Ml;. ROBERT SHELFORD ON 



r<ll of them, are endowed with very distasteful properties. Etehn 

 and Hebard (Pro,-. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, L905, p. 32) 

 writ" of Kurycotisflorklana Walk. : " When seized these insects 

 emit ;i vile-smelling oily fluid. The females always produced 

 far more of this than the males." This i^ .-i chestnut-brown 

 species, bul the larva? have the thoracic tergites margined with 

 pale yellow; it is found hiding under logs and stones. It is 

 evident, then, thai amongst the Blattida? ■■< nauseous odour <>r 



is not iuvari '1 with a posematic habits, the 



insecl conspicuous enougli when unearthed 



their hiding-places, bul the poinl is, that they <lo not 



voluntarily expose themselvi 30 man} of the Australian 



1 r confirn these rat her puzzling 



is afforded l»\ observations made by Mr. <■. A. K . Marshall 

 on tu t) Soul li Afi ■ i ala Fab. 



and .!/•/., Thunb. The Brsl of tl I 1 the sub- 



family Bl nils in which the males are winged 



inid t he femal I he posterior margin 



■ I inal 1 . nnd beneal h t he tergite 



in which when the 



thai this 

 fluid is a tl hit, it musl 1 



be i" l>. e.rytlm ind probably must of the other 



pose them 

 untarily. e bulky 



■ r : in /'. hnla t he head and legs 



are red. D. 1 large 



fulvous macula "i> each side of the sixth ith abdominal 



tergites; whil finoi Boh, from Ai Ily ( »nspi- 



euously marked with ru 1 the lat< ;ins of the 



pronotum. Thefemali I the Perispha»riina?, 



is n large, robu I piceous with conspicuous trans 



bands >>t' <»-ln ■ fous : \\ 1 iolel fluid 



which stains 1 yptic habits. This 



is absolutely all the information thai I I jother 



aboul unpalntable nd it certainty is little 



enough. It is perhaps remarkable thai the undoubtedly nauseous 

 Australian species are uol mimicked either bj other orders of 

 insects or by non-distasteful species of Blattida?, bul it musl be 

 remembered thai the Orthoptera >\<< nol serve as models to other 

 orders of inse< ustance has ever i>een recorded, 



and in Australia the paucity of • ither than those of 



the distasteful group, is quite exceptional. 



Although n<» Blattida? are known to serve as models to mimick- 

 ing insects, I ral which mimic insects other than 

 Orthoptera, though in mosl instances the mimicry is of .-i very 

 ralised nature. I have no reason to suppose thai any of 

 these mimetic Blattida? are other than palatable. 



