172 



Miscellaneous Contributions 



TO THE 



Natural History of South Australia. 



Edited by Professor E. Tate, Director of the Natural Science 

 Correspondence Department. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Note on the occureence of Psaliduea in South Australia. 



The weevil, remarkable by its having a pair of anal forceps, 

 which was exhibited at the May meeting, belongs to the genus 

 ^salidura, so the Eev. T. Blackburn informs me. The genus 

 JPsalidura, MacLeay, is comprised in the Family Amycteridae, 

 of the order Curculionidse, "the most remarkable feature of 

 which," writes W. MacLeay, jun., Tran. Entom. Soc, N.S.W., 

 I., p. 201, "is the strong anal forceps with which the male is 

 armed . . and seems to enclose the organs of generation 

 . . The large excavation of the last ventral segment in the 

 male is remarkable ; but this is also characteristic of the allied 

 genus Talaurinus. . . Very little is known of the habits of 

 these insects." 



Thirty-six species of Fsalidura inhabit Australia, but are 

 most numerous in New South "Wales and Queensland. This is 

 the first record of the occurrence of the genus in South Aus- 

 tralia, represented by a species allied to P. elongata, MacLeay, 

 jun. 



Locality. — Eowler's Bay, Mrs. A. BicJiards, one example; 

 Mount Parry, Aroona Eange, M. Tate, two examples. 



BaljpJi Tate. 



Notes on South Australian Coleopters destructive to 

 Vegetation. 



" DiPHUCEPHALA SPLENDENS, W. S. Macleay, V. B. colas- 

 pidoides, Gyllenhal. — "I do not know which name has the 

 priority. It is a leaf -eater, and when very numerous (as it some- 

 times is) is injurious to some plants. I have seldom seen it in 

 New South Wales, but is the most common in Victoria." — Hon. 

 TV. Macleay. 



"During November, 1882, it occurred in myriads about 

 Mount Gambier, by Glencoe, to Mount Graham, attacking 

 elms, and vines, apricots, and other fruit trees ; also 



