TIMBERS. 347 
‘In carrying on this business they sometimes find, by some 
means or other, that the post has a certain weight to support, and 
then, if it is a convenient track to the roof, or is itself a kind of 
wood agreeable to them, they bring their mortar; and, as fast as 
they take away the wood, replace the vacancy with that material, 
which they work together more closely and compactly than human 
strength or art could ram it. Hence, when the house is taken to 
pieces, in order to examine if any of the posts are fit to be used 
again, those made of the softer kinds of wood are often found 
reduced almost to a shell ; and almost all of them are found trans- 
formed from wood to clay, as solid and as hard as many kinds of 
stone that are used for the purposes of building.” (Zreasury of 
Natural History.) The above is taken from an account of Termes 
belltcosus, but the description more or less applies to other species. 
For an account of the life-history of Zermes see the book above 
quoted, also Cassell's Natural History, vi., 137, which is adorned 
with some splendid illustrations of this genus. See also appendix 
to Carpenter’s Zoology. 
The Wattle Goat-Moth. Zeuzera (Eudoxyla) Eucalyptt 
(Boisd. Herr. Scheef.) 
The following notes respecting this insect are entirely taken 
from Professor McCoy’s Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria, 
Decade iii., where (Plate 30) a coloured plate illustrating its life- 
history is given. 
Considering the great importance attached by the Government 
to the preservation and cultivation of wattle trees (Acacia), it is 
important for bark-strippers and others interested in the industry, 
to know the appearance of the insect represented on the plate 
(above alluded to) as the greatest destroyer of these trees, so that 
attention may be given to destroying the perfect moth; the large 
abdomen of thé female of which is distended with millions of 
eggs, each of which will produce a voracious grub as thick as 
one’s thumb, and five or six inches long, eating the timber for 
years. 
It is unfortunate that the specific name Lucalypt7 should have 
been given to this species, as it never frequents any Hucalypius, 
but feeds exclusively on the wood of Acaczas. 
