THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 141 



lot of fruitless shaking and walking we were suddenly made 

 acquainted with the scarce and pretty Buprestis, Cisseis 

 12-jmnctata, which has only been taken in this one narrow strip 

 of land, though the food plant is abundant everywhere in the 

 district, and it has been carefully searched for since the first time 

 of taking it three seasons ago. 



Presently one member was seen cramming his bag with what 

 many people would call " firewood." However, we knew it 

 contained larvse, and of the rare and handsome Longicorn, 

 Strongylurus cretij'er, to be reared at home. I believe this 

 insect is previously unrecorded for this colony, unless Mr. C. 

 French, F.L.S., to whom I sent a few last season, has done so. 

 Resuming our search, we were rewarded with the two rare 

 Cetonias, Clorobapta fSchizorrhina) Bestii and Tricaulax 

 Philipsii, in one shake, and needless to say it seemed to add new 

 vigour to that operation, but all we could get were quantities of 

 the two common Schizorrhinas, S. Azistralasice and *S'. punctata. 

 Presently, however, another shake revealed the presence of the 

 pretty little Cetonia, Clithria fSchizorrhina) eucnemis. 



Another heavy drizzle now caused two to seek shelter of 

 neighbouring trees, but our two entomologists braved the rain in 

 hopes of finding something good at home or sheltered in the 

 Leptospermum, and they were rewarded with a few rare Buprestis — 

 Stigmodera semisuiuralis, S. Thomsonii, and S. Andersonii ; also 

 a pair of the very rare and mimicking Longicorn, Chaodalis 

 Macleayii, a rare insect, previously recorded only by Messrs. 

 Best and Kershaw as a Victorian. Captures like these seemed 

 to amply repay us for all the weary walking and shaking with 

 which we spent the next few hours, but we were not very 

 successful in Coleoptera, our best capture being a fine specimen 

 of our largest Clerus, Natalis Titanus, only taken once before 

 on a Club excursion to Ferntree Gully, by Mr. Best, or if 

 taken not recorded. We also found a fine lot of larvae of 

 one of the " Bombyx " moths, Pinara cana, and as some 

 of them had already spun their frail cocoons, they were taken 

 charge of for rearing out ; a few of the strong, bristly cocoons 

 of another Bombyx, Darala censors, were also secured. A few 

 of the latter's caterpillars were covered with numbers of small 

 red parasites, so they were taken, to see if these would cause 

 their death Subsequently I found that they invariably suc- 

 cumbed to the combined attacks of the parasites, and even if 

 they spun up they seemed to die soon after the operation. A 

 number of Tarantulas were also observed covered with these 

 little parasites, and 1 took two of the finest, male and female, 

 to see if they would die or not, and although 1 fed them well, 

 on looking in one day I found the good lady banqueting on 

 her lord. 



