larva and one 

 from the pupa; and finally one specimen taken in the act of ovipositing upon a 

 spider at Como, N.S.W., on the 8th October, 1921. Previous records of the 

 Tasmanian species will be found in the abstracts of proceedings of the Royal 

 Society of Tasmania for 1914 (p. 89) and 1915 (p. 113 No. 1). 



Mr. Hardy exhibited another Tasmanian ichneumon which was also men- 

 tioned in the 1915 reference (No. 4). This species is parasitic upon large saw- 

 fly larvae of the genus Perga. When attacked the sawlly larvae discharge their 

 well known and repulsive liquid; should the ichneumon be hit by this sticky 

 matter it will fall to the ground, being unable to utilise its wings and several 

 hours are necessary for the ichneumon to cleanse itself and renew the attack. 

 It is quite interesting and often exciting to watch two or three of these ichneu- 

 mons attacking a cluster of saw-fly larvae; they worry the larvae and evade, 

 not always successfully, the retaliating discharge which diminishes in ([uantity 

 in each successive volley. When tht- cluster luxs finally run out of aumuinilion 

 the ichneumon may still bo loth to alight upon its prey for a considerable time 

 — perhaps making sure that the larvae are not reserving their last shot. 



