38 ON THE LIFE-HISTORIES OF AUSTRALIAN COLEOPTERA, 



broadest aV)out the middle, rounded at anus, a faint parallel 

 furrow down the centre of the back ; a few scattered hairs on 

 sides. 



The larva attacks the stems oi Acacia discolor. The beetle lays 

 the eggs singly on the stem after gnawing up a bit of bark, under 

 ■which the egg is placed ; sometimes a score of these roughened 

 patches may be counted on a single tree all close together. The 

 larva feeds downwards, forming large cylindrical chambers into 

 the roots, which it completely hoUoAvs out, packing the gnaw^ed 

 wood so close behind it that it is difficult to detect it. I have 

 also bred it from the roots of Acacia suaveolens, A. linearis, and 

 A. laurifolia. 



This was originally described as the " Botany Bay Diamond 

 Beetle," and though one of our commonest Sydney beetles it is also 

 one of the most beautiful ; its large size and brilliant black head 

 and body thickly covered with patches of bright green scales 

 make it one of the most striking objects among our insects. It 

 is found on nearly a dozen different species of Acacias, among 

 them A. discolor, A. longifolia, A. dealhaia, A. decurrens, and A. 

 suaveolens. 



Paropsis variolosa, Marshara, Trans. Linn. Soc. ix. 1808, p. 285, 

 t. 24, f. 1. 



Larva yellow and black, stout, short, with well-developed legs 

 terminating with a claw; mouth parts, jaws, and head black, head 

 and first thoracic segment furrowed in centre ; legs black ; first 

 thoracic seg^nent black, with orange-yellow markings at apex, 

 second and third with first abdominal segments orange-yellow in 

 centre, clouded on the sides with black, with a transverse band of 

 black warty rounded excrescences in the middle of each, separated 

 by large blotches of yellow ; the last tw^o and anal segment 

 black, with yellow patch on either side. 



The larva is a very active creature, crawling about on the 

 leaves of Eucalyptus corymhosa upon which it feeds, attacking 

 the leaf from the outer edge and eating it up to the midrib. Tlie 

 larvae feed singly and do not cluster together like those of other 



