27 



ON THE LIFE-HISTORIES OF AUSTRALIAN 

 COLEOPTERA. 



Part I. 



By Walter W. Froggatt. 



This paper is a brief record of observations made during the 

 last season (1892) upon the larvae, habits, and food plants of a 

 number of Coleoptera, most of which are common in the vicinity 

 of Sydney. I am not aware that anyone has worked at Australian 

 beetles in regard to their larvae and transformations in a systematic 

 manner ; the only paper on the subject I have seen is one by Mr. 

 D. Best, of Melbourne, in which he describes forty -six Australian 

 longicorns (but he only gives the food plants of a few and no 

 descriptions of the larvae), published in the Southern Science 

 Record, Victoria, 1880-1, in five parts. 



All the following species have been carefully bred from sections 

 of infested stems cut from the trees, or from larvae kept in damp 

 earth. 



I believe some interesting information in respect of the affinity 

 of certain genera can be obtained by studying the larvae of 

 our longicorn beetles ; and with a little experience it is not 

 difficult to tell the genera to which some of the larvae belong, as 

 many of them have very distinctive characters. 



The Acacias are attacked by a great number of fine longicorns, 

 many of which do a great deal of damage to the young trees, 

 while others do not appear to be partial to them until they are 

 old and decaying ; others again only infest dead limbs or dying 

 trees. As in other orders of insects, the beetle larvae are very 

 much subject to the attacks of parasitic Hymenoptera, chiefly 

 belonging to the family Braconidce. 



