THE BANKSIA BOEER. 69 



natural belts of vegetation, and prevent, if possible, the 

 destruction of the Tea tree, Banksias, Acacias, and other 

 coastal plants, as in many ways few matters are of greater 

 importance. Should this beetle be found in an orchard, 

 capture it at once, as it may be there for the purpose of 

 egg-laying ; and as the holes made by them are fairly 

 large, a wire, dipped in carbolic acid, creosote, or bi- 

 sulphide of carbon, and pushed down to the bottom of the 

 hole, or as far down it as possible, stopping the hole up 

 at once, will usually kill any living thing which may be 

 feeding inside. Another good plan is to obtain a small 

 and pointed syringe, and with this inject carbolic acid, or, 

 l)etter still, carbon-bisulphide, closing up the hole with a 

 piece of wet clay or any other close material which may 

 be handy immediately, as this may be done effectually, 

 and without the least injury to the tree so treated. 



So far as we know, this beetle has but few natural 

 enemies, excepting perhaps a few of the larger birds, the 

 " Vocconia " spider, which will tackle insects of most 

 kinds, and also some of the larger Asilidcs, a family of 

 large dipterous or two-winged flies, which are veritable 

 savages, subsisting almost entirely upon other insects, and 

 even those of their own kind. This group, Asilidce^ are 

 great destroyers of bees, and being furnished with a 

 formidable trident-like proboscis, or beak, they can trans- 

 fix their prey in the most secure manner. In the museum 

 attached to the Entomologist's office is a specimen of a 

 fully-developed Cyria beetle, with the Asilus fly fastened 

 on to it by means of its proboscis, with which it had 

 pinned the body of the beetle just in front of the scutel- 

 lum, and when captured was trying in vain to fly away 

 with its prey which it had already killed. It has also been 

 noticed that many of these coastal beetles on hot days fly 

 out to sea, and with a change of wind are blown into the 

 water and drowned, their Ijodies being commonly found 

 on the sand near or above high-water mark. 



