10 



cussion, forming large and conspicuous galls. I possess several 

 specimens of very beautiful waxy pupa-cases, of which one is 

 certainly that for which Signoret founded his genus Spondyliaspis 

 in 1879 ; but some of these are empty, and in others there are 

 only dead pupse, so that I cannot well describe them. It would 

 be worth while for an Australian entomologist to take up the 

 study of these forms, and to describe the adults. 



In 1893 Mr. J. G. O. Tepper published in the Transactions of 

 this Society a paper on " South Australian Brachyscelid Galls," 

 in which he described one species as of the genus Ascelis, namely, 

 A. multitudinea. Having previously had galls of this (sent by 

 Mr. French), and having extracted from them only Psyllid pupse, 

 I was convinced that Mr. Tepper's description of them to the 

 Coccidse could not be correct, and I asked him to let me have 

 specimens, which he very kindly did at once. From the galls 

 which he sent me I bred four adult insects, which are those 

 described above. Mr. Tepper must have been led into his error 

 on account of a principle which he laid down in his paper. 

 Speaking of some of my Coccid genera — Frenchia, Cylindro- 

 coccus, &c., — he said : — " On account of a general similarity of 

 habit, I consider that they also should be included in the family 

 [Brachyscelid?e]. They form woody galls similar in structure to 

 those of Brachyscelis.^^ Undoubtedly, the galls of Trioza multi- 

 tndinea might easily be taken as very closely allied to those of 

 such species as Brachyscelis nux or Opisthoscelis suhrotunda or 

 others, as long as the enclosed insects are not examined. But 

 the study of these at once shows that the principle embodied in 

 the words just quoted (and which I have italicised) is essentially 

 erroneous. Clearly both Psyllidse and Coccidse have a " general 

 similarity of habit ;" yet it is quite impossible to unite the two. 

 There is only one point as to which I am in doubt. Mr. Tepper 

 describes not only the gall of his species, but also the enclosed 

 insect. This, he says, is " yellow, rather flat, elliptical, with long 

 hairs . . antennae dorsal . . legs none . . last segment 

 of abdomen deeply emarginate, the sides forming thick, obtusely 

 acuminate appendages, without bristles or setae." What was this 

 insect ? The description does not seem like that of a Coccid, and 

 the figure given by Mr. Tepper (in his Plate V., fig. 4 d) has no 

 Coccid features. In all the galls of this species opened by me I 

 have found Psyllid pupae, in which the legs are a very conspicuous 

 character ; but in some I found also yellow, elliptical things, with 

 dorsal antennae, which were pup?e of parasites, and from one of 

 which emerged a long-bodied, long-winged fly of some Hymen- 

 opterous genus. 



I think, on the whole, that I have rightly attached Mr. Tep- 

 per's insect to Trioza. The specific name given by him is quite 

 appropriate, and I have not disturbed it. 



