NOTES ON THE ENTOMOLOGY OF A TEA-TREE 



SWAMP. 



By R. ILLIDGE. 



[Head hcfurc the Hoi/al Socii'tij of Quecmland, IStlt March, 1S99.] 



Sombre and forbidding as is the appearance of a tea-tree swamp, 

 yet there is much of interest to the lover of nature contained 

 within its limits. Many of the trees are at present in flower, 

 and the leaves themselves have a pleasant aromatic smell. Bird 

 life is usually abundant, parrots alone, of two or three species, 

 living upon the honey contained within the blossoms. Reptiles 

 also are well represented, frogs and snakes being plentiful. 

 However, it is not my intention to say anything further upon the 

 higher animal life of these swamps, but to give a few notes upon 

 the insect life, which, beyond the mosquito, to most people 

 appears almost nil. Not so, however, is this the case, for but 

 little research reveals a great variety of interesting forms. 



But few butterflies are found in the swamp, and these 

 merely are attracted by the flowers, not being true denizens of it, 

 though members of the pieridae feed on loranthus parasitic on 

 trees around its margin, as do also several species of skippers 

 and a satyrid, Melanitis leda, upon certain kinds of grass 

 growing within its borders. 



Tunnelling the stems of melaleuca trees are several species 

 of xylorycts, one very beautiful hepialid, charagia eximia (not, 

 however, confined to the melaleuca, but frequently found therein). 

 Other interesting borers which attack these trees comprise several 

 species of longicorn beetles, of which the most noteworthy is 



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