680 



Cecidomyidae, from some of which Mr. Froggatt and himself had bred the 

 perfect insects. — Mr. A. Sidney Olliff called attention to the phenomenal 

 abundance of a large Noctuid Moth — apparently Agrotis spina, Gu., [A. 

 vastator, Sc.) — during the early part of the present month in various parts 

 of the country, especially in the vicinity of Sydney, where it appeared in 

 such vast numbers as to cause great consternation amongst those who are not 

 aware that its food in the larval state is confined to low-growing herbage, 

 and that at no stage of its existence does it eat cloth, furs, or feathers. A 

 similar visitation of these moths occurred in October, 1867, which is recorded 

 by Mr. A. W. Scott in an interesting paper in the Transactions of the Ento- 

 mological Society of New South Wales (Vol. II. p. 40 — 48), and by the 

 Rev. W. B. Clarke in a letter in the ,, Sydney Morning Herald" of the 

 11th October, 1867. From these sources it may be gathered that the recent 

 plague was identical in its details with that of 1867, inasmuch as the present 

 visitation appears to be confined to the country on the sea-board side of the 

 coast-range, and to be the result of the vast hordes of caterpillars, reports of 

 whose appearances in various places have reached us from time to time dur- 

 ing August and September. Mr. OUifi" said that Agrutis spina was found in 

 great numbers on the summit of Mount Kosciusko and other high points in 

 the Australian Alps, and added that he was of opinion, after extended in- 

 quiry, that this species and no other was the true Bugong Moth, which for- 

 merly formed an important article of food amongst the blacks of the Upper 

 ïumut district ; the reasons for this opinion he hoped to place before the 

 Society upon some future occasion. Mr. Kershaw related his experiences 

 of similar swarms of the same moth in Gippsland and at Western Port, Vic- 

 toria. — Mr. Froggatt exhibited eight difi"erent kinds of galls, obtained 

 chiefly in the neighbourhood of Rose Bay and Woollahra, together with the 

 insects bred from them, and made the following remarks: — ,,No. 1 is a 

 very common gall on the stems of Acacia discolor, but is usually so infested 

 with parasitic Hymenoptera ^Fam. Chalcididae) that out of some fifty galls 

 the true makers (Fam. Cynipidae) were obtained in only four instances ; 

 No. 2 is a very small gall occurring in numbers on both sides of the leaves 

 of Exicalyptus corymbosa in the form of small rust-red excrescences, each of 

 which contains from two to four gall-makers (Fam. Cynipidae), but as many 

 parasites (Fam. Chalcididae) are obtainable from them; No. 3 is a gall oc- 

 curring generally on the midrib of the leaves of E. corymbosa, out of which 

 only beautiful little wasps with black markings (Fam. Proctotriipidav) were 

 obtained ; No. 4 is a curious gall occurring also on E. corymbosa, from which 

 a small Cecidomyia — probably the true gall-maker — together with para- 

 sites (Fam. Chalcididae) were bred; No. 5 is an irregularly shaped gall oc- 

 curring generally at the base of the leaves of E. corymbosa, from which only 

 parasitic Hymenoptera (Fam. Chalcididae) were obtained; No. 6 is a gall 

 forming swellings on the twigs of E. coryinbosa, from which only parasitic 

 Hymenoptera (Fam. Chalcididae) were obtained; No. 7 is the horned coccus 

 gall [Brachyscelis munita, Sch.) from the horns of which parasites (Fam. 

 Chalcididae) emerged; No. 8, are .oval coccus galls [Brachyscelis pileata, Sch.) 

 irom Port Hacking, from wHich Hymenoptera (Fam. Proctotrupidac and 

 Chalcididae) together with Jpuo moths emerged." 



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Drnrîé von •Breilfc&jllf à'tìUtel in LfeipiÄg. 



