210 '^SE TICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXIII. 



no light is brought near the case until no strong odour is 

 perceptible. 



If a list of the district . plants is kept, it should show 

 the time of flowering, and the kind of soil on which the 

 plant grows, such as humus, swampy, clayey, calcareous, 

 sandy, &c. 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



By C. French, Jun., Assistant Gover7iment Entomologist. 



The morning of 28th December was devoted to prac- 

 tical field work; all the members attending camp — in- 

 cluding the Director of Education — were present. 



The route taken was along the road towards Mount 

 ]\Iartha, where many fine trees of the coast tea-tree 

 {Leftosfermuni lavigatum) were dead, the cause being 

 the attacks of scale insects, Planchonia and Mytilasfis. 

 The life history of these was explained to the teachers 

 and notes were made of them. Several fine eucalypts 

 {Eucalyptus globulus) were gradually being killed by 

 longicorn beetles {Trypliocaria Epiiuhora, Fhoracantlia, 

 &c.), also by a scale Mytilasfis, which literally covered 

 the boughs of the trees., causing them to wither and die 

 oft'. A sooty fungus, which grows on the secretion from 

 the scale insects closing up the pores of the leaves, &c., is 

 -also largely responsible for the killing of many tea-trees. 



The remarkable galls (mimicking a flower bud) of a fl\ , 

 Cecidomyia, were gathered from the coast tea-tree. Many 

 of the black wattles are being attacked by beetles, prin- 

 cipally the Uracantlius triangularis, and on cutting open 

 some boughs, the larva pupa, and perfect beetle were 

 found. The banksias (coast honeysuckle) bore traces of 

 the ravages of Bufrestidce, chiefly the beautiful Bupres- 

 tis, Cyria imperialis, and the large Malladon longicorn, 

 Cremoplites edulis. The larvse of these were regarded by 

 the aborigines — once plentiful on the coast, as a deli- 

 cacy. On the she-oaks {Casuarina) were noticed many 

 strange galls,, some resembling the female flowers of the 

 Casuarina, others like so many small pieces of wood 

 plugged into the tree. The latter species was first dis- 

 covered by Mr. C. French, sen., Government Entomolo- 

 gist, in the Mai lee district of Victoria, and named 

 after him {Frenchia casuarinae) by the late W. INIaskell, 

 one of the best authorities on scale insects in Australia. 



The life histories of the various specimens met with 

 were explained, and a great number of questions asked 

 were answered at some length. 



