220 



ment of their progeny, reared up a small colony in confinement 

 from the original examples and liberated them in Manoa Valley 

 near the Salvation Army Jlome. The larger species failed for 

 the most part, owing to the lengthy period passed as larvae in 

 the soil under very unnatural conditions, an'd liberations in their 

 case were impossible. 



In May of the present year an engagement was made with 

 Mr. J. F. Illingworth, formerly Professor of Entomology at the 

 College (now^ University) of Hawaii, and more recently Ento- 

 mologist with the Queensland Government, to collect tumble bugs 

 and other horn fly enemies in Australia, and in carrying out this 

 engagement Mr.' Illingworth made four consignments of tumble 

 bugs, chiefly Onthopliagiis piignax, a large species, as larvae or 

 grubs, in which state they inhabit the interior of balls of manure 

 buried in the soil. These consignments arrived on June 14 and 

 August 16. 1921, on the 'A>ntura," and on July 12 and Septem- 

 ber 13, on the "Sonoma" (the last personally conducted). It 

 should be stated here that these consignments were not the first 

 made from Australia, as both Koebele and Williams on previous 

 occasions had sent Australian species to Hawaii. But their ship- 

 ments consisted entirely of adults, and as the species introduced 

 failed to establish themselves here it was considered probable 

 that the beetles were weakened by the confinement experienced 

 during their transportation or were senile at the time they were 

 collected. 



Mr. Illingworth in the years of his residence in Australia had 

 investigated thoroughly the habits of the tumble bugs, and a 

 result of his study was the realization of an advantage in col- 

 lecting and shipping material in the larval state ; for he saw 

 that not only could an abundance of material be gathered at any 

 season, when larval cells are sought rather than adults, but it 

 could be got across to Haw^aii without loss or injury in the im- 

 mature condition, which, as already stated, was ijot possible oth- 

 erwise, and it was believed further that the beetles on issuing 

 from the cells in w^hich they had developed would be fresh, and 

 ready to go to work immediately on manure. 



But an unanticipated difficulty arose when the material 

 reached Haw^aii, from the slow progress of the larvae in matur- 

 ing. This, it was realized, w'ould be of no consequence if the 

 cells containing the larvae could be placed in the ground in situa- 

 tions similar to those from which they had been removed, but 

 such a procedure could not be considered for a moment on ac- 

 count of the foreign soil adhering to the cells, wdiich might con- 

 tain nematodes or even other insects inimical to agriculture. As 

 a matter of fact, we were advised by Mr. Illingworth of the 

 presence of a small beetle in the material, which in Austra- 

 lia detracts greatly from the efifectiveness of the tumble bugs 

 by interfering \\\i\\ their development, and w^ere able to intercept 

 and dispose of it so that it could not reproduce its kind here. 

 Consequently, it was necessary to hold the cells in quarantine 



