86 Best. To the Alps for Coleoptera. [\ ,!i'."xnxvii. 



will give you some ide;i of the work it does. Ihis root, with 

 others containing larvte, 1 brought down some years ago, l)ut 

 1 was not successful in rearing ;i single specimen. On two 

 occasions in different years, in tin- month of December, the 

 male was flying about in numbers. 1 suppose there must 

 have been on each occasion at least twenty to thirty, but no 

 females were flying. They had to be carefully searched for 

 where they were resting, on the butts of the trees, and our 

 reward was only four specimens. 



The " Woollybutts," /:". longijoliitm, were in flower, but, as 

 they were all tall trees, we had no opportunity of testing 

 whether there was hfe on them ; but we feel pretty sure there 

 must have been. Under loose bark we were fortunate in 

 securing several specimens, both male and female, of that 

 uncommon and hitherto rare beetle, Enneaphyllus rossi, so 

 named after a one-time member of the Club, Mr. G. G. Ross, 

 who has the credit of bemg the first to capture it. It differs 

 slightly from the Tasmanian species, /:. aiuiclpc-iuiis, the latter 

 being a rather longer insect and the male having also longer 

 antennae. It is a night-flier, and the body is of so light a 

 texture that its Hfe must almost necessarily be a short one. 

 As against this theory is the fact that my previous captures 

 were made in Gippsland, about North Mirboo, at Easter- 

 which would be about ]\Iarch or April. Our attempts to bring 

 one or two alive to Melbourne were a failure, as they all died 

 after one or two days' confinement in boxes. It breeds in the 

 roots of the Snow (jums, imd also in logs, especially burnt ones, 

 as with both wc saw many signs of the entrance of the larvcT. 

 the signs being the wood powder they throw out. It is, judging 

 by these signs, rather a pKntiful beetle, and I fancy that the 

 life of the larva* in the wood does not excred twelve months. 

 The beetle, in all probability, feeds on \]]v flowers of the 

 " WooUybutts," /:. longifolittm (?). The male has long, 

 laminated antennae, as you will sec by the specimen exhibited 

 this evening, and I have wondered if these are principally for 

 ornament ; Init no doubt they also serve some other object in 

 nature. Also you will notice the bright metallic sheen on 

 the wing-cases, and this sheen lasts for fiome considerable time 

 after death. Another beetle of as light a texture as this is a 

 cockchafer, Rliopca lidcrodactyla, also a night-tlier, and on 

 one visit to Parwan \\v found a large number of dead ones 

 under stones, all with their light bodies completelv drained b\ 

 spiders, and nothing left but thin shells. 



Under loose bark we took four specimens of a \\\w. large 

 longicorn, a species of Tryphocharia, quite new to us, and not, 

 so far as we know, in the possession of other collectors or the 

 .Museum. We do not know where it breeds, but most likelv, 



