THE 



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^'^ VOLUME XXIV. c//^ 



CONCERNINa BRACSTSCELIS MUNITA, SCHRADER, AN 

 AUSTRALIAN GALL-MAKING COCCID. 



BY THOS. H. HAET 



(With Puefatoey Notes by R. McLachlan, F.R.S.) 



[In this Magazine, vol. xvii, pp. 14(5, 147, December, 1880 (and also in other 

 publications), I figured and noticed an extraordinary gall on Eucali/ptus, forwarded 

 by Baron von Mueller, and attributed to the Lepidoptera on the authority of larvae 

 in fluid said to have been extracted fi-ora similar galls. I also noticed what was 

 supposed to be an undeveloped Lepidopterous chrysalis in a dried form found in the 

 galls sent. A short time ago Mr. W. R. Jeffrey sent some sketches of similar galls 

 made by his friend Mr. Hart, of Adelaide, and which the latter attributed to a species 

 of CoccidcB, and I asked him to obtain further information. This has come in the 

 form of a letter, from which the following extracts have been made, and an excellent 

 figure by Mr. Hart, partially reproduced here for comparison with the figure on 

 p. 146, vol. xvii. The error as to the position of the gall-maker was induced by 

 Baron von Mueller's erroneous association of Lepidopterous larvae with the galls, 

 and it is somewhat singular that in these days of keen criticism no one has, until 

 now, referred to the paper by Schrader (" read " June 2ud, 1862), in which, in all 

 probability, the same insect and gall are noticed and figured, any slight differ- 

 ences in the form and size of the galls mat/ be due to differences in the species of 

 Eucalyptus, or to the age of the galls. Mr. Hart's figure is reproduced mainly 

 because it possibly indicates the galls of the male in the smaller examples. But 

 some of Schrader's galls were enormous, for he says he found one eleven inches long, 

 and his figure indicates the horns as longer and less incurved at the tips than does 

 mine of 1880, and in this respect Mr. Hart's figure is somewhat intermediate. These 

 gall-making Coccids (Fam. Brachyscelidce, Signoret) seem peculiar to Australia, and 

 possiblj also to Eucalyptus, and are no doubt numerous in species. I am indebted 

 to Mr. Jeffrey for permission to use the drawing. — R. McLachlan]. 



" Since receiving your letter of November 24th I have done all 

 that my unsatisfactory state of health would admit to clear up the 

 mystery of the long-horned gall of the gum trees. In the first place 

 I made enquiries at the Public Library here for any literature on the 

 subject, but the only assistance the attendants could give me was to 

 point out a paper by H. L. Schrader in the first vol. of " The Trans, 

 of the Ento. Soc. of New South Wales," entitled, " Observations on 



N-E, 1887. 



ly 



