THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 119 



galleries. The ant which makes them is i^-inch long, of a pale 

 brownish colour, and very sluggish in its movements. Another 

 shining black species builds a clay or earthern enclosure several 

 inches in height round the stems of a small shrub ; these have 

 the entrance hole at the side, about 2 inches from the top. 

 The number of species of ants in the Mallee is legion, and a fine 

 field awaits the systematist and observer in the Formicidae of 

 Australia. In places where the pink mallee grew (so called from 

 the colour of the wood) little piles of sawdust-like material round 

 the butts indicated the presence of borers, and a (ew strokes with 

 an axe brought to view a number of very large Buprestid larvae, 

 probably o^ Stigmoderaheros, a fine insect — the largest, I think, of 

 the Victorian Buprestidae. In the proper season the perfect 

 beetles must be quite plentiful, and a collector paying a visit 

 about the end of December or January would probably secure a 

 good many specimens. A few larvae were also found of the rare 

 Longicorn, Microtragvs mormon, Pasc, a brown or drab-coloured 

 beetle about an inch in length, which has a curious superficial 

 resemblance to some of the ground Curculios of the genus 

 Sclerorrhinus. The life-history of this species is interesting, and 

 does not appear to have been recorded. The grubs feed in 

 fallen dead timber, generally preferring the kind known as black 

 mallee, always confining themselves to the un ler side of the log, 

 and at a place where it rests on or is partly buried in the soil. 

 If the wood is a little decayed so much the better ; they appear 

 to be slow feeders, and do not make long tunnels, diff"ering 

 widely in this respect from many others of the Cerambycidae. 

 When full-grown the grubs, which are about an inch and a half 

 long, somewhat cylindrical, and yellowish-white in colour, come 

 right out of their tunnel and construct a firm, compact oval 

 cocoon, composed of gnawed wood and particles of sand, &c. 

 This cocoon is generally quite detached and buried in the soil, 

 rarely being attached to the under side of log. The beetles 

 emerge from about the end of November to February, often 

 remaining in the cocoon several weeks in the perfect state. 



As the time of our visit (end of August) was too early for most 

 insects, we did not expect to find many, but later on in the season 

 I think it should prove a first-rate collecting ground, as there is 

 any amount of scrub of a kind that insects like. A few of the 

 commoner beetles, such as Steropus, Simodontus, Spragus, 

 Adelium, Pempsamacra, &c. , were met with, and several 

 specimens of a rather good Longicorn (Uracanthus, sp.) were 

 taken in their tunnels in the branches of an Acacia {A. hakeoides). 

 Remains of a Cetonia like Diaphonia dorsalis, but minus the black 

 dorsal mark, were also found. Lepidoptera were exceedingly 

 scarce, Holochila erinus (bright variety) and Pyrameis kershawi, 

 being the only butterflies, while the moths were represented by a 



