202 [August. 



are got by beating. Galerucidcs and Halticidce are not plentiful, and I 

 could find no GassididcB ; a fine species of Eurispa occurs freely on the 

 " cutting grass " half way up the Mountain. Coccinella conformis, 

 Boisd., a handsomely marked species, is the most conspicuous repre- 

 sentative of the Coccinellid(B, and some very pretty insects allied to 

 Bhizohius are to be found under loose bark. 



The other Orders of insects must be very briefly dismissed. The 

 Hemiptera are tolerably numerous in species, and include several very 

 fine and singular forms. Among the Hymenoptera, which are also 

 well represented, I may mention the curious genus Thynnus, some 

 species of which, as the large wasp-like T. variahilis, are fine and 

 handsome insects ; the males are usually found on flowers, and the 

 singular apterous females run about actively in hot sandy places. The 

 Ants are very plentiful, and some are possessed of very formidable 

 stinging powers, notably the large Myrmecia pyriformis, which 

 attains a length of quite an inch, and forms large colonies under 

 stones, &c., in " the Domain " and elsewhere. Several very curious 

 large-headed species, blind or nearly so, are found in small commu- 

 nities under bark and in rotten wood. A fine Bemhex frequents 

 the sandy beaches, and the leaves of the young Eucalypti are 

 often stripped by the black larvae of a handsome sawfly {Perga sp.). 

 Two or three species of Cicada enliven the woods with their ringing 

 chirp, and a smaller Homopteron, handsomely marked with white 

 spots on a ground of dark madder-brown {Eurymela speculum), con- 

 gregates in large numbers on the shoots of the " peppermint " and 

 otber gum trees, and by puncturing the tender bark, gives rise to a 

 sweet white exudation resembling manna, by which name it is called 

 in the colony. One of the most curious insects which I met with was 

 a large pitchy-black earwig with asymmetrical forceps, each lobe of 

 which was bent to the left, the right hand one so strongly as to cross 

 the other; this species (Anisolabis tasmanica. Bormans), occurred only 

 at the summit of Mount "Wellington. There is, in general, a pleasing 

 absence of the Muscidce, which are such a plague in most parts of 

 Australia, especially on the north-west coast ; but I found them pretty 

 troublesome at Launceston on one or two occasions. 



A small species of scorpion, not above two inches in length, but 

 reported to be very venomous for its size, is by no means rare under 

 stones, and is sometimes found beneath loose bark, where also spiders 

 of huge dimensions and ferocious aspect, miscalled " tarantulas," but 

 I believe quite harmless, are constantly turning up to the exclusion of 

 more worthy game wherever they are found. In damp grassy hollows 



