THE APPLE-GUM BIMIA. Ill 



CHAPTER LXXXV. 



THE APPLE-GUM BIMIA. 

 la femoralis, Saunders. ) 

 Order: Coleoptera. 



This handsome but destructive beetle is a native of 

 Victoria, and, although it is looked upon by collectors 

 as a very rare insect, it may be, if time permitted in the 

 field to investigate the matter, that it is by no means 

 the rarity it is supposed to be. 



I am indebted to Mr. Giles, formerly of Melbourne, 

 now of West Australia, for the first life-history specimens 

 of this species, although that of the more common one 

 B. bicolor has been well known for years. The 

 specimens from which our drawings were taken were 

 collected by Mr. Giles in the Gembrook district of 

 Victoria, as feeding in the thicker limbs of a gum tree 

 {Eucalyptus Stuartiana). The female, as the plate 

 shows, is much larger than the male, and both sexes 

 are wonderfully active, even when they have been but a 

 short time out of the wood. I have kept them for days, 

 the eggs, as shown on the plate, having been deposited 

 by the female at the bottom of the cardboard box in 

 which the beetles were kept the sexes separate. 



Victorian forests are, unfortunately, rapidly dis- 

 appearing, largely owing to clearing, but also because 

 of fires, and the great damage caused by the various 

 kinds of insects; so that knowing the life history of 

 any one of these destroyers may be considered a step 

 towards its eradication, hence the inclusion of forest 

 insects in this book. 



In dealing with pests of this kind great difficulties 

 are in the way, as, owing partly to the situation and 

 great height of some of our eucalypti, it would be quite 



