270 LIFE STORIES OF AUSTRALIAN INSECTS. 



I 



pest Epilachna 28-punctatay or the 28-spotted lady 



bird, is of a general creamy colour, with bristle-like 

 liairs tipped with black (Plate 34, Fig. 5). When very 

 still it looks like a ** plant burr." Both larva and 

 adult feed on plant tissues and attack plants of the 

 pumpkin family. It is a large ladybird, with 28 

 spots, and this genus Epilachna includes the only 

 ^'bad" ladybirds we have with us. Another species 

 is E. guttata pustulata (potato ladybird). 



.The pupa of ladybirds differs somewhat from the 

 typical beetle pupa, for the mature larva fastens itself 

 by means of a sticky secretion by the tail to a st«m or 

 to the fence. Then its last larval skin is shed and 

 pushed to the base, and the pupal shell is seen. It 

 resembles the pupa of a butterfly rather than that of 

 a beetle. (Plate 34, Fig. 2.) 



We have made some very interesting observations 

 in rearing ladybirds from the egg, and will just 

 quote a few. 



Observation I. — We noted some aphides on the 

 leaves of a garden shrub called Duranta, and at 

 once kept our eyes open for the appearance of 

 ladybirds. Later they appeared. The species 

 was Leis conformis. We got two of these beetles 

 and placed them in a box. Next morning there were 

 a number of eggs. We then put the beetles back on 

 the tree. The eggs were laid on the 5th of February 

 and hatched on the 6th. The small larvag were quite 

 dark. We placed each one in a separate box, and 

 the following is what we observed of No. 1 larva: 

 We placed some sprigs of Duranta with numerous ; 

 aphides present into a box with the larva. We put 



