362 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Oct., '15 



A Few Notes on Queensland Insects. 



By A. A. GiRAULT. 



1. Hounds Devouring Grasshoppers (Orth.). 



One day (June 28, 1912) on a sugar plantation near Cairns, N. Q., 

 I saw one of a pack of four or five kangaroo dogs, a breed resembling 

 the greyhound, on several occasions give eager chase to adults of 

 Locusta australis, a large grasshopper ; those which it succeeded in 

 capturing were devoured with apparent relish. 



2. Nyctalemon orontes (Lep.). 



This day-flying moth is commonly seen flying singly like a butter- 

 fl.y; in November, 1912, at Nelson, North Queensland, the species was 

 gathered in enormous numbers in dark and moist situations in the 

 forest, covering the trees bordering streams in myriads and flying up 

 in clouds as we advanced. Many were mating. The species, otherwise, 

 is seen flying along singly throughout the year. 



3. Activity of Orthoptera. 



In North Queensland, throughout the year, the constant chirping of 

 various kinds of crickets and long-horned grasshoppers is one of the 

 daily sounds, though so monotonous that, like the ticking of a clock 

 or watch, attention has to be directed to it before notice is taken. 

 The constancy, however, is remarkable. I do not remember a time 

 in the year when I have not been able to detect the chorus of sounds 

 proceeding from that source. 



4. Canaries Protected from Mosquitoes (Dip.). 



I have been told that canaries kept as pets have to be covered with a 

 net to protect them from mosquitoes and other biting flies; otherwise, 

 they would go blind and lame from the constant bites of these in- 

 sects. On one occasion I have happened upon an instance of this 

 kind (at Seymour, Ingham District, North Queensland). 



5. Pheidole megacephalus P'abricius Dying from Cold in North 

 Queensland (Hym.). 



Toward the last week of July, 1912, all over the Goondi, Darradgee 

 and Mundoo cane plantations near Innisfail, I saw little heaps of dead 

 ants, each heap containing several hundred specimens of the work- 

 ers and soldiers. They were rather common and I was consider- 

 ably puzzled to account for them until chancing to hear from 

 a farmer that young sugar cane had been slightly damaged by recent 

 frosts ; the ants doubtless had suffered from the same cause, the more 

 clearly indicated because the species appears to be an equatorial one 

 or one of the uplands or of situations not exposed to cold spells in 

 the tropical sense. Nests adjoining the heaps of dead contained living 

 individuals acting as usual. Later, on August 8, at Nelson, North 

 Queensland, I found the same species, dead in similar heaps ; if along 

 a road, these heaps all seemed to be in the wheel ruts ; .from their 

 appearance, they were several weeks or more old. The name of the 

 species was kindly given to me by Mr. Henry Tryon who, I think, 

 had sent specimens for identification. 



