COMMON TEEES IN EELATION TO AERIAL LIFE OF BEETLES. 41 



and 4-6 in. broatl. Fruit on the old wood or principal stems, 

 dark greenish when ripe, depressed-globular, 1-li in. 

 diameter. 



A fine tree; it resembles F. (jlomerata in its growing 

 habits, but the leaves are very much larger. It is very 

 common in the lower scrubs of the Cairns range. 



(1) Artocarpus integrifolia Linn. Jack-fruic. 



A handsome tree, with dense dark-green foliage, attain- 

 ing a height of 20 ft. Leaves large, broad, rounded at apex, 

 up to 7 in. long by 5 in. broad, shining. Fruit of the bread- 

 fruit type, borne on the stems and branches, weighing* several 

 pounds, oval, green, its surface roughened and divided into 

 numerous sections. 



An introduced tree found in gardens. 



Family SCITAMINE.E. 



(1; Mum cliincnsis. Banana. 



Famu.y PALME.E. 



(1) ('ocos )iucif€ra Linn. Coconut. 



Family GRAMINE^. 



(2) SacvJiarntJi officinale. Sugar-cane. 



(3) Bamhusa sp. Bamboo. 



Observations and Comments on the List. 



A glance through the list will reveal the fact that twenty different 

 trees are included in the favoured food plants, while fourteen are given 

 as occasionally attacked ; eleven are classed as harbourers ; and nineteen 

 common trees are regarded as immune. 



Some notes on those plants in the first class may prove of interest. 

 We come first of all to the Tar-tree {Scmiecarpus australiensis) , which 

 in the vicinity of Gordonvale grows rather freely in scrub fringes, and 

 often attains a considerable size ; in the beetle season practically every 

 example is badly invaded, and we have seen a tree 70 feet high almost 

 Avl;oi1y defoliated. The Grey Wattle (Acacia pohjstacJnja) appears to 

 flourish solely in one locality, at Highleigh, Gordonvale, where its 

 leaves are eaten to some extent. The White Wattle {A. holosericea) is 

 another tree of limited areas ; a clump of these small trees borders the 

 edge of a swampy tract of land near Gordonvale, and we are aware of 

 a similar cluster at Mossman; in both situations the foliage was 

 extensively consumed. The Cream-flowered Wattle (A. flavescens) is a 

 very general species round Cairns, one of its centres of distribution 

 being the Greenhills estate, on the eastern side of which it forms semi- 

 dense forests; however, the low-lying and swampy ground does not 

 sustain it, except in solitary cases. At Greenhills it follows next in 

 importance as a feeding-tree to the Moreton Bay Ash ; moreover, it 

 grows in much greater abundance; the trees are often crowded, and 

 the foliage frequently bears a very ragged appearance. The leaves of 

 the Thick-leaved Tea-tree (Melaleuca leucaelendron var. cunninghami) 

 are eaten to an appreciable extent, but we have not yet observed a tree 

 severely defoliated. This now^ brings us to the Moreton Bay Ash 

 (Eucalyptus tesselaris), for which tree the beetles show a partiality 

 above all others ; it grows throughout the forest areas and is exceedingly 



