54 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Feb., '15 



Starvation; as a matter of fact, the ground in North Queens- 

 land soon after the rainy season gets very dry so that the grubs 

 retreat downward to surprising depths, out of reach of most 

 roots.* 



Periplaneta australasiae Fabricius in North 

 Queensland. 

 Upon renting a private residence (and which had been 

 formerly occupied by a family) in the little hamlet of Nel- 

 son, North Queensland, for a laboratory early in 191 2, I found 

 it, in course of time to be badly infested with a cockroach which 

 at first I thought must be a new form. It attracted especial 

 attention because of the peculiar habit of depositing its egg 

 cases against the walls, in cracks or behind objects such as 

 books and coating over the sac with a layer of mud. I have 

 never observed this before, nor remember having seen it re- 

 corded in the literature, and the fact at once became interest- 

 ing. In a bookcase composed of wooden shelves, this roach 

 was common, hiding behind the books and feeding upon the 

 bindings, denuding in many cases all of the gold lettering on 

 some of the bindings and in others giving an efifect like that 

 which would result from soaking in water. Upon first noticing 

 the injury, in fact, I had almost unconsciously attributed it to 

 rain having been allowed to beat through a transom, but upon 

 removing some of the books, the presence of the insects was 

 discovered ; their excrement was very abundant between the 

 books and the back of the shelf. The eggsac may be deposited 

 upon the verandah or upon boxes on the ground beneath it. 

 Two sacs taken on August 23 and 27, 191 2, were separately 

 kept in vials corked tightly and kept dry ; each was completely 

 covered over with a thin coating of reddish mud and measured 

 between a half and three-quarters of an inch long; the sacs 

 when uncovered have a characteristic satiny appearance, due 



[*Some results of Mr. Girault's rearings of Australian Scarabaeidae 

 are contained in his article "The Probable Best Method of Rearing Cer- 

 tain Scarabaeid larvae," Journal of Economic Entomology, VII, pp. 445- 

 447. December, 1914. — Ed.] 



