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mens may be sent preserved in spirit, bo that careful dissec- 

 tions may be made and the sexes compared. Mr. Dodd states 

 in the paper already referred to that in the Kuranda and 

 Herberton districts he and his sons had often found females 

 of this large Buprestid on the ground where there was dry 

 dust or fine sand, and always on hot days. In removing the 

 contents of the abdomen he " often noticed and removed two 

 or three little sacs of line sand at the extreme tip of the abdo- 

 men, but only in the females, invariably in those examples 

 which were rather old and contained but few eggs." The 

 movements and position of the females on the ground also 

 suggested that they were drawing up the dust. Mr. Dodd 

 considers that the ballast enables the beetle, when its body 

 has become light from loss of eggs, to fly steadily in the 

 violent gusts of the hilly country which it frequents.] 



4. Tivo Pentatomid bugs which stay with their ova and larvae 

 until they hare grown considerably. — The larvae of the larger 

 species [Garceus fidelis, Dist.] shelter upon the underside of 

 the abdomen of their parent. I have not often met with this 

 bug, but when I did come across a mother with young they 

 were never on the leaf, though I suppose they come down to 

 feed. The specimen of the smaller species [Eumecopus sp.] 

 is from the Cairns district. 



5. The Reduviid bug Ptilocnemus lemur, Westw. — The 

 use of the brush-like legs has lately been made plain to me. 

 The insect keeps under cover, but, if obliged to wander, 

 works its hind-legs in such a way as very well to pass muster 

 for a wasp that frequently raises and lowers its wings when 

 running. 



6. Variation in Lucanid beetles. — We have taken Aegus 

 jansoni, Boil, from sappy clefts in trees, in company with 

 very small and somewhat different-looking examples, which 

 Lea has made another species of, viz. A. subbasalis, though 

 we informed him that we generally took the two together. 

 I should imagine that a Lucanid would scarcely tolerate a 

 strange species in the same hole. Look at Neolam prima 

 mandibtdaris, Macleay, big c?s with normal or elongated jaws, 

 little fellows always with short ones, and ?s blue, bronze, 

 or bronze-green, all on the same small tree. The diminutive 



