11 
NOTES ON TASMANIAN COCCINELLIDZ. 
By E. H. THompson, Tasmania. 
Your many kindnesses in sending the very valuable publications of 
your Department make me venture to address a few lines to you on the 
subject of our Coccinellidz, the more so as some attention was drawn 
to them by Prof. Webster in INSEcT LIFE, vol. 0, p. 287. Although I 
do not for a moment pretend that all our Tasmanian species have been 
discovered (more than half of the island is still a terra ignota, and 
covered with impenetrable scrub), still I think that as far as the inhab- 
ited portions of the Colony are concerned there are not likely to bo aany 
more Coccinellids at work, as I have traveled through the length and 
breadth of it during the last eighteen months and have specially kept 
my eyes open for Lady-birds and other friendly insects. I place Leis 
(or, according to Masters’s Catalogue of Australian Coleoptera, Cocci- 
nella) conformis Boisd., as first in the list. Not only is this beetle the 
most numerous, but certainly the most useful. I have found it prey- 
ing on the Icerya purchasi (which it completely kept down or cleared 
out entirely), on the Mussel Scale (Mytilaspis pomorum), Schizoneura 
lanigera, Aphis brassice, Aphis rose, Rhopalosiphum sp., and also on the 
different scales attacking our Peppermint and ordinary Eucalyptus. 
The larve are large in proportion to the size of the imagines, and 
are black with two yellowish orange bands at second and third molt, 
finally attaining two more colored bands. When first hatched they 
are quite black. 
I have reasons for believing that the larve of Leis and of the small 
black Scymnus are both subject to parasitic attacks, but so far I have 
not been able to secure the culprit. The next Lady-bird as regards use- 
fulness and activity is Cleodora mellyi Mulsant, so named for me by 
Mr. George Masters, of the Macleay Museum, Sydney, New South 
Wales. This is a comparatively unknown Coccinellid in Australia, as 
it was not recognized by several experts to whom I showed it. I just 
discovered it last year at Devonport, on the northwest coast of Tas- 
mania; since that I have found it in the South. I can always secure 
many more larve and eggs than I can of the perfect beetle. It is very 
active and flies at the least disturbance. It so far seems to be confined 
to small Eucalypts, which are covered with Hriococeus eucalypti Cr., and 
other similar scales. The larve are much broader than those of Leis, 
and instead of having continuous bands of yellow, have a series of 
pale yellow dots on eight segments arranged somewhat regularly. The 
imago is a very large Lady-bird, and the elytra are very much pointed. 
Commencing from the two “comma”-shaped markings, there is a dis- 
tinet .carination which extends along the anterior margin to the next 
series of markings. From its size and rapacity this Lady-bird must do. 
a vast amount of good, but I have never yet found it working on eco- 
nomic plants or trees. The fourth insect is much smaller than Leis 
