324 GALL-MAKING BUPRESTIDS. 



four 01* five galls placed two or three inches apart. The galls 

 were longer than broad, 1 inch 2 lines long, 10 lines in width, 7 

 lines deep, round at both ends ; many of the largest ones, and all 

 of them on several bushes that had evidently died from their 

 attacks, were marked with a little circular hole in the centre from 

 which the insect had emerged, but from several living bushes I 

 obtained about forty specimens of the gall in all stages of 

 growth. 



The larva is a white grub, 7 lines in length, and of uniform 

 thickness, slightly rounded on the segment carrying the mouth 

 parts, and rather pointed at the anal segments ; the segments are 

 twelve in number and very distinct, the mouth parts small, 

 situated in the centre of the thoracic segment, the jaws small. 



The larva is surrounded with the dust or debris of the wood it 

 has eaten, and it moves about freely in the chamber at the base 

 of the excrescence close to the tree stem of the bush, so that one 

 has to slice off nearly the whole of the gall before coming to the 

 grub. 



The galls containing the perfect insect, which were in the 

 majority, were more soft and spongy than those containing the 

 larvae ; as the beetles do not emerge until the early summer 

 months they must stay a considerable time in these galls after 

 having undergone their metamorphoses. 



The beetle is a brilliant metallic copper-coloured insect, the 

 elytra covered with finely punctured striae, and curious scroll-like 

 markings, formed by patches of fine golden scales, which in old 

 specimens are liable to be rubbed ; it is from 4 to 4^ lines in 

 length. 



Ethon corpulentum, Boheman, Res. Eugen. Entomol. Bid. p. 62 

 (1858). 



This beetle is also described and figured in Laporte and Gory's 

 monograph, but under the synonym E. Jissiceps, Boisduval ; not 

 only had Boheman priority of name, but the specific name ^ssicejos 

 had been given to a very distinct species (also Australian) by 



