﻿INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



The first record of caterpillars parasitic upon Homoptera was 

 that of Bowring in 1850, who discovered a Coccus-like insect 

 on the back of one of the lantern flies, Pyrops candclana, ac 

 Hong Kong. Subsequently the moth was bred, and Westwood 

 described it as a new genus and species of the family Arctiidae, 

 under the name of Epipyrops anouiala. He likewise described 

 the caterpillar and the pupa of the same insect. Since West- 

 wood's time other species of Epipyrops have been noticed in 

 Japan and North and Central America, but as the references to 

 these are given below in the bibliographic list it is not neces- 

 sary to specially refer to them here. 



When Mr. Koebele and myself arrived at Cairns in Northern 

 Queensland and started a systematic investigation of the enemies 

 oi leaf-hoppers, these parasitic caterpillars naturally came under 

 our observation at the very beginning of our researches. Al- 

 though so far as I know no record of their occurrence in Aus- 

 tralia has yet been published, yet their presence was not un- 

 known to some of the Australian entomologists. Mr. F. P. 

 Dodd, a dealer in entomological specimens, had bred one or two 

 species, though the most casual inspection was suf^cient to show 

 me that these were neither of the two species we had found in 

 abundance at Cairns at that time. Mr. Henry Tryon, the Gov- 

 ernment Entomologist for Queensland, 'had long since found the 

 curious cocoon of these moths in that State. In fact, thev are 

 very common insects. In the case of certain species of Delphacid 

 leaf-hoppers at Cairns, a large percentage carried one or more 

 of the parasitic caterpillars. Another species of the parasites 

 affected a commonplace Jassid that lives on the leaves and shoots 

 of a species of Terminalia, and the number of cocoons formed on 

 the leaves was almost incredible. As Mr. Koebele's notes well 

 express it, they were "in millions," and at a glance gave the 

 leaves somewhat the appearance of being badly affected with a 

 Puh'inaria, or some such scale-insect. Species also occurred at 

 Bundaberg, and after I left Australia. Mr. Koebele found them 



