34 FAUNE EXTOMOLOGIQUE DE L AUSTRALIE 



timber, no longer Iiave attractions for them. But hère, at Kuranda, I havc often been disap- 

 pointcd to fmd tliat a lar\a of A'. Boisduvalli, which ]3erhaps I had located months beforc, had 

 been eut out and eaten b}- somc wandering native. Thèse caterpillars in green trees, and large 

 Coleoptcrous larvae in rotten trees or logs, are much sought for and esteemed by the blacks 

 hère, which is 200 miles north of Townsville; and at Hcrberton we several times met bands of 

 youthful blacks, provided witli tomahawks, searching through the bush for thèse things, principally 

 the caterpillars, which, as a rule, are roastcd a little before being devoured. 



\'cry few collectors hâve more than a very slight knowledge of thèse mollis and thcir histo- 

 riés, therefore wlicn in 1887 or thereabouts an Australian .MuNCHAUSEN gave sonie notes, published 

 in Linnean Socy N. S. W. Procecdings, containing some cxtraordinary and ridiculous statements, 

 they passed muster with the many uninitiated naturalists of that day. Caterpillars were said to 

 live upwards of 7 years, their bores were said to be of great length, and one Caterpillar had 

 been watched for 7 years (so its lifc must hâve cxtendcd to 10 or 12 years) by a pièce of the 

 troe trunk covcring its gallery heing sawn out, and removed from time to lime durmg the long 

 intcrval that it was under observation! Unfortunately for the interesting story of the narrator it 

 did not occur to him that entcrprising and deadly ichneumons, with 2 inches long ovipositor, 

 would quickly discover this inscct and very soon convert it into a mass of their larvae, nor how 

 the pièce of wood was eut through without the Caterpillar being eut too, nor that the pièce would 

 soon shrink and be turned into powder b\- various boring insects. However that misleading 

 account gave entomologists the iiiijjression that the larvae of Lossido' livcd for a great many 

 years, thcrc being but myself and two or three others in Australia who know that they do not. 

 I quickly learnt how unwise it was to interfère with a larva's gallery, losing a number of good 

 examples through cxposing their homes, so that mice, and various parasitical and predaceous 

 in.sects easily destroyed them in their weakened defence works. I unhesitalingl}' assert that in 

 Oueensland, and alniost certainly elsewherc, not one wood moth takes more than 3 years to pass 

 through its life cycle, and some of the smaller ones require less time than that. 1 hâve parti- 

 cularly studicd X. Boisduvalli and other large species ■'.•er\- closel_\% and no moth cver failed to 

 émerge zvillim Ihe second y car af/er discover y of Ihe larva, no matter how small. The iirst sign 

 one finds of a larva is a little » sawdust » spilt on the ground, or on a projecting pièce of bark 

 under the freshly commenced bore or gallery, or, if Boisduvalli, a little pad or curtain of web 

 and borings is hung over the borc's outlet, the latter being furtlier protected b\- a tough pièce 

 of parchment like web flush witli the surface of the smootli bark; some of the trees are rough 

 near the ground, but become clean and smooth highcr up. In time the k pad ). loosens and 

 falls off, the larva ha\ing borcd further in, and strcngtheiKYl tlie web o\er the entrance. This 

 is less than 14 nich iii cliamcter and in the rentre a tiny apirturc is madc through which the 

 borings and frass are thrust, the web and hole being cnlarged in duc course, but to no great 

 e.xtent for the frass is long and narrow in some s])ecics, and .small in others, the largest pellets 

 I havc secn being but the size of rat dung At first the bi)re is only a little wa_\' through the 

 thiek bark of the irec — 1/2 or 34 mch thuk, luit, ni a few inoiiths great progress is made 



