177 



tion was strengthened by the possibility that it had in some way 

 been imported to our waters through the medium of the mail 

 steamers passing through the Red Sea en route for Australia. 

 However, this does not appear to have originated its occurrence 

 from the fact that specimens exist in the Macleay Collection 

 which must have been obtained prior to the advent of steamers 

 via Suez Canal. Even were this not the case, our insect, to my 

 mind, proves itself sufficiently distinct structurally to separate it 

 from //. Hayanus. 



When our specimens were first obtained, during April of the 

 present year, a large percentage were discovered iii copula ; but 

 observations in regard to the time the eggs were deposited or 

 where laid have up to the present been unavoidably postponed. 

 As the insect occurs in immense numbers ample opportunity is 

 thus afforded for further investigation, meanwhile 1 am content 

 to present a preliminary description of the larval and adult forms. 

 In the act of copulation the female carries the male on her back, 

 the latter grasping her round the body with the front legs above 

 the region of the intermediate acetabula. 



NOTE ON THE NIDIFICATION OF EDO LI I SO MA 

 TENUIROSTRE. 



By A. J. North, F.L.S. 



Edoliisoma TENUIROSTRE, Jardine. 



Ceblepyris jardinii, Riippell. 

 Campephaga jardinii, G ou Id . 



During the latter end of September, 1882, Mr. C. C. L. Talbot 

 observed a pair of these birds building their nest in the angle of 

 a thin forked horizontal branch of an Ironbark (Eucalyptus'sp.l 

 about forty feet from the ground, on Collaroy Station, Broad 

 Sound, 556 miles N.W. of Brisbane. A week after, seeing the 

 female sitting on the nest for some length of time, he climbed up 

 to it and found it contained a perfectly fresh egg, which he took 

 (not waiting for the full complement, which is probably two), as 

 the tree was a difficult one to climb, at the same time securino- 

 the nest. It was a small and shallow structure composed of wiry 

 grasses securely fastened together with cobwebs, and closely 



