9380 Entomological Society. 



number 20 for the Coleoptera, which have more admirers and have been more carefully 

 collected hitherto than any other order, the relative value of the seven principal 

 orders of insects in South Australia is as under: — 



Relative number of species. 



Coleoptera 20 



Hymenuptera ll£ 



Lepidoptera 6i 



Diptera 4£ 



Hemiptera and Heteroptera 2 



Orthoptera 1 



Neuroptera i 



" The remaining orders, Tliysanoptera, Aphaniptera, &c, have as yet yielded so 

 few species (of Strepsiptera, I believe, no species has yet been found) that I do not 

 notice them here. The number of the Coleoptera would be more nearly attained by each 

 of the three orders which immediately follow, if the latter were more looked after, as 

 in a few of the families of each there are hundreds of minute insects. In the list just 

 given, the Hymenoptera are principally supported by the families Ichneumonidae and 

 Apidae; the Lepidoptera by the numerous small moths; the Diptera by the Muscidse; 

 the Homoptera by the Ceroopida? ; and the Orthoptera by the Locustidae. Witb/tbe 

 exception of the last, this seems much the same as in European countries. 



" The collections of Coleoptera in the Adelaide Museum, in Mr. F. G. Water- 

 house's private cabinets, and my own, include by far the greatest number of known 

 South-Australian species. These, with several other small collections, give the fol- 

 lowing as (in rouud numbers) the now-known species of Coleoptera and of the seven 

 most numerous families: — 



Total number of South-Australian Coleoptera, (say) 5000 species. 

 These in a few years will probably be nearly doubled. 



Principal Families. Number in Collections. 



Curculionidaj About 600 species. 



Chrysomelidae .... „ 450 „ 



Buprestukc „ 300 „ 



Cerambycidae .... „ 250 „ 



Carabidae „ 200 „ 



Melolonthidae . . . . „ 100 „ 



Helopidae „ 100 „ 



2000 " 

 The Secretary, after mentioning that the subject of Dr. Icery's ' Memoire sur le 

 Pou a poche blanche ' (of which a presentation copy was on the table) was identical 

 with the sugar-cane-infesting Coccus of which specimens were exhibited at the June 

 Meeting of the Society, read a translation of the 'Memoire.' The following are 

 abridged extracts therefrom : — 



" The Eggs and the Larva. — When the insect, improperly called a 'louse,' is 

 examined on the plant where it has fixed itself, two distinct parts may be remarked, 

 different in consistency and in colour; one, somewhat flattened transversely, of oval 

 form and of a brown shade, is the insect itself; the other, rounded, formed of a sort of 

 silk or white wool, constitutes the envelope of the pouch which secretes a considerable 

 quantity of very small yellowish grains, adhering together by means of a filamentous 

 substance similar to that which forms the envelope of the pouch. This substance, to 

 w Inch a sugary taste has been attributed, seems, on the contrary, to be very irritating ; 

 placed on the mucous membranes it excites a violent inflammation. The small yel- 

 lowish grains are the eggs, the number of which is variable, according to the more or 



